cancun and crocodiles

Cancun is an entirely new city. Before the 1970 s this was only a tiny fishing village until authorities got the idea of making the thin strip of beach into Nuevo Acapulco. After pouring  in money to bring in water sewage and other infrastructure they set about building a Vegas like strip covering a long spit of beach. It is truly colossal in terms of gross excess, vain glory and conspicuous consumption. Huge hotels playboy the sands and Melia tower above the two lane highway that traverses the hotel zone. As you follow the road into the zone signs in spanish warn pedestrians about the crocodiles that may come up from the adjacent lagoon and eat you. Once you get into the tourist area proper the signs change to English and warn people not to feed touch yell or swim with the crocodiles. I can only imagine that that should a hungry reptile come looking for a bite the only recourse for the tourists would be to flee into the cavernous Cartier or Harley Davidson department stores. Sadly the tourists have no interest in the rich and fascinating Mayan culture which abounds here. A brand new museum featuring incredible Mayan art artifacts and history has been built in the tourist zone. On the day we went I perused the required guest book which all have to sing. All of the visitor s were Mexican or Latin america. There was c and I and lone Canadian as the sole gringos who attended that day.  The tourists don't come here for culture but for endless drinking and jet skiis.  I had to laugh at the myriad billboards advertising speed and terrifying adrenalin rushes in boats for which the tourists pay big money.  We could have told them to pay 80 cents and take the local bus from downtown to the tourist zone.  Speeds of 120 and a moving stop where you have to jump off the semi moving bus. Enough adrenaline for the bravest man.

We were staying in the city where the mexicans, most quite low income e, reside. At the end of the day we took the local bus back to downtown and watched as scores of maya waited to get the bus home e after their work as waiters maids and ground keepers at the luxuriant  hotels. Many of the young maya are leaving the countryside and moving g to cancun for work.

Something else to see so clearly the class and race divide as dark maya filter out of the hotels restricted to the white and by Mexican standards the rich.