Mexcaltitan

Greetings from Mexcaltitan!
You may very well find yourself saying "Huh?" This fascinating little town of a couple of hundred people sits on an island no more than about 200 yards across. The island boasts a church, one actual hotel, a museum, a bunch of little shops, a couple of restaurants, and maybe a hundred houses. There are no vehicles on the island, only pedestrians. To get there, you have to take a ponga for about a 15 minute ride through the estuary, reminding me very much of the Tovara jungle ride near San Blas. En route, there is swamp, islands, lots of water, all sorts of birds, and then this fully occupied island with a tall church steeple. It's been occupied since.....well, that's the big question.
When Tenochtitlan, the original Mexico City, was founded by the Aztecs, their oral history had it that they came from an island city, very much like Tenochtitlan, and they got there by traveling east from the coast. Mexcaltitan fits the bill very well. Experts can spend hours arguing over whether Mexcaltitan is or is not the city thought of by the Aztecs. The bottom line is that it's a fascinating place.
The streets are all several feet below the sidewalks and the doorways to people's houses. The reason for this is obvious: during the flooding season, the river rises and at high tide the island becomes inundated. I saw photos of it looking like Venice. The locals paddle canoes down the streets to get to their houses.
If you're not with a tour group, the only way to get to Mexcaltitan is to take a collectivo (a mini-bus) from Santiago Izcuintla to the embarcadero, where you transfer to a ponga to get to the island. I got to the island about 11 a.m. The ponga driver said, in passing as I got off his boat, "By the way, the last collectivo to Santiago leaves at 12:40." Acchhhh! I had planned to explore the island at my leisure, visit the museum, take lots of photos, eat a leisurely fish lunch and waddle back to the pier about 4 in the afternoon. Now I had to narrow down the options. After lengthy discussions with myself, I chose food (that decision took about 5 seconds) and headed for the restaurant. I probably only had time for lunch.
Before my lunch arrived, up popped Pepe, a young student who I had met the day before working in the Santiago tourism office. He recognized me and he and his buddy sat down with me and we had lunch together. I told him my plight and he said "No problem! Enjoy the town! I'll see that you get back! What time do you want to leave?" I said "Whenever you are." He said how about 3 o'clock?" I said "Great!" It turns out he was leading a group of Canadian bird-watchers who had been to the "Migratory Bird Fiesta" in San Blas (remember that??). About the same time, the juke box repair man, who had been sitting near us, volunteered "If you want to stick around until about 4, I can drive you to Santiago." At about the same time, the lady-owner of the restaurant, said one of her employees was leaving about 5, and he could drive me. Wow!
So I got to see all the sights, walk the whole island, visit the museum, as well as enjoy a leisurely lunch, and share a lot of dumb jokes with Pepe and his friend Ulysses. ("It's Greek, you know?"). At 3 p.m., I just climbed on the ponga with the Canadians, and, once we got back to the mainland, Pepe and Ulysses drove me back to Santiago in their car. They were incredibly nice.
It does seem in Mexico that everything turns out one way or another. One of the reasons why things work out as well as they do is the incredible generosity of the Mexican people. Thank you again, Pepe!