Driving Back from Chichen Itza
Shot out the bus window with my little Olympus pocket camera. While this isn’t great editing, it was done with little to no effort in my hotel room using Windows Movie Maker.
Conversations in Cancun
“Miss, let me give you a map. Miss, let me invite you to an event. Miss, are you married?” “Yes, I’m married.” “No wedding ring! Where is your husband? You don’t want to lie and say you’re single and go to this party? It’s for single ladies!” “Now, how would your wife feel if you …
Ecotourist with a Giant Carbon Footprint
It’s noon and I’m standing on the pier at the AquaFun Marina. “Is it just me?” I ask the guy who’s been assigned to me as a sort of handler, as though I might go rogue. “No, no, these groups are about 20 people.” I point at the flat pontoon type boat. “So we go …
Things I Like About Cancun, So Far
The sound of the surf. Hearing the drivers, bellboys, staffers here and there say “Mucho gusto” after we’ve been chatting for a while and they decide to introduce themselves. Charmers, everywhere. In the hotel lobby, the ten piece Latin band in matching shirts and the South Indian family dancing. Watching three huge dark birds — …
Off to Cancun
“Cancun? Really? That doesn’t seem like your kind of place.” I’ve heard that about sixty-three times, maybe more, since opportunities to go to the Mayan Riviera have shown up in my inbox. And yeah, looking at the massive developments along the strip in Cancun’s hotel zone, the critics have a point. I’m not a Vegas …
Turn Here and Disappear
Six lane arterials lined with strip malls. Subdivisions bordered from each other with high concrete or brick walls. Huge swaths of asphalt in front of box stores. Few things make me feel more alienated than these cookie cutter American suburbs. Yesterday, we sat behind a big black Ford Explorer with a sticker in the window …