gill@wanginst.UUCP (Timothy D. Gill) (02/13/86)
Thanks to the several persons who responded with information on Cancun. I returned three days ago and will add my impressions to the record. We booked via GWV Tours in Boston 7 days before departure and got a $150 discount off their normal $730 price, so we paid $580 each. Pleasant surprise due to our late booking--they had excess capacity. We stayed in the "Hotel Beach Club Cancun", next to the Sheraton quite a ways south of town. The hotel has been open 1 month and is relatively small and excellent. I particularly liked the marble floors everywhere and very pleasant (simple but refined, almost elegant) rattan furniture. Very good service. Jacuzzi in bathtub, flowers in the room. Right on the beach, with waiter service, and a pool too. Fairly decent piped music (soft rock) to keep your ears roasted while you bake. To eat we could use the hotel, or walk to a couple of other hotels or restaurants within 1 or 2 km, although along the 4-lane boulevard was not the nicest place to walk. Downtown was about 8 or 9 km away, and a 600 peso cab ride ($1.50), not expensive at all, relatively. We ate there some, and bought a rug at the market, but otherwise tended to stay at the hotel. My dominant impression was that the place really just exists to cater to Americans on 1- or 2-week vacations. That's OK if you know what that means. Although there were some "tourists" we wouldn't have cared to know, we met a number of interesting people. Another thing was that all meals seemed to be about the same price (excepting the most expensive restaurants, and the greasy spoons). We routinely paid $5-8 for lunch and $15-20 for dinner, and we did not particularly want to. Local lobster I never had because it was at least $20 every place we went. I can get it cheaper in Boston. I am convinced that they price things to the level Americans can pay, whether or not it has relation to the local economy (after all, a year ago the peso was worth twice as much, which would have made my $15 dinner $30--I think they just increase prices when the peso devalues). I found this frustrating. We made a 3 minute call to the US and it cost $22, without the hotel service charge; should have called collect. My previous experience with travel in the developing countries was in Africa, where you could get interesting meals for $2, and good street snacks for 10 cents. Also, information (from people and brochures) was often inaccurate and people don't care about it. The Caribbean side of the 7-shape island had a lot of wind in addition to waves and that can affect some people; we found it hard to sleep sometimes. The north side of the 7 (the Gulf) was calm and that was nice too. All the beaches are public and you can use any of them; no hotel owns its beach. If you like night life, you can easily stay in a cheaper hotel in town and take cabs or buses to the beach; if you prefer the rest of a beach hotel, you take a cab to town as necessary for different meals or shopping.