CANCUN, Mexico – Cancun airport’s periphery from the sky is a canopy of lush tropical forests yet looming on the horizon is a bustling stretch of hotels cradled on pristine, world-renowned blue playas (beaches in Spanish). Alas, after years of dreaming, nay, drooling, over stories of Cancun fun, I was here, taking advantage of its proximity (one and a half plane hours) to Miami, Florida where I recently relocated. And like Miami and Pinas, Cancun was welcoming with a 105F (about 40C) scorching heat but I took it as a premonition to a sizzling hot summer vacation.
Like Manila, it will be well advised to haggle for taxi fares, as they can be exorbitant from the airport’s cab pool. Our 30-minute ride to JW Marriott Resort and Spa at the Zona de Hoteles cost us $40 and that is still cheaper than the usual $60 they charge. And you can get taxis only from the airport.
I do not need to advertise Marriott’s excellent service and truly hospitable staff. The property itself lives up to its multi-star rating (JWs are Marriott’s top-of-the-line) and to give it further boost, it is nestled right in front of Cancun shores. Being served dinner through room service and tons of cervezas (how can I have a vacation without that?) in our 16th floor balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean made us indeed kings even just for a fleeting moment. Ah, Dios mio, Cancun.
Hitting downtown clubs and bars was part of the fun but what else is new, everybody does that. The real fun was engaging with sea creatures, albeit through a glass submarine, from tortoises to sharks. My friend Harvy and I toured Cancun sea’s bottom, home to the world’s second largest coral reefs. The whole trip lasted about two hours, complete with swigs of Caguama Tecate, those huge bottles of Mexican beer. Harvy drank the whole time back and forth, no me gusta.
Then we took a four-hour bus trip (only $20 each for a luxury liner) to historic Merida where downtown, trust me, is like Escolta or the small streets along Avenida. Then it poured, as usual I was told, and then the streets now really looked like Manila: flooded, no, inundated a couple of feet high.
Next day, the penultimate part of my Mexican journey: the Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsula. Only $8 one-way and one and a half hours from Merida, Chichen Itza is a city where the great Mayans centuries ago lived magnificently and their descendants are still within the Mexican populations speaking Spanish, Mayan and English.
We billeted ourselves at the fabulous Mayaland Resort and I will just quote verbatim from their website:
“The first hotel built at Chichen Itza, and the world’s first within an archaeological site, Mayaland is a landmark. Reminiscent of the hacienda nobility of a century ago, the property’s gentle hospitality and old-fashioned charm is a legacy enhanced with every amenity a guest could want. The main House is beautifully appointed with rooms and suites looking across manicured gardens to the Pyramids. Bungalows are clustered around a secluding pool and were created for guest wishing to commune with nature, but with all the amenities of a first class hotel.”
Peacocks abound the place and one never left our balcony. At night, the ambience of the old Spanish ancient past (redundant I know but hey, I’m emphasizing what I feel here) feels like you really are in the 18th century. The eerie sound of quiet is deadening, interrupted only by buzzes from crickets or beetles that literally swamp the floors and every nook and corner.
Before visiting the pyramids the next day, Harvy and I took a dip in one of Chichen-Itza’s cenotes, a huge well that has fresh but interestingly heavy water. I may be weight-challenged but that still does not explain why even fit persons can hardly swim in the cenote. It is amazing though as the pool of water is at the bottom of a huge hole that appeared to have been created by a crashing meteor.
Now the pyramids are really already beckoning. The Temple of Kukulkan greeted us as we descended onto the archeological site from the gardens of Mayaland. Also known as El Castillo in the Great North Platform, this step pyramid has four sets of stairwells on all sides and mysteriously, each side has the same number of steps. There are smaller pyramids too in this great collection of buildings.
Next to Kukulkan’s Temple (Kukulkan is a Mayan God) is the city of a thousand pillars where, well, a thousand pillars of the exact same configurations are built. It is said that it was there where the lower class of Mayans lived.
There was the equally impressive Great Ball Court too, the largest in ancient Mesoamerica. I just cannot comprehend how they play ball with those stone rings attached vertically to the two walls facing each other in the field. To make me crazier, I overheard a tour guide saying the winners are offered as human sacrifices. Then why would you want to win, por Dios?
Anyway, what is particularly unbelievable in all these structures is their accurate and similar mathematical proportions: same number of pyramid steps, same diameter of the pillars, same distances between each pillar, same everything. And imagine what supposedly inferior technology they had hundreds of years ago.
The Mayans have been popular now for their prediction of the world’s end. I don’t believe that but I have nonetheless booked my trip back to Cancun and Chechen Itza on December 21, 2012, the calendar day itself of the Mayan’s doomsday. I hope my mom Fe and sister Mai can join me by then. No, I don’t expect Armageddon or the heavens to fall that night, just more excitement and fun (I can imagine the influx of tourists then) only the Yucatan peninsula can bring. And from me, it is only an hour and a half away.
(Ramas once wrote for the defunct Angeles Sun, Daily Globe and Today, was desk editor of Saudi Gazette, and later of Philippine News in California, USA. He is now a union organizer based in Miami, Florida.)
-By Chandler Ramas III
Like Manila, it will be well advised to haggle for taxi fares, as they can be exorbitant from the airport’s cab pool. Our 30-minute ride to JW Marriott Resort and Spa at the Zona de Hoteles cost us $40 and that is still cheaper than the usual $60 they charge. And you can get taxis only from the airport.
I do not need to advertise Marriott’s excellent service and truly hospitable staff. The property itself lives up to its multi-star rating (JWs are Marriott’s top-of-the-line) and to give it further boost, it is nestled right in front of Cancun shores. Being served dinner through room service and tons of cervezas (how can I have a vacation without that?) in our 16th floor balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean made us indeed kings even just for a fleeting moment. Ah, Dios mio, Cancun.
Hitting downtown clubs and bars was part of the fun but what else is new, everybody does that. The real fun was engaging with sea creatures, albeit through a glass submarine, from tortoises to sharks. My friend Harvy and I toured Cancun sea’s bottom, home to the world’s second largest coral reefs. The whole trip lasted about two hours, complete with swigs of Caguama Tecate, those huge bottles of Mexican beer. Harvy drank the whole time back and forth, no me gusta.
Then we took a four-hour bus trip (only $20 each for a luxury liner) to historic Merida where downtown, trust me, is like Escolta or the small streets along Avenida. Then it poured, as usual I was told, and then the streets now really looked like Manila: flooded, no, inundated a couple of feet high.
Next day, the penultimate part of my Mexican journey: the Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsula. Only $8 one-way and one and a half hours from Merida, Chichen Itza is a city where the great Mayans centuries ago lived magnificently and their descendants are still within the Mexican populations speaking Spanish, Mayan and English.
We billeted ourselves at the fabulous Mayaland Resort and I will just quote verbatim from their website:
“The first hotel built at Chichen Itza, and the world’s first within an archaeological site, Mayaland is a landmark. Reminiscent of the hacienda nobility of a century ago, the property’s gentle hospitality and old-fashioned charm is a legacy enhanced with every amenity a guest could want. The main House is beautifully appointed with rooms and suites looking across manicured gardens to the Pyramids. Bungalows are clustered around a secluding pool and were created for guest wishing to commune with nature, but with all the amenities of a first class hotel.”
Peacocks abound the place and one never left our balcony. At night, the ambience of the old Spanish ancient past (redundant I know but hey, I’m emphasizing what I feel here) feels like you really are in the 18th century. The eerie sound of quiet is deadening, interrupted only by buzzes from crickets or beetles that literally swamp the floors and every nook and corner.
Before visiting the pyramids the next day, Harvy and I took a dip in one of Chichen-Itza’s cenotes, a huge well that has fresh but interestingly heavy water. I may be weight-challenged but that still does not explain why even fit persons can hardly swim in the cenote. It is amazing though as the pool of water is at the bottom of a huge hole that appeared to have been created by a crashing meteor.
Now the pyramids are really already beckoning. The Temple of Kukulkan greeted us as we descended onto the archeological site from the gardens of Mayaland. Also known as El Castillo in the Great North Platform, this step pyramid has four sets of stairwells on all sides and mysteriously, each side has the same number of steps. There are smaller pyramids too in this great collection of buildings.
Next to Kukulkan’s Temple (Kukulkan is a Mayan God) is the city of a thousand pillars where, well, a thousand pillars of the exact same configurations are built. It is said that it was there where the lower class of Mayans lived.
There was the equally impressive Great Ball Court too, the largest in ancient Mesoamerica. I just cannot comprehend how they play ball with those stone rings attached vertically to the two walls facing each other in the field. To make me crazier, I overheard a tour guide saying the winners are offered as human sacrifices. Then why would you want to win, por Dios?
Anyway, what is particularly unbelievable in all these structures is their accurate and similar mathematical proportions: same number of pyramid steps, same diameter of the pillars, same distances between each pillar, same everything. And imagine what supposedly inferior technology they had hundreds of years ago.
The Mayans have been popular now for their prediction of the world’s end. I don’t believe that but I have nonetheless booked my trip back to Cancun and Chechen Itza on December 21, 2012, the calendar day itself of the Mayan’s doomsday. I hope my mom Fe and sister Mai can join me by then. No, I don’t expect Armageddon or the heavens to fall that night, just more excitement and fun (I can imagine the influx of tourists then) only the Yucatan peninsula can bring. And from me, it is only an hour and a half away.
(Ramas once wrote for the defunct Angeles Sun, Daily Globe and Today, was desk editor of Saudi Gazette, and later of Philippine News in California, USA. He is now a union organizer based in Miami, Florida.)
-By Chandler Ramas III
