CANCUN (MEXICO)
25 February - 28 February 2017
25 February - 28 February 2017
What people refer to as 'Cancun' is more likely the Hotel Zone that is the eastern frontier of the town that lies on the Caribbean Sea. That part in itself, whilst not soul destroying, can in itself be disarming to travellers that may be made their way up through Central America or spent their time trouncing around the Yucatan. It's concrete, its glitz, its virtually Las Vegas on the Sea. To us, it was kind of cool in all honesty.
In itself however Cancun is remarkable for an entirely other reason and it relates specifically to the resort area, known as the Hotel Zone, which didn't exist until the late 1960's. This was the time when the Mexican government had the bright idea of 'developing a resort area in order to diversify the economy'. That's when T\they did their research, absorbed all the data that they had possible on climate, natural attractions and general vistas, then 'hey presto', step up Cancun, a 25kms barrier island with spare population, attractive beach and a great climate to match. Mexico had its own tourist show pony right on the Caribbean, 'just add water', so to speak.
Inga and I stayed in Central Cancun, which is unremarkable in its own unremarkable way. A typical town that is only saved by the fact that it's Mexican...and Mexican food is awesome, along side tequila, which when you mix with lemon juice gives you an automatic party!
Cancun for us served two purposes, the first, it was a cheap and easy way for us to get into Cuba. One short flight and we were there. The second was more an incidental but a happy one at that. Considering we were close to one of the New Wonders of the world (Chichen Itza), then jumping on a tour in the days that we had here was another item to put on the list.
Chichen Itza
Right off the bat, let me call it out, as I did with my entry on Tikal, Chichen Itza, whilst worth seeing, is in fact a major disappointment, and here's why.
Wherever the administrative obligation and cultural obligation for the site stands, wherever the the ownership for it resides, they have failed the Mexican (Mayan people). This magnificent site stands like a two-bit side show, a quasi carnivale of all things that are wrong with ancient cultural and architectural sites of major significance. The site, and let me be clear, the site is absolutely crap - the architecture and the magnificence of the structure is not.
The throngs of people attending automatically cheapen the value in the sense that they, as in 'us tourists', are not properly directed to allow for the place to be enjoyed be all. Additionally, how in the world that souvenir shops and touts can be onsite and for there to be such a proliferation of them simply detracts from the entire experience. It's poor, very poor on behalf of everyone. So where Tikal stood tall in terms of preservation and conservation of what they had, the Mexicans have failed so diabolically with Chichen Itza.
El Castillo, The Temple of Kukulcan, is the dominant force here. It is a Mesoamerican step pyramid built by the pre-Columbian Mayan civilisation somewhere between the 9th and 12th century AD. Serving as a dedication to the feathered serpent deity, closely related to the God, Quetzalcoatl, it stands 30mtrs tall and is 55mtrs around its base. Impressive from an architectural standpoint certainly but when you compare it to Tikal and the much older Teotihuacan then you wonder what actually happened in terms of 'lobbying' to get this on the New World Wonder list. To me the more interesting aspect of the Chichen Itza site was the Great ball court. Measuring 165mtrs * 68 mtrs, it is the largest in Mesoamerica and are bounded by 12mtrs high walls that have rings carved with intertwining serpents in the centre of each wall. I'm not entirely sure how the game worked other than the fact that there were two teams, they had to get the ball through the rings and that the loser would not suffer the ignonimy of defeat, because, they needed to suffer the wrath of death first. And I'm not talking the Rugby League grand final style of 'life and death' being misused for purposes of showing some sort of courage in thinly veiled machismo. In this scene your death is real and this is captured spiritually in one panel which shows a headless player kneeling with blood shooting out of his neck, while another player holds his head - as they say on the streets, even in Chichen Itza, this shit is real!
To me the much bigger highlight of the day was a visit to a local cenote after leaving the Chichen Itza site. For those that don't know, a cenote is a deep water filled sinkhole in limestone, created when the roof of an underground cavern collapses. This fills in when rain water couple with those from underground streams are captured and stored. The words itself, cenote, comes from the Mayan word dzonot, which means well.
We went to the Il Kil cenote, which to me was a magnificent marvel. A 60mtrs deep cavernous hole, beautifully round at the top, and wonderfully blue when the sunlight hits it. It was an absolute pleasure to see this geographical feature but to also head down and have a swim. There are green vines that stretch all the way from the entrance at the top to the water below, and when you just sit there and admire its beauty, you can't help but things that there's something just a little magical about a place like this. Apparently the Yucatan is filled with places like this due to both its proliferation of limestone and underground water systems. A truly special site and we both felt better for the day having stopped there.
Chetumal - entry point into Mexico - with the slowest, most pedantic border officer we've ever encountered
In itself however Cancun is remarkable for an entirely other reason and it relates specifically to the resort area, known as the Hotel Zone, which didn't exist until the late 1960's. This was the time when the Mexican government had the bright idea of 'developing a resort area in order to diversify the economy'. That's when T\they did their research, absorbed all the data that they had possible on climate, natural attractions and general vistas, then 'hey presto', step up Cancun, a 25kms barrier island with spare population, attractive beach and a great climate to match. Mexico had its own tourist show pony right on the Caribbean, 'just add water', so to speak.
Inga and I stayed in Central Cancun, which is unremarkable in its own unremarkable way. A typical town that is only saved by the fact that it's Mexican...and Mexican food is awesome, along side tequila, which when you mix with lemon juice gives you an automatic party!
Cancun - Mexico - build a wall
Playing up to those familiar 'jump' photos at the beach...why? Who knows why people do it!?
Cancun - Mexico
Cancun - Mexico
Hey, if I steal something then the least I can do is bust myself!
Cancun - Mexico
Air Elisher - Cancun - Mexico
Cancun for us served two purposes, the first, it was a cheap and easy way for us to get into Cuba. One short flight and we were there. The second was more an incidental but a happy one at that. Considering we were close to one of the New Wonders of the world (Chichen Itza), then jumping on a tour in the days that we had here was another item to put on the list.
Chichen Itza
Right off the bat, let me call it out, as I did with my entry on Tikal, Chichen Itza, whilst worth seeing, is in fact a major disappointment, and here's why.
Wherever the administrative obligation and cultural obligation for the site stands, wherever the the ownership for it resides, they have failed the Mexican (Mayan people). This magnificent site stands like a two-bit side show, a quasi carnivale of all things that are wrong with ancient cultural and architectural sites of major significance. The site, and let me be clear, the site is absolutely crap - the architecture and the magnificence of the structure is not.
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
The throngs of people attending automatically cheapen the value in the sense that they, as in 'us tourists', are not properly directed to allow for the place to be enjoyed be all. Additionally, how in the world that souvenir shops and touts can be onsite and for there to be such a proliferation of them simply detracts from the entire experience. It's poor, very poor on behalf of everyone. So where Tikal stood tall in terms of preservation and conservation of what they had, the Mexicans have failed so diabolically with Chichen Itza.
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
El Castillo, The Temple of Kukulcan, is the dominant force here. It is a Mesoamerican step pyramid built by the pre-Columbian Mayan civilisation somewhere between the 9th and 12th century AD. Serving as a dedication to the feathered serpent deity, closely related to the God, Quetzalcoatl, it stands 30mtrs tall and is 55mtrs around its base. Impressive from an architectural standpoint certainly but when you compare it to Tikal and the much older Teotihuacan then you wonder what actually happened in terms of 'lobbying' to get this on the New World Wonder list. To me the more interesting aspect of the Chichen Itza site was the Great ball court. Measuring 165mtrs * 68 mtrs, it is the largest in Mesoamerica and are bounded by 12mtrs high walls that have rings carved with intertwining serpents in the centre of each wall. I'm not entirely sure how the game worked other than the fact that there were two teams, they had to get the ball through the rings and that the loser would not suffer the ignonimy of defeat, because, they needed to suffer the wrath of death first. And I'm not talking the Rugby League grand final style of 'life and death' being misused for purposes of showing some sort of courage in thinly veiled machismo. In this scene your death is real and this is captured spiritually in one panel which shows a headless player kneeling with blood shooting out of his neck, while another player holds his head - as they say on the streets, even in Chichen Itza, this shit is real!
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
Chichen Itza - Mexico
To me the much bigger highlight of the day was a visit to a local cenote after leaving the Chichen Itza site. For those that don't know, a cenote is a deep water filled sinkhole in limestone, created when the roof of an underground cavern collapses. This fills in when rain water couple with those from underground streams are captured and stored. The words itself, cenote, comes from the Mayan word dzonot, which means well.
Il Kil Cenote - Mexico
Mid-flight - Il Kil Cenote - Mexico
We went to the Il Kil cenote, which to me was a magnificent marvel. A 60mtrs deep cavernous hole, beautifully round at the top, and wonderfully blue when the sunlight hits it. It was an absolute pleasure to see this geographical feature but to also head down and have a swim. There are green vines that stretch all the way from the entrance at the top to the water below, and when you just sit there and admire its beauty, you can't help but things that there's something just a little magical about a place like this. Apparently the Yucatan is filled with places like this due to both its proliferation of limestone and underground water systems. A truly special site and we both felt better for the day having stopped there.
