The billboards lining the highway from the airport to the "hotel zone" that is the resort island of Cancun just about say it all:
McDonald'sGuess? jeans
Ruth's Chris Steak House
Burger King
Wet 'n' Wild
Cancun ain't exactly Mexico. Nor is it exactly cheap - no matter what condition the peso is in at any given moment.
Oh, getting there and staying there can be a real bargain. In fact, it was the bargain-basement price I saw advertised for a Cancun package that prompted me to visit this destination so hugely popular among escapees from the frigid latitudes to the north.
The package - airfare and hotel for eight days, seven nights - was just $674 per person, double occupancy; and that included a $200 "beverage allowance." Now it was off-season and, since I was traveling alone, I had to pay the hated single supplement - in this case, an additional $280.
Still, when I figured in the beverage allowance (essentially a $200 credit at the hotel's bars and restaurants that even the thirstiest vacationer would have a hard time running down to zero) and the usual cost of round-trip airfare, my hotel room was going to cost me less than $60 a night.
So what did I get for my less-than-$60 a night? The mid-range Hotel Cancun Playa (a "4 apples" hostelry on Apple's rating system of 1 to 6 apples; it has since been downgraded to 3-apple rank). The hotel was looking a tad down at the heels, and all facilities were not up and running. But I had an oceanfront room (an automatic upgrade included in my package price) with a huge terrace, complete with a small soaking pool. The Playa boasted a large L-shaped pool with swim-up bar (and a too-loud poolside DJ during much of the day), a wide (by Cancun standards) beach dotted with sun shelters, rope hammocks in the garden, a choice of three restaurants and four bars and a friendly and efficient staff. In short, a bargain.
Cancun didn't exist 25 years ago, its thousands of hotel rooms merely a gleam in the eyes of Mexican government tourism officials who decided to create a mega-resort on this northeast corner of the Yucatan Peninsula. Today it is Mexico's most popular vacation destination.
The hotel zone stretches 14 miles along a skinny strip of land shaped like the numeral 7. The island is separated from the mainland by Laguna Nichupte and is connected to it by causeways at the west end of the horizontal bar of the 7 and at the foot of the vertical bar. Hotels of every price range and description line the beachfront; the elbow where the two bars meet is the center of Cancun's nightlife, chock-a-block with restaurants, bars and discos.
Cancun is an easy place to visit: Everybody speaks English; stores, restaurants and hotels all have familiar names; the U.S. dollar is accepted as readily as the Mexican peso. In fact, almost everything, from T-shirts to fine restaurant meals, is priced in dollars.
But the government created more than a "resort" island here; it also created an economic island that shares little in common with the rest of the country. As a result, a meal in one of the better restaurants will cost as much as or more than a meal at a similar restaurant back home. Nor will you find many true bargains in the modern shopping malls that are spotted among the beachfront hotels and look for all the world like smaller versions of Echelon, Neshaminy or Granite Run.
Cancun is also about as Mexican as a lunch at Taco Bell. Even venturing into Cancun City, the metro-polis of 350,000 (referred to in the hotel zone as "downtown") that serves as the support base for the hotel zone, won't really give you much of a taste of Mexico. For that, you have to do a little exploring.
I was less than thrilled about the departure time for my Mexicana Airlines charter flight from Philadelphia - 7 a.m. But as I was sitting poolside at my hotel well before noon, I came to appreciate the wisdom of that early flight time.
Palm fronds rattled gently in the breeze that swept in over the aquamarine water of the Caribbean. Oiled bodies were strewn on the white sand of the beach and draped langorously over lounges at the edge of the pool. A gaggle of tanned and buffed Gen-Xers played water volleyball at one end of the pool while their seniors, perched on underwater stools, sipped colorful libations at the swim-up bar. There was an umbrella in my drink. I could get used to this, I thought.
Yes, despite the purists who turn up their noses at this "created" resort, Cancun seduces. Even the most jaded sybarite would find it hard to sneer at the miles of beaches, the crystalline and multihued waters of the Caribbean, all bathed in the light of a subtropical sun and washed in cooling breezes from the sea.
I had packed a couple of paperback page-turners and could have easily spent the entire week in the shade of a palm on the hotel beach, waiters scurrying back and forth to help me put a dent in my beverage allowance.
Cancun certainly is a place to kick back and do nothing more than worship the sun. But it is also a good jumping-off point for exploring a bit of the Yucatan Peninsula.
So first thing Monday morning, I picked up my rental car ($55 a day gets you a VW Beetle; it will cost you an additional $30 if you want an air-conditioned vehicle) and headed south on Route 307, the highway that runs along the coast through the heart of what has become known as the Cancun-Tulum corridor.
My destination was Tulum, site of Mayan ruins that were abandoned not long after Europeans first set foot on this side of the Atlantic, about 95 miles south of Cancun. As Mayan ruins go, Tulum is a relatively minor site - but it may have the most beautiful location.
The remains of several stone structures spill down from limestone cliffs that are dominated by two structures: El Castillo (The Castle), the site's most impressive building, with its majestic tiers of steps leading to the main entrance; and, a hundred yards or so to the north, El Templo del Viento (The Temple of the Wind).
A cut in the cliff between the two buildings leads to a small but lovely crescent beach where almost no visitor can resist discarding footgear and wading in. (Wear a bathing suit under your clothes, as many visitors do, and you can take a full plunge!)
Tulum, abandoned about 450 years ago, is the only known Mayan city surrounded by a wall, and there are signs in English and Spanish about the site, explaining its history and significance. In addition, with a little prudent eavesdropping, you can gather even more information from the guides lecturing tour-bus groups about Tulum's most important buildings, including the Temple of the Frescoes (with traces of paint still clinging to the stone) and the Temple of the Descending God (with its sculpture of a winged god plunging into the sea).
Clambering about ruins under the Yucatan sun is thirsty business, so there is a clutch of small shops and restaurants near the entrance to the site with plenty of cold drinks and bottled water to meet the need. For those with other needs, there are also plenty of the souvenirs - blankets, onyx, silver - that can be purchased cheaper in Cancun.
On the drive back north, I stopped at Playa del Carmen, the once-sleepy fishing village that has become a major cruise-ship port of call and the jumping-off point for day-trippers from Cancun catching the ferry ($10 round-trip) to the island of Cozumel.
Over a plate of savory "rellenos negra" (ground beef, onions and tomatoes in "traditional Mayan black sauce") at Las Piratas, an open-air beachfront restaurant, I watched vacationers queue up at the ferry pier, laden with diving and snorkeling gear to take advantage of Cozumel's justly famous reefs.
On my way back to Cancun I decided to skip Xel-Ha (SHELL-hah), a national park just north of Tulum featuring marine displays in a series of connected lagoons, and Xcaret (eesh-car-ET), the heavily promoted water-park-cum-ecology-center just south of Playa del Carmen. Both are popular attractions that draw dozens of tour buses from Cancun daily, but both require more time than I was willing to devote to frolicking with dolphins and sea turtles.
The ruins at Tulum served as a delightful hors d'oeuvre for the feast of Mayan culture that is Chichen Itza (chee-chin-EE-tsa), the sprawling collection of pyramids and temples that was my next day's destination.
Chichen Itza, a two-hour drive west of Cancun via a modern four-lane toll road, is a mix of Mayan and Toltec art and architecture. The restored ruins of the city that once dominated the Mayan civilization on the Yucatan cover four square miles and, as I quickly learned, it's a good idea to carry a bottle of water with you as you explore the site.
The predominant feature at Chichen Itza is El Castillo, the eight-story pyramid that sits near the center of the site. For those with the energy to climb to the top, the views of the restored area and the surrounding jungle are spectacular.
Chichen Itza is best visited early in the morning, just after the 8 a.m. opening - before the sun gets too high and before the tour buses from Cancun begin disgorging their hordes, starting about 11:30 a.m. By midafternoon, large crowds are climbing into and over the ruins, and the air of mystery and history that pervades during the quiet, early morning hours is destroyed.
While the ruins of Tulum can be explored in a morning or afternoon, Chichen Itza requires a full day, or even two, to be fully appreciated.
Back in Cancun, I decided to continue my foray into the culture of the area by buying a ticket to the next evening's performance by the National Folkloric Ballet at the new (completed in 1995) convention center. My $49 ticket included a cocktail reception, dinner and the performance.
*****
Additional Information
If you go
Getting there: Apple Vacations has a wide range of Cancun packages available, with prices varying according to the quality of the hotel. Liberty Travel and other vacation packagers also offer a wide variety of choices. See your travel agent.
Staying there: If sun, sand and sea are your chief interests, you may want to opt for one of the more elaborate (and more expensive) resort hotels. If you don't plan to spend a lot of time at the hotel, a less-expensive place may suit you. There are offerings in virtually every price range.
Getting around: Buses ply the hotel zone in an endless stream. You can go anywhere, including to the heart of "downtown," for about 40 cents. To range farther afield, you'll need a rental car, and that means sticker shock: An unairconditioned subcompact will run $300 a week and up. As an alternative, most hotels have tour desks offering day and half-day trips to the Yucatan's most popular sights.
Information: Call the Mexican Government Tourism Office, 800-446-3942.
- By Jack Severson, Knight-Ridder Newspapers