Locust plague encircles Mexicos Cancun resort
Clouds of locusts have descended around the Mexican beach resort of Cancun, destroying corn crops and worrying officials in a region still recovering from the devastating fury of last years Hurricane Wilma.
Traveling in dark fogs, locusts are grasshoppers that have entered a swarming phase, capable of covering large distances and rapidly stripping fields of vegetation.
Imagine, they fly in the form of a flock. Imagine the width of a street, government official Martin Rodriguez said on Tuesday, describing the fields around Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula.
More : alertnet.org
Mexicos Asur wants new airport south of Cancun
Mexican airport operator Asur has asked for a permit to build and operate a new airport in the Mayan Riviera, a popular area of spectacular Caribbean beaches south of the huge resort of Cancun.
Asur (ASURB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) (ASR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) operates nine airports in southern Mexico, including one in Cancun and another on the island of Cozumel just off Mexicos Caribbean coast.
The Mayan Riviera includes the fast-growing resorts of Playa del Carmen and Tulum, popular among European and American tourists.
More : today.reuters.com
Tourists fleeing Yucatan ahead of hurricane
Long lines of people choked the Cancun airport as tourists rushed to leave this Caribbean resort ahead of Hurricane Emily, which packed 155 mph winds as it streaked toward Mexico.
Mexican officials issued a hurricane warning today for much of the eastern Yucatan peninsula, including the resort of Cancun, and authorities were recommending tourists abandon much of Mexico's Caribbean coast as a precaution.
Sunny skies and a laid-back atmosphere still prevailed at the resort, despite the approaching Category 4 hurricane.
"The locals seem pretty nonchalant about it," said Becky Hart, 29, a school teacher from Madera, Calif.,
Mexico plans evacuation of tourists from Cancun as hurricane Emily advances
Mexican officials recommended Friday evacuating tourists from much of the country's Caribbean coast - including the resort of Cancun - if hurricane Emily continues heading toward the Yucatan peninsula.
While no evacuation has yet been ordered, the Cancun city government is already meeting with local bus companies to arrange transport for tourists away from the low-lying spit of land that houses much of Cancun's hotel sector.
The Interior Department recommended evacuating the Caribbean coast from Tulum to an area north of Cancun, and urged people to take refuge at
Hurricane reshapes Mexico's resort scene
The most frazzled, flustered, frantic people in Cabo San Lucas these days may be the wedding planners.
Thousands of vacationers are flocking to Cabo and other western Mexican resorts to relax and say their "I do's."
That's because more than a month after Hurricane Wilma thrashed Cancun — the country's premier resort — and the rest of Mexico's eastern coast, that area is still recuperating. Most hotels and businesses along the 10-mile waterfront strip are closed, and much of the beach has been stripped of its white powder sand.
The effect of Hurricane Wilma, says Ruben Cota,
Mexico Travel Myth 1: Mexico Means Super Cheap Travel
Is Mexico cheaper than the US? It can be. Doing the resort thing in a Mexico resort like Cancun, for instance, can be as spendy as any high-end hot spot, but south of Cancun, super sweet Tulum is too cool and cheap ($25/day is doable). Acapulco will be $100 or more, and mostly well worth it if you want heart of the action and do the downtown scene in hotels on the Costera.
Learn about street food and more if budget Mexico travel is your plan. Dont expect to get by on
UPDATE 5-Hurricane Wilma lashes Mexico's "Riviera"
Hurricane Wilma's ferocious winds battered Mexico's famed Caribbean beach resorts on Friday, knocking over trees and signposts and trapping thousands of nervous tourists in cramped shelters.
Powerful waves swallowed up white sand beaches in the popular resort of Cancun and howling winds tore across the island of Cozumel, a favorite of scuba divers and cruise ship passengers.
All along the "Maya Riviera", sturdy tropical trees danced in the wild wind and others lay toppled in empty and flooded streets. Electricity was cut and signposts were sent spinning through the air.
"I'm okay, I'm okay -- don't worry," Italian
Mexico warns tourists in Cancun of threat from Hurricane Emily
Mexican officials issued a hurricane warning Saturday for much of the eastern Yucatan peninsula, including the resort of Cancun, as Hurricane Emily barreled across the Caribbean south of Jamaica.
Authorities already were recommending tourists leave much of Mexico's Caribbean coast as a precaution.
While evacuation had not yet been ordered, the Cancun city government met with local bus companies to arrange transportation for tourists away from the low-lying spit of land that houses much of Cancun's hotel sector, which lies almost directly in the catagory 4 hurricane's path.
Mexico issued a hurricane
UPDATE 4-Hurricane Wilma lashes Mexico's beach resorts
Hurricane Wilma's fierce winds and rain battered Mexico's famed Caribbean beach resorts on Friday, knocking over trees and trapping thousands of nervous tourists inside cramped shelters.
Powerful waves swallowed up white sand beaches in the popular resort of Cancun and electricity was cut all along Mexico's "Maya Riviera" and on the island of Cozumel, a favorite of scuba divers and cruise ship passengers.
Sturdy tropical trees danced in howling winds and others lay toppled in empty and flooded streets in the resort of Playa del Carmen, just south of Cancun. Snapped electricity cables dangled above the
Cancun
The ever-expanding resort of Cancun (pop 100, 000) is built on Quintana Roo's northeast coast overlooking the blue waters of the Caribbean. Size and glitz are the operating principles here, and the resort is beginning to have crowding problems that resemble Fort Lauderdale at the height of Spring Break. There is nothing older than 1970 in Cancun, except for some tiny vestiges of Mayan temples; for antiquity or colonial sights, you have to head west to Yucatan or south to Tulum and Coba. Cancun is divided into downtown and the hotel zone. The latter is a 33-kilometer (21-mile)-long sandbar (hat
Hurricane Wilma slams into mainland Mexico
Ocean waves surged over the narrow strip of land that holds Cancun's resort hotels as Hurricane Wilma slammed into Mexican mainland, where some 30,000 tourists huddled in hotels and shelters amid shrieking winds and shattering glass.
The eye of the category 3 storm, which had already killed 13 people, first slammed into Cozumel Island _ the worst-hit, and now cut off _ and then headed north-northwest onto the mainland near the beach town of Playa de Carmen, south of Cancun.
The howling winds caused severe damage in Playa de Carmen, flattening dozens of wood-and-tarpaper
