Mayan Riviera: Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Chichén Itzá and the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico

Our first visit to Cancun was with our family back in the 1970-80 period during a Caribbean cruise. During this visit we toured Tulum, some marine caves and springs, and took a ride on a giant hovercraft to Cozumel Island.  More about that, later.

Our second visit to Cancun, now referred to as the "Mayan Riviera," was the week 13-20 November 2010. We stayed at the ecological resort, Sandos Caracol, in Playa del Carmen. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable places we have found in Mexico. Unlike the cold, rough Pacific seas with their dangerous, mostly unswimmable beaches, the Yucatán beaches are excellent, with fine, white sand, warm waters, and apparently no annoying sea creatures like sharks or jellyfish.

We were disappointed not to be able to go snorkelling, supposedly one of the better places in the Caribbean. The day we wanted was booked up, and the other two days the reefs were closed due to high seas. However, we were able to spend one day at Chichén Itzá, the most famous of the Mayan cities, and still under archeological excavation and study. Our guide, Simon Chavez, was a treasure trove of knowledge about the Mayan civilization, suggesting that their mathematical skills were so remarkable that had they survived they would have been able to apply themselves to modern space exploration as well as our NASA scientists. He explained the construction and meaning of the glyphs and designs on the stones of the buildings, and how the Mayan tribes played "football" in the world's largest stadium using tarballs several feet in diameter and moving them using only their knees and shoulders. Some games were friendly, but others claimed the lives of the losers, and sometimes even the winning captain. Human sacrifice was practiced, and used to appease the gods who controlled rainfall and crops. If conditions of drought persisted, they would take a child, maybe 10 or 12 years old, dress him in splendor, make him stand on precipice overlooking a 100-foot vertical, cylindrical wall of a cenote filled with 100 feet of water, and shoot him with a bow and arrow causing mortal injury and a death plunge into the waiting water below. All the family and tribal members supported this kind of offering. Only the victim objected!

Sandos Caracol is full of winding paths, including nature walks through the jungle growth, revealing deer, peacocks, racoons, many birds, and several excavations of Mayan ruins. The guest service is regal, and the food and drink superb with great variety and expert preparation. One can receive food and drink all day long without leaving his lounge chair on the beach. This sort of pampering (decadence?) is quite marvellous. Maintenance is incessant. Walks are swept continuously throughout the day. Jungle areas are groomed with rakes. The ring with three donkeys in it is always immaculately clean. Maid service is tops with clean towels and sheets, daily. The TV has about fifty channels but we used it very little. The coffee is bad, and the red wine is mediocre. There were roof leaks flooding a few areas and rooms during the one day we had a torrential downpour; the resort furnishes large umbrellas free for use of all guests. They also run motor carts for transferring luggage and guests checking in or out, and they have guides to explain the natural features and Mayan ruins encountered on their eco tours. Overall, Sandos Caracol must rank as one of the most interesting and delightful resorts. It is particularly suited to children, as well as adults of all ages.

See Merry's photos here Main pyramid at Chichén Itzá


Tourism is a major industry in Mexico. However, there are advisories concerning ongoing problems related to gangs of narcotics traffickers. Other less published problems were revealed during the aftermath of a tragic propane gas explosion at the Princess resort that occurred during our stay at Sandos Caracol. Here is a copy of one article.

Half of Mexican hotel where Canadians killed in explosion ordered closed

 By David Agren, Postmedia News November 20, 2010 3:10 PM

MEXICO CITY—Mexican officials have ordered the hotel where an explosion killed five Canadians last weekend to close about half its rooms after investigators discovered leaks of propane and waste water.

Princess Resort Explosion Damage
In this file photo, rescue workers dig amongst the debris in a hotel in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, after an explosion left seven dead - five tourists from Canada and two Mexican employees - and 17 wounded. Photograph by: Handout, AFP/Getty Images

Javier Diaz Carvajal, Quintana Roo state urban development and environment secretary, told a Saturday news conference, in comments published by the Mexico City newspapers Milenio and El Universal, the indefinite closure was “preventive," and ordered “due to the risk of a new explosion.”

State attorney general Francisco Alor told RadioFormula in Mexico City earlier that investigators had discovered “irregularities” in some hotel installations, along with inappropriate development in areas at the Playa del Carmen resort.

“They’ve been discovering a series of irregularities, a series of demands, ranging from (installations) in areas where there shouldn’t have been construction to underground installations that are showing leaks such as sewage. Now they’ve detected a propane leak in one area. This has taken us the point that the (government) ordered a partial closure,” Alor said.

A hotel employee confirmed Saturday that part of the resort was closed and that guests had been relocated to other rooms on the same property.

Five Canadians and two Mexicans were killed last Sunday when an explosion tore through one of the lobbies at the sprawling Grand Riviera Princess Hotel resort.

Eighteen people were injured.

Family members of one of the dead Canadians have told CBC News that, after the blast, an ambulance taking the woman to hospital ran out of gas along the way and that the family was asked to pay for fuel.

Darlene Ferguson, a 51-year-old grandmother from Edmonton, died in a Cancun hospital after the explosion.

Ferguson’s brother, Barry Hoffman, told CBC that the mother of three was taken to three different medical facilities and that it took three hours before she was treated.

Her daughter, Katie Ferguson, who is a registered nurse, noticed that paramedics put on her mother’s respirator incorrectly, Hoffman said.

Ferguson was in Mexico for her son’s wedding.

The other Canadians killed were Malcolm Johnson, 33, of Nanaimo, British Columbia, who was in Mexico for his wedding; Christopher Charmont, 41, and his nine-year-old son, John, from Drumheller, Alberta.; and Elgin Barron, 51, from Guelph, Ontario.

Attempts to reach a Grand Riviera Princess spokesman Saturday were unsuccessful.

Hotel sales director Juan Llompart had previously told Postmedia News the resort had been regularly inspected and company officials were co-operating with investigators. Playa del Carmen Mayor Roman Quian Alcocer told local media Saturday the most recent civil protection inspection of the hotel would be scrutinized.

“There’s nothing to hide,” he said.

The explosion tore through one of the four lobbies in the resort, which contains two separate hotels on the same property

Prosecutors opened homicide investigations earlier in the week—a routine procedure in Mexico after unexplained deaths.

Alor has said previously investigators are pursuing the theory that there may have been an accumulation of methane gas due to rotting material in waste water, and that the gas ignited.

He was unable to say when investigators would submit a final report to prosecutors on the cause of the explosion, as test results were still pending. Investigators from the army, navy and federal attorney general’s office are participating in the probe.

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