In search of a Maya...

KWe are flying back from Cancun to Houston, and I am reflecting on the oddness that is the modern "Riviera Maya."  Just for fun the last few days, as we drove back and forth a few times on the 100 mile highway that runs its length, I started writing down the names of some of the self contained resorts and entertainment features:  grand Mayan, Mayan palace, Tulum Dreams, mayakoba, Barcelo', Carmelo', x-plo, Serenis, Jolie Jungle. It's all very "grand" and either very snobby or very Disney.  Or both.  But if you'd been here last, twenty five years ago... What a sad cartoon of a very magnificent culture and civilization that you can't find anymore!  You can't even find the Mayan food.  Along the coast you can no longer find much of the delicous savory orange-lime marinated cuisine of the area, the cochinita pibil, the poc chuuc.    You can find pretty good Mexican and veracruz seafood. And the mexican folks who have moved here from all parts of Mexico, to staff it all, are a lot of fun.  But the Mayans and their cuisine and their beautiful matriarchal society, their dignified elegant way of dressing, seem mostly to be in hiding -- you can see a few Mayan faces here and there, guarding cenotes, selling hammocks, but, mostly they seem to hang out in hard to find small enclaves well inland and well screened from the silly highway.  And with them has also gone the simple palapa architecture, the sandy floors, the simple hammocks, the easy access to the crescent beaches and the cenotes and the lagoons. And because i know that this culture  used to be here, and that it is still to be found a little ways inland, where Mayan dads can still be seen bicycling their huipil-wearing wives and kids around in pedicabs, I miss it.

As far as the option of coming here to stay at a big all inclusive hotel on a remote beach... Compared to staying in a town or village...  I'd have to say that The Fairmont Mayakoba, the site of my conference, though it had some nice features, was actually the most boring luxury hotel I've ever visited. I actually felt very sorry for the doctors at my conference who had elected to stay there.  The variety and spice that we had from staying in an actual seaside town, with actual Mexicans sharing it with us, was not  even perceptible  there at all.... There were very cordial polite Mexicans on site doing useful things like driving us around in electric golf carts and valet parking our cars, smiling a lot, but.... Really!    And like many of the resorts and Eco parks, the sanitized version of the Mayan natural world created for us to see there was completely uninspiring.   When Craig and I walked into the swampy forest down in the ruins of Muyil or Xel-ha or Coba, especially in the early mornings, we surprised all kinds of creatures, giant lizards and iguanas and squirrels and heard lots of birdsong. Walking the manicured walkways of Mayakoba, along their channeled lagoons which are such a silly travesty of the actual wild mangrove swamps, I heard... Almost nothing. Strained to hear even some birdsong.  Hardly a peep.  We didn't pay to go in any of the "Eco" parks but I imagine its the same.  Similarly when we found some of the little remnants of beaches which don't yet have hotels on them, we found crab tracks and bird tracks and a flamingo or two... A few dunes... a few rocks... a few tidepools.... But the fancy Mayakoba, the "all inclusive" style resort, has a hard packed machine swept clean beach about ten feet wide, with a view about a quarter mile down on each side to--- more resorts!  

We love the life and vigor of the small old beach hotels and beach towns. Part of the fun is wondering who will show up to party and dance usually mexican style at one of the remaining low budget seashore restaurants, which come into existence for the sunlit hours then fade away.  To see friends greet each other and catch up and laugh as locals do about the latest gossip.... To try out the different competing small restaurants and cafes so you can people watch and interact with both locals, and other adventurous tourists... But in these self contained hotels, sometimes there is a string of them in a row, what you mainly see are overly tanned visitors who are clearly strangers to each other, who spend most of their time lying flat with eyes closed with nothing much on, with the younger ones spending their energy  to play organized beach volleyball.  Me, I'd rather see some local girl and guy dancing!  A couple doing wedding photos on the beach.... to meet a local dog or cat... And buy a coffee, beer, or limonada on the street, rather than run up the hotel tab. 

So... Stay in a beach town like Puerto Morelos or playa.... And/or, Rent a room in a b&b on a bay somewhere with a few competing restaurants down the beach... Wherever you are, lock up your valuables carefully, or take stuff with you, 'cause petty theft does exist... But it exists in the big smarmy hotels as well, and no one in the Riviera is wanting to harm you!  They just need cash like we all do... Spend your money locally where it may do some good... Leave some tips.... And have fun!  And you just may spot a Mayan...now and then...

Also see... 

http://articles.philly.com/1987-12-27/news/26206721_1_dive-shops-quintana-roo-chetumal

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