Cancun/Riviera -- no longer cheap. The following is based
on an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The cost of the average room on Mexican Beaches is up $14 a night
based on rooms booked on Orbitz. That exceeds the 8% "official"
inflation index. Cancun averaged $200 a night while you could stay
in Barcelona Spain, the top European destination for only $194. The
Riviera Maya's average room was even more expensive, at $285. The
entire Hotel average in Mexico is $210 a night while the average room
in Europe is $196 a night.
Cancún, Mexico's No. 1 beach destination, averaged $200 a
night, compared with $194 in Barcelona, Spain, the top European destination.
Better news: Mexico's No. 5, Riviera Maya, slipped in at $18 a night
less than the $303 it costs to stay in Mykonos, Greece, Europe's No.
5. But even that didn't stop Mexico's overall average of $210 a night
from edging past Europe's $196 a night. The article's recommendation?
Try the Costa Maya where rooms are under $100 even in high season.
(Note: The rooms at Mayan Beach garden are still under $100 and we
include a full breakfast!)
Mexico drying up On-line article by John Roos, Jun 13, 2007
The Northern part of Mexico is drying up and blowing away at an accelerating
rate. Fifty Four percent of Mexico's land surface, is desert and the
percentage is increasing at a rate of 2 percent a year. Why should
we care here in Quintana Roo? NASA satellite over flights of the northern
states show spreading swatches of bone-white, waterless desert. Also
of concern are 38 Mexican cities including Cancun which are running
out of water and could be dry in a decade. Quintana Roo is one of
Mexico's two wettest states and UNAM, National Autonomous University
(UNAM) Climate Study Center anticipates a 20% decrease in rainfall
by 2080.
Giant conglomerates are being blamed for this, but because of Nepotism
in Mexican government, there doesn't seem to be any way to stop this.
For example, Lala, the giant dairy company has been granted permits
to drill 250 wells in the Cuatrocienegas international biosphere.
Last July, UNAM biologist Valeria Souza discovered that since the
CONAGUA authorized the drilling of Lala’s wells, 70 percent of
the aquifers in some valleys have vanished and the geology of the
region, which for 35,000 years remained unaltered, is turning into
desert. Lala is not alone; Bochoco chicken (there is a Bochoco chicken
shop in Mahahaul) Pepsi Co, Coca-cola and others all suck up ground
water in largely waterless states.
Latin American Popularity contest. Polls taken throughout
Latin America in May showed that despite Mexico's troubled election,
Calderon, the current president has very high approval rating. Ecuadorian
President Rafael Correa is the most popular leader in Latin America
with 76 percent approval rating, according to a study by the Mexican
pollster Consulta Mitofsky. At the bottom of the list -- Mexico's
neighbor: Guatemala's president Oscar Berga.
| President |
Country |
% approval |
| Rafael Correa |
Ecuador |
76 |
| Álvaro Uribe |
Colombia |
75 |
| Felipe Calderón |
Mexico |
65 |
| Hugo Chávez |
Venezuela |
65 |
| Evo Morales |
Bolivia |
64 |
| Daniel Ortega |
Nicaragua |
61 |
| Tabaré Vázquez |
Uruguay |
60 |
| Néstor Kirchner |
Argentina |
57 |
| Manuel Zelaya |
Honduras |
57 |
| Antonio Saca |
El Salvador |
56 |
| Óscar Arias |
Costa Rica |
55 |
| Nicanor Duarte |
Paraguay |
54 |
| Michelle Bachelet |
Chile |
51 |
| Alan García |
Peru |
49 |
| Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva |
Brazil |
49 |
| Leonel Fernández |
Dom. Rep. |
38 |
| Martín Torrijos |
Panama |
24 |
| Óscar Berger |
Guatemala |
20 |
The Tapir is "Culpable" - In the evening of July
3rd when most of you were planning your 4th of July picnic (and I
was smelling cooking pig in the ground) Gabe Zarnoti and Cindy Crawford
were on their way back from Chetumal when their Suburban slammed head-on
to a Baird's Tapir on Cafetal highway at km 38. The headlines in the
paper the next day were "The Tapir is "Culpable" and
in Latin American style, pictures of the dead tapir laying in its
own blood were on the front page of the Quintana Roo Diario. Inside,
there were pictures of the totaled Suburban along with fairly consistently
inaccurate information about the wreck. Another newspaper featured
pictures of Gabe and Cindy. The good news is that only the Tapir died.
There were two other passengers in the car, one of which had to be
med-evaced to the US, but the others suffered only minor injuries.
Tales of Tapirs dominated our 4th of July celebration the next day.
As an FYI - the Tapir they hit was in the neighborhood of 750 pounds
and is the largest indigenous mammal in North America. The endangered
Tapir is related more to horses and rhinos, but most of the locals
call them "Elephantes" or big pig. They like swampy land,
which is quite true of the landscape around Cafetal, although this
was quite an unusual event.
7th wonder of the world - Chichen Itza - Thanks to a remarkable
marketing campaign on the part of the Mexican Tourist board, Chichen
Itza has been voted as one of the "new" 7 wonders of the
world. For weeks, television adds have been running 10 times a day
urging Mexicans to vote on-line. Apparently it worked. The press release
from the Tourist board stated "Thanks to all the people who voted,
Chichen Itza today is a new wonder of the world, considered an icon
of universal importance for humanity. As a result of this global and
democratic selection process, the world will know Mexico for one of
its 173 archaeological jewels, tangible evidence of the plurality
and ethnic richness of the country's past. We invite the world to
visit and enjoy this impressive treasure, a symbol of the archaeological
wealth of the Mayan world. " As nice as I think Chichen Itza
is, I cast my vote for Machu Pichu which really does inspire wonder.
SPOTLIGHT ON YOUR NEIGHBORS
No new spotlight this month, but if you are new to the newsletter,
you might want to check out: http://www.mayanbeachgarden.com/PropertyOwners_spotlight.html
HOMES FOR RENT IN UVERO AND PLACER - Long term and vacation
rentals
PLACER: Many of you vacation in Cancun or Akumal or somewhere in big
resorts and only come visit your property for a day. What a shame!
The Costa Maya is a great place to vacation -- it takes at least a
week to appreciate the beauty and get into the rhythm. We encourage
you to visit the area for a longer period of time. Staying in a beach-home
gives you an opportunity to see what you would like to have in your
own home. We represent several owners homes and offer them for rent
on our website. We'll be adding some new homes soon that are currently
in construction, so please take a minute to look at what's there.
We even have houses that are air-conditioned if you want to visit
in August but don't feel you can "take the heat!" Also,
please take note that mid December - end of March fill up fast, so
you might want to get your name in and put a hold on a property, we
only have a couple of vacancies left for Christmas. http://www.mayanbeachgarden.com/Rental_Homes.html.
LONG TERM RENTALS
UVERO: Many of you visited Dr. Greg Zeman's home before he
died. His house is now available for vacation rental, sale or long
term lease. The large one-story two bedroom house has a built-in care-taker,
fans and air-conditioning in the bedrooms. The fully furnished house
runs on a combination of solar and generator and includes washer and
dryer, satellite TV and other amenities. Pets allowed. Here is a link
to that house: http://www.mayanbeachgarden.com/Rental_Homes_zeman.html.
DISCLAIMER
The editor of this newsletter (me) makes no claims that the information
here is completely true. I am not a news reporter, Spanish is not
my native language and this is not my primary business, but rather
a service to the neighborhood. If you find something untrue PLEASE
let me know and I will print a disclaimer. I try to verify the information
but even the newspaper prints up rumors, so I can only report what
I read and hear. THANKS!!!!!
Until Next month...
Regards from your Costa Maya Neighbor
Marcia
Mayan Beach Garden, Boutique hotel on the Costa Maya
www.mayanbeachgarden.com
