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 arcs south around the polluted Nichupte Lagoon and returns to the mainland near the airport. The hotel zone’s main street is the four-lane Avenida Kukulcan, which is lined with condominiums, malls, discos and big resort hotels catering to tourists on package vacations.
The first few kilometers of Kukulcan have fiberglass reproductions of Mesoa-merican monuments, like an Olmec colossal head, placed in the median. The Pok-Ta-Pok Golf Course on the right has a small Mayan temple at the 12th hole. There are also Mayan structures, probably watchtowers, on the grounds of the Camino Real and Shera¬ton hotels. The Anthropology Museum near the Hotel Krystal was badly damaged by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, and there are no signs that it will ever re-open. The El Rey ruins, Canciin’s largest, lie to the west of Avda Kukulcan, about two-thirds of the way down the hotel zone. The highlight is a low pyramid surrounded by several platforms. Returning to the north, downtown begins where Avda Kukulcan hits the mainland at Blvd Bonampak. The next major crossing is Avda Tulum, downtown’s main street. The sculpture in the middle of the traffic circle commemorates the 1970s meeting of the Organization of American States that put Cancun on the jrjgp.. Avdg Tulllffl is lined with ffi9!lgy 6X£llaTlgg§, Iegg glitzy restaurants, cinemas, the bus station, airline offices, nightclubs, municipal offices, the crafts market, supermarkets, gift shops and medium-priced hotels. Buses head out from here to the public beaches of Playa Tortugas and Playa Chac Mool in the hotel zone.
Mexico resorts getting back in the swim
Tourism officials in the hurricane-battered Mexican state of Quintana Roo hope to have 80 percent of the accommodations and amenities in the affected Caribbean coast resorts fully operational by February.
The Yucatan Peninsula state, home to tourism magnets Cancun, Cozumel and the Riviera Maya, accounts for about 36 percent of Mexico's nearly $11 billion tourism industry, according to Quintana Roo tourism secretary Gabriela Rodriguez.
Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun the hardest in late October, closing most of its hotel rooms. Between 8,000 and 10,000 of the city's approximately 25,000 hotel rooms are now open, and officials expect
Puerto Juarez
About 3 km north of Cancun, Puerto Juarez is the dock for the cheaper ferry services to Isla Mujeres; there is also a bus terminal, but services are more frequent from Colour map 4, grid A3 Cancun. There are, many buses between Cancun and Puerto Juarez, for example No 8 opposite the bus terminal (US$0.70), but when the ferries arrive from Isla Mujeres there are many more taxis than buses (taxi fare should be no more than US$2, beware overcharging).
Paamul, just south of Playa del Carmen and about 92 km south of Cancun, is a fine beach on a bay, planned for development, with chalets (C with bath, fan, terrace for hammocks, comfortable, pretty, clean, recommended) and campsites (recom¬mended). There is snorkelling and diving and a reef a few metres offshore. Sec¬ond-class buses from Cancun and Playa del Carmen pass.
Six dead as Wilma batters Mexico
At least six people have died as Hurricane Wilma lingers over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Reuters reports.
Two deaths been reported on the island on the island of Cozumel, and one person died in Cancun when a gust of wind blew out a window.
In the resort town of Playa del Carmen, two people died when a gas tank exploded, while to the west of the Yucatan Peninsula, a large tree branch crushed a man to death.
The slow-moving storm has sent waves as high as the third storey of some hotels in the resort of
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
Akumal
A luxury resort, 102 km south of Cancun, 20 km north of Tulum, Akumal is reached easily by bus from there or from Playa del Carmen (30 minutes). There is a small lagoon 3 km north of Akumal, good snorkelling.
Sleeping and eating L Hotel Club Akumal Caribe. One of many luxury hotels, villas and condos which can be booked in the US through Caribbean Fantasy, PO Box 7606, Loveland, Colorado 80537-0606, caribbfan@aol.com, accommodation is all LL-AL.
Punta Sam
A strip of coastline north of Punta Sam is officially part of Isla Mujeres. It is being developed as a luxury resort, but without the high-rise buildings of Cancun's hotel zone. Accommodation will be in luxury bungalows and cabanas. The first of these, now completed, is AL Villas Chalet Maya, Km 9 Punta Sam Highway (for reservations, contact COMITSA, Km 12.5, Zona Hotelera, Cancun, T851418, F851498). Ocean views, elaborate ethnic interiors, pool, beach, restaurant.
There are several international airports, the two busiest ones being Mexico City and Cancun, both of which receive frequent flights from Europe, North America and South America and the Caribbean.
Cozumel
The town, San Miguel de Cozumel, is a seedy, overpriced version ofPlaya del Carmen. C Daily tour groups arrive on cruises from Miami and Cancun, and the towns' services seem geared towards this type of tourist. But Cozumel is a mecca for scuba divers, with many beautiful offshore reefs to explore, as well as much interesting wildlife and bird life. Travellers looking for a beach holiday with some nightlife will find the island disap¬pointing compared to Playa del Carmen. There is only one nice beach, on the west side, and the eastern, Atlantic coast is
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
