Yucatan - Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Isla Holbox

By Vivien Lougheed

This book is based on one special section of our much larger Adventure Guide to the Yucatan. Adventure Guides show you how to experience the places you visit more directly, freshly, intensely than you would otherwise – sometimes best done on foot, in a ca

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hunter Publishing
• Release date: Jul 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9781588437303

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History

What we call Cancún, the city, the Maya called Ekab or Black Earth. They called the coast Kankún, meaning pot of snakes. Tulum was a fortress and trading center for the 50,0000 people living at Cobá; Xaman-ha is now called Playa del Carmen and Puerto Pole was originally Xcaret. In the areas inhabited by Maya, there were 24 distinctly different languages spoken by those with similar physical features and cultural practices. Thus, the various names that appear for Maya gods are often different. For example, the Rain God is refered to as Haac by some and Chaac by others. And the Sun God can be referred to as AhKin or Kinich Ahau.

After the conquest those who survived the new diseases and the warfare migrated to Isla Mujeres and Cozumel. Ekab was left to encroaching jungle and pirate hovels. Huge cities like Chicken Itzá and Uxmal were abandoned.

In an attempt to capture some of the international tourist trade in the late 1960s, the Bank of Mexico did a feasibility study, now dubbed Cancún, Bankers' Fantasy, and then obtained a $27 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank to build the first structure on the island. At the time, there were three caretakers at a coconut plantation on Isla Mujeres and another 117 people living in the nearby fishing village of Puerto Juárez. Ekab was deserted then.

Investors didn't clamor to get a spot along the sandy strip, so the Mexican government and the Bank of Mexico built nine hotels, with the first of those being Playa Blanca, now called Blue Bay Village. This is just one example of how private enterprise sometimes has to be shown the way by government. Once Club Med arrived, others followed, until the strip grew to 140 hotels with 28,000 hotel rooms serviced by 380 restaurants, with half being foreign-owned. Construction workers lived on the mainland in what eventually became the city of Cancún, with a population that grew to about 600,000.

During the monumental task of construction, 60 miles (100 km) of sewer lines were installed, 595 acres (240 ha) of topsoil was brought in (half was used for the golf course), and four million sq feet (372,000 sq m) of mangrove was destroyed.

Cancún is in the main Caribbean hurricane impact zone but, since its founding, there have been only two main hits: Gilbert in 1988 and Wilma in 2005. During Wilma, winds up to 150 mph (240 kmh) ravaged the hotels, killing three people and causing $5-$8 billion in damage. Eight miles (12 km) of beach was lost, leaving a shore of unappealing jagged rocks. After the storm passed, the area lost about $15 million per day from lack of tourism, which helped encourage rapid reconstruction.

The beaches were widened with new sand, hotels were upgraded and more restaurants were added. Within a year 90% of the restoration was completed and business was back to normal.

Maya Gods

There are about 200 Maya gods responsible for about 400 things. Some of their responsibilities seem to overlap and some gods are assigned very odd combinations of things to do. This is the way with gods, but archaeologists are still trying to figure out the whole system.

Acan God of wine (the name means to groan)

AhKin    God of the sun and protector against darkness

AhMun       God of corn

AhPuch God of the underworld

Buluc God of war

Cancum God of hunting

Chaac God of rain

Cuxtal God of childbirth

Hunab KuThe Supreme Creator or God of Gods

Hurakan God of wind and rain

Itzamna Moon God (creator for some Maya groups)

IxChel Goddess of weavers and women in childbirth

Kisin        God of death (the stinking one)

Getting Here & Around

Cancún is two cities. First, there is the bustling center, on the mainland, where business occurs, buses converge and locals live. There are Wal-Marts, Comercial Mexicanas and numerous Chedrauis department stores, Office Depot, Blockbuster and Costco, along with five-star hotels, used mainly by business people. Many excellent restaurants and bars here are patronized mostly by locals because they are less expensive than anything in the Hotel Zone.

The Hotel Zone, a narrow strip of land about 13 miles (22 km) long, situated between Laguna Bojorques and the Caribbean Ocean, is an island joined to the mainland by bridges at Punta Nizuc and Playa Linda. The Hotel Zone is shaped like a seven, with the longer strip more exposed to heavy wave action than the beaches along the north or short side of the seven. The north shore beaches are protected by Isla Mujeres and see less wave action.

Boulevard Kukulkan, a four-lane paved highway running the entire length of the strip, is serviced by local buses, taxis, private vehicles and hotel shuttles. The north and east side of the