Isla Mujeres News & Events Saturday, March 4

 

 

    Today is the 506th anniversary of Europeans discovering the island, who'd sailed here from Cuba. This will be commemorated at 5p at Punta Sur. You're invited to join the celebration, and encouraged to wear white.

     The graphic shows the head of the expedition, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, as well as a statue of Ixchel and the temple dedicated to her at the south end of the island. (The foundation of another temple was discovered on the Mundaca Hacienda.)

     In pre-Hispanic times, the island was dedicated to the Mayan goddess of the moon, love and fertility, Ixchel, whose followers left offerings of feminine forms on the beaches of the island (and at its temples). When the Spanish conquistadors arrived and observed these figures, they named it "Isla Mujeres", the Island of Women.

 

    Isla Mujeres has been nominated for the 2023 Magic Excellence Awards in the category "Nature" / "Naturaleza". The public can vote thru Wednesday, March 8th at this link (on the third page, click on "Siguiente"): https://www.caribbeannewsdigital.com/.../votacion-premios...

The awards will be announced on the last day of the national Tianguis Turistico in Mexico, which takes place March 26-29th in Mexico City. This event promotes tourism products and services offered by the 132 Pueblos Magicos of Mexico.

 

Islanders are invited to apply for tourism projects for the "Premios Magicos por Excelencia" / Magic Awards for Excellence, which will be presented on March 29th at the Tianguis Touristico / Tourism Convention in Mexico City. The deadline for applications is March 14, which can be submitted from 9a to 5p weekdays at the municipal Tourism Department offices.

Proposed tourism projects can be in the topics of nature, sustainability, gastronomy, wine, religion, accessibility, paleontology, social topics, cultural topics and heritage. The Excellence Awards are part of the national Tianguis Touristico, which will be held in Mexico City March 26-29.

 You're invited to cheer on the home team tomorrow, Sunday, at 1p at the El Pescador baseball field (in front of Chedraui). The Isla Mujeres "Langosteros" will play the Cancun "Sports Club Tabasco" and the entry fee is 20 pesos.

 

    City Council members made a supervisory tour with representatives of Aguakan and CAPA to verify that work is being done to improve the delivery of tap water and wastewater services.

     They visited Zazil-Ha street at Carlos Lazo where work is in progress on the Convention Center cárcamo (tank with pump) to improve wastewater drainage, which affects the northern point of the island due to a large number of tourism services located there, including hotels, beach clubs, restaurants, markets, shops, clinics and residential areas. The municipal General Director, Hugo Sanchez Montalvo said this work will prevent spillage of wastewater into the sea. The work involves modern technology and is estimated to be completed by May 31st.

    They visited the runway area where an area was donated by the municipal government to CAPA (Commission of Potable Water & Sewage) for construction of a cárcamo along prolongation Rueda Medina Ave, to solve an old problem of wastewater drainage.

They visited the cárcamo on Coral St. in the Punta Sur area, which will be interconnected with another cárcamo to be built soon along that same street. Sr. Sanchez said the completion of these works is important because it offers a solution for an extensive area that has not had basic service. It is estimated that this will be completed in June.

    They also visited the cárcamo at the FOVISSSTE apartment building in colonia La Gloria, because there is a drainage service problem, which has caused serious underground pollution with bad odors, endangering the health of the residents and neighborhood.

 In this video, Aguakan explains how tap water is provided for the island. It depends on hydraulic infrastructure, and the supply comes from extraction wells in a catchment area of Cancun. From there it is pumped to tanks, where it is disinfected before being distributed. A great deal of infrastructure is required to get the water to your house, along with the work of hundreds of people behind the scenes.

This infrastructure includes a submarine line that runes more than 16 kilometers, which was installed 25 years ago. It is maintained annually by a special team of divers who verify every meter from the coast of Cancun to the island. (Technically, it connects to the coast by Punta Sam, in the municipality of Isla Mujeres.)

Aguakan says: Throughout our operations in Isla Mujeres, we have invested in renewal of the tap water network, as well as the sanitary drainage (wastewater) system. (Wastewater is processed on the island.) In 2023, the construction of a re-pumping well is planned, as well as the introduction of drainage to other parts of the island, seeking to improve the quality of life of the islanders with our services.

In another video, municipal Director General Hugo Sanchez, and CAPA advisor Juan Buenfil conduct a tour around the island with other officials and Aguakan managers, discussing solutions to benefit the islanders. They review the sites where four carcamos (tanks with pumps) will be constructed, and say this will provide coverage for sanitary drainage service for 96% of this island.

Yesterday's planned water outage was caused by electrical work being done in relation to the Mayan Train construction. The ICA company completed their work in the early hours of this morning, and water service was promptly resumed. However, low pressure may be experienced, which should normalize as the day progresses.

 WEDNESDAY:

     The island remains in Green status on the Sargasso report for today and the forecast expects very little to arrive to Isla Mujeres in the next 24 hours. However, ~22 tons are expected to arrive to the municipalities of Benito Juarez (Cancun) and Puerto Morelos by tomorrow. It says that 25,653 tons have arrived to the Mexican Caribbean since Friday.

On the graphic, "Escaso" means scarce, "Bajo" is low and "Moderado" is moderate.

 LINK to Facebook video of Carnaval scenes from the nightly events. Caption: Carnaval 2023 "Soy Caribe / I'm Caribbean" was full of joy, fun and family bonding. The Mayor shares these memories of the talented people who entertained us night after night in the grand, colorful fiesta isleña.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 LINK to Mexico National Weather Service (Spanish)
 LINK to satellite images for the Mexico National Weather Service
 LINK to GOES East Band 16 GIF (animation)
LINK to a private weather station on Isla Mujeres 

LINK to US National Hurricane Center