La Riviera Maya

I arrived in Mexico on the last day of May. It was hot and humid. This is one trip I was reluctant to make. I put off making arrangement until the day before I had to leave. I would have begged-off if it wasn’t paid for by a grant. I also had a last minute request for a meeting with the Latin American representative to CBMI. The purpose of the trip was to attend the biannual meeting of the Pan American of Association of Ophthalmology – in short a convention. I was going to meet and greet. It was being held in Cancun – a beach resort on the tip of the Yucatan peninsula. Sounds like a junket, particularly for a representative of an international charity. But in reality these meeting are generally valuable. It’s a chance to meet people that you deal with only through email. Despite all the advances and advantages of the internet, personal contact is still important.-

Cancun was the definition of a place that I hate - beach culture. They call it the Rivera Mayan. The thought of lying on your back while the sun roasts send a wave on boredom through my body to the point of nausea. I do love the ocean and I have wanted to see Mexico. But this was a resort, I wasn’t seeing Mexico it was a travel brochure.

By this point in my traveling life, I was pretty organized. I could leave on an international trip with but a few minutes notice. I have every travel accessory known to man. I kept my ticket secure and accessible in a convenient pouch around my neck. I had a money belt if I was ever to have enough money to make the effort of wear it worthwhile. I worn it once – it was surprisingly comfortable, but how do you get to the thing without looking like a fool. Hell, Superman had phone booths he could slip into to change, phone booths don’t exist anymore.

I had worked out my comforts and distraction to make life alone on the road a pleasure. I liked traveling – I wasn’t lonely. I was productive generally. In my spear time I explored, wrote, read, took photographs, and even recorded. In fact, I generally never had enough time. Never had the time to see everything, write or photograph. When I was home life closed in, home is always a cauldron of activity. Everyone going one way or another, the usual life with two working-parents, two boys, one in high school the other in collage. Life was good, but disjointed. Days blended in weeks and weeks into months. We are a close family, but in many ways our lives are all very separate.

Anyways, back to Mexico, as I was saying, I was reluctant to make this trip. I had no desire to visit the Mayan Rivera. It was to be a short trip - just four days. It turned out to be a good trip. The business part of the trip was productive and I got to see the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. I stayed at the Fiesta Americana Condesa – a big luxury hotel. It was about five or six miles down the beach from the main part of the resort area. Isla Cancún is a long narrow island connected at either end by bridges to the mainland. It was about 14 miles of hotels, one more luxurious than the other. I was staying in one of the least luxurious, yes friends, I suffered in a second rate resort.

Hell, this place didn’t have a swim-up bar, as the one you see on your left taken at another hotel. It did have everything else. A double decked pool, bar service on the beach, exercise facilities, and I have to emphasize my use of the word facilities. This was not your usual exercise room with a treadmill and a stationary cycling machine with the obligatory wall mirrors. By the way, what is the purpose of all the mirrors? Is it vanity? Is it a way to ogle? I suspect it is designed to make a small cramped room seem larger and lighter. I use the word facility because this place had receptionists - pretty, but too much make-up. These women didn’t sweat, they didn’t even perspire, they dehydrated quietly, politely, and in Spanish. Of course when a Hotel offers facilities rather than a room, there is an extra charge. You get towels handed to you; you can even get a white robe with the hotels name stitched on the breast. If you want to impress your friends you can even pay an exorbitant amount and take the robe home.

Cynicism aside, I can’t say I hated the place, just the principle of it.