Miguel Cruz

"Miso" <[email protected]> wrote:
    > "Brian K" <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> New York City has some depressed neighborhoods but that's no reason
    >> to stay away from New York so it is for the resort towns in Mexico's
    >> Yucatan.
    >
    > No, no reason to stay away from New York, just those bad
    > neighbourhoods. But, if you stay in a hotel while in New York that
    > has employees who are from the depressed neighbourhoods, then you may
    > have problems.

Almost all hotel employees in New York are from depressed neighborhoods.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

me6

    >That's why we keep on going back to Mexico because everyone I talked
    >to says the beaches in Yucutan are far nicer than in Hawaii.

I agree that beaches in Yucatan are nicer than
Hawaii....at least the one place Ive been in Hawaii
anyway (Honolulu)

However..... the Caribbean sea was so "gentle" I almost
didn't like that. Maybe it was so gentle due to
location I stayed at in Caribbean? At Bahia Principe
Tulum....abt 20 mins south of Playa Del Carmen?

I was just wondering that since the island of Cozumel
was off to the east.... that maybe the island was
breaking the surf....and keeping bigger waves from
hitting where I was at. True anyone?

Are other areas of the Yucatan have more wave action?
Areas not directly across from Cozumel? Does the
island break the sea waves?

me6

    >Suffice to say, we are looking at the Domican Republic, Costa Rico, or
    >even Puerto Rico as an alternative.

Id like to give Cost Rica a try next time. Or maybe
even Belize

me6

    > But, what I really meant by poverty was the
    >"gypsy" like mentality where it's dog eat the[foreign].

I would tend to agree with that. On my very short
expedience in that area anyway

I did feel like a big piece of "meat". All eyes on me.
Cause I was a "wealthy" American. Which is a laugh
cause Im not wealthy at all. Ha

Juliana L Holm

[email protected] wrote:

    > I was just wondering that since the island of Cozumel
    > was off to the east.... that maybe the island was
    > breaking the surf....and keeping bigger waves from
    > hitting where I was at. True anyone?

Cozumel to a limited extent, but mostly the Palancar Reef is in there to
break the waves. If you head out to the east end of Cozumel, the sea
is active enough to be dangerous, especially the undertow.

    > Are other areas of the Yucatan have more wave action?
    > Areas not directly across from Cozumel? Does the
    > island break the sea waves?

Actually, Tulum is not across from Coz.

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
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me6

    >Believe it or not. We WILL go back. We just have to be more picky at
    >which resort we go to.

I see

Where might you go next time?

Reason Im so curious abt this is..... just got back
from my first visit ever to the Yucatan last week.

There were many thing abt it I did like..... but maybe
some I didn't. The "pestering" was one thing I didn't
like

I wasn't pestered when at Hawaii.

Reason I didn't go to Hawaii this time is it was so
expensive compared to Mexico. And no all inclusive.

Also I live near St Louis so it only took 3 hrs flying
time to Yucatan and was no stop

There used to be a non stop flight to Honolulu from St
Louis but that was 8 hrs. Now there is NOT a non stop
and it takes abt 12 hrs to get there. That's a lot of
time wasted getting there and back

BUT.....I did like the mountainous terrain of Hawaii
better. The Yucatan is pretty dang flat

So..... good and bad to both locations.

Just curious what others think abt Yucatan area...so
Ill know whether to give it another try again...or just
spend more money and go Hawaii.

Again..... I only saw a very small portion of the
Yucatan.

Juliana L Holm

[email protected] wrote:

    > Just curious what others think abt Yucatan area...so
    > Ill know whether to give it another try again...or just
    > spend more money and go Hawaii.

    > Again..... I only saw a very small portion of the
    > Yucatan.

I like the Yucatan. I really enjoy the Mayan ruins, especially the ones
inland, near Merida and Valladolid.

I don't mind the pestering, I understand where they are coming from, but I
am able to successfully ignore it. I find that it decreases as I move
away from touristy areas. Not nearly as bad in Merida, for example.

Julie

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

me6

    >Cozumel to a limited extent, but mostly the Palancar Reef is in there to
    >break the waves. If you head out to the east end of Cozumel, the sea
    >is active enough to be dangerous, especially the undertow.

I see. Hadn't realized abt the Reef

    >Actually, Tulum is not across from Coz.

Well I think we were a bit north of Tulum. Not much
tho. Maybe 10 miles? Less?

me6

    >I don't mind the pestering, I understand where they are coming from, but I
    >am able to successfully ignore it. I find that it decreases as I move
    >away from touristy areas. Not nearly as bad in Merida, for example.

Interesting

It really decreases away from tourist areas, huh?

Il remember that next time Im there

Juliana L Holm

[email protected] wrote:
    >>I don't mind the pestering, I understand where they are coming from, but I
    >>am able to successfully ignore it. I find that it decreases as I move
    >>away from touristy areas. Not nearly as bad in Merida, for example.

    > Interesting

    > It really decreases away from tourist areas, huh?

Yes, but it never entirely goes away. And bargaining is a fact of life there.

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

Rosalie B .

[email protected] wrote:

    >> But, what I really meant by poverty was the
    >>"gypsy" like mentality where it's dog eat the[foreign].
    >I would tend to agree with that. On my very short
    >expedience in that area anyway
    >I did feel like a big piece of "meat". All eyes on me.
    >Cause I was a "wealthy" American. Which is a laugh
    >cause Im not wealthy at all. Ha

When we were walking around Cozumel, the 'steerers' outside the shores
always asked us what cruise ship we were from. And we weren't from a
cruise ship. That would kind of put them off their stroke a bit, but
then they'd get back to their "so cheap it's almost free" patter. I
never felt unsafe or threatened, nor did I feel that there was any
particular animosity towards us.

grandma Rosalie

Joy Hardie

I just wanted to add that someone mentioned that they would go to
Costa Rica next time because they felt like they were stared at so
much in the Yucatan for being presumably rich (even though they were
not). Well....we would dearly love to go to Costa Rica, but the
airfare there is so expensive that you better BE rich!
And, I havn't been to Mexico in 20 years, but last time I was there we
thoroughly enjoyed the bargaining and haggling and just ignored the
begging and groveling and children selling chicklets or things we
didn't want. But all in all......yes, they DO look at you like you
are rich even if you are not, and quite frankly it didn't bother me
one bit. Enjoy the people and their culture, buy the things you want
- bring home precious memories. I am not rich and that is one thing
about my vacation I truly enjoyed.......it was my vacation to "Feel
Rich for a Week."
Joy

Juliana L Holm

Well, I think they look at us like we are rich because, by world standards,
we are. In other words, by our own standards only a few of us are rich, but
when compared to the third world anyone who makes more than a few thousand
dollars a year is in the very top of the heap.

Remember that these people will, most of them, never take a vacation in
their lives. In the resort areas, they feed, clothe and educate their
children, largely because of the tourists, but people outside of those
areas may not.

I understand what people are saying here, but I think it is also important
to remember where we are with relation to the rest of the world, count our
blessings, and forgive the occasional envy of someone who does not have a
fraction what even us middle class Americans and Europeans have.

Julie

Joy Hardie <[email protected]> wrote:
    > I just wanted to add that someone mentioned that they would go to
    > Costa Rica next time because they felt like they were stared at so
    > much in the Yucatan for being presumably rich (even though they were
    > not). Well....we would dearly love to go to Costa Rica, but the
    > airfare there is so expensive that you better BE rich!
    > And, I havn't been to Mexico in 20 years, but last time I was there we
    > thoroughly enjoyed the bargaining and haggling and just ignored the
    > begging and groveling and children selling chicklets or things we
    > didn't want. But all in all......yes, they DO look at you like you
    > are rich even if you are not, and quite frankly it didn't bother me
    > one bit. Enjoy the people and their culture, buy the things you want
    > - bring home precious memories. I am not rich and that is one thing
    > about my vacation I truly enjoyed.......it was my vacation to "Feel
    > Rich for a Week."
    > Joy
    >

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

me6

    >Well....we would dearly love to go to Costa Rica, but the
    >airfare there is so expensive that you better BE rich!

Strange

Costa Rica doesn't look THAT far from the Yucatan Penn.
You would think airfare would be abt the same as Mexico

I wonder why it isn't?

me6

    >Well, I think they look at us like we are rich because, by world standards,
    >we are. In other words, by our own standards only a few of us are rich, but
    >when compared to the third world anyone who makes more than a few thousand
    >dollars a year is in the very top of the heap.

Agreed

    >Remember that these people will, most of them, never take a vacation in
    >their lives. In the resort areas, they feed, clothe and educate their
    >children, largely because of the tourists, but people outside of those
    >areas may not.

Understood

    >I understand what people are saying here, but I think it is also important
    >to remember where we are with relation to the rest of the world, count our
    >blessings, and forgive the occasional envy of someone who does not have a
    >fraction what even us middle class Americans and Europeans have.

I agree 100 percent

I didn't mean to come across as being stared at was
such a bad thing. It was just something Im not used
to. Im sort of introverted anyway..... and having
people constantly approach me and want something was
just "different". Not used to it

I come from midwest and we are pretty conservative
people here. Not used to attention. <G>

But in no way did I mean to disrespect the local people
who live in the Yucatan

And yes it was a "tap on the shoulder" as far as how
good we have it in the US. Especially for my 19 yr old
nephew who went with me. he made that same remark as
well

However..... in some strange way I think the people of
the Yucatan have a better life in some ways than we do.
Its hard for me to explain why but I will try.

It seemed to me that less materialism was evident.
Example.... one day we got up and was leaving our room
to go eat breakfast. On way to buffet I passed a local
Mexican worker who was trimming a huge shrub with a
machete! Yes a machete!

I watched him and he was excellent at doing this! It
got me to thinking abt how here in the US we would have
went out and bought some $300 bush trimmer "gadget" to
do the very same thing.

And the workers on the AI used bicycles to haul
materials around. Bicycle with two wheels in front and
one in back and a huge platform on front end for cargo.
Here in the US we would have went out and bought a
$7000 four wheeler or something

And on Cozumel...... it seemed the preferred method of
transport was scooters.... not HUGE suv's

So it was an education of sorts in just how Americans
always look for big expensive "gadgets" whereas a
simpler tool and skills can work just as well.

And this can lead to s simpler life with less
materialism and more time for family and friends and
"life"