Cancun: Pretty Tourist Trappings

Cancun is a beautiful beach resort. It is the kind of place where you want to lie under a palapa all day, sipping frozen drinks (easily signed to the room; no need to face the reality of their cost until your departure), and watching the clouds roll across a deep blue sky above a tidy-bowl turquoise sea.

After a day of palapa lounging and daquiri sipping, my group ventured off to Tulum, about 90 minutes south of Cancun. Tulum was a beautiful heritage site - it's unique position as the only Mayan port city, towering strategically above the ocean, perched precariously on cliff edges and surrounded by jungle foliage, lends it charm and enhances its beauty. Unfortunately, it was the most crowded heritage site I've been to - and here's why: I couldn't afford to get there any way but by tour bus.

Giant tour busses are not my preferred method of transit. I like to arrive to sites early in the morning, while the light is still shifting, and make my exit as the tour busses are just pulling up. Unfortunately,  the day at Tulum ended up being a tour bus trip. It's my own fault: I was far too busy and exhausted pre-trip to book more affordable, amenable options. We would get only an hour at Tulum (that would become an hour and a half when members of our party were late returning to the bus), and about three hours at Xel-Ha.

Xel-Ha was pretty cool (and refreshing after the heat of the morning in Tulum). In a large, protected lagoon there were tubing and snorkeling; and after a dip there were free daiquiris to be drunk in hammocks that were scattered all over the park. I held parrots and toucans and saw fish and dolphins and manatees and had fun and isn't that all that matters?

The next day, we all went ziplining. The ziplining company was excellent: great service, nice guys, well-organized - a good, affordable, beginner's course in ziplining followed by a ride on an army truck through the jungle to a cenote for a swim and lunch. Cancun's jungle is comprised of generally low-level vegetation, so the lines are short and low (but still fast). The only downside was that you were not allowed to bring your own camera (you could buy a $400 helmet cam that they would attach for you, or buy the photos the company took of you & your group). One of the highlights of my trip to Thailand had been ziplining and taking video and photos along the way and I was disappointed I couldn't take my camera here as well. (Of course, I bought the photos. I always buy the photos, I'm kind of a sucker like that.)

As I spent my last morning on the beach, finishing my book under sunny skies, I decided that while Cancun was fun, I won't be going back anytime soon. Like most beach resorts in the states, it was just too darn expensive (and the way Americans were throwing around money you'd think the recession was just a media ploy). It's not that there's anything wrong with Cancun, I think I just prefer little old towns to big, shiny new beach resorts. In fact, I can't wait for my next trip, to New Orleans in January, one of my favorite little old towns in the world.