Cancun - Mexico

I´m Not as Think as You Drunk I Am

Standing in stark contrast to the quiet, lulling hills of the Costa Rican Highland, Cancun, Mexico is like standing on a Los Angeles highway during rush hour; bumper to bumper traffic, horns, yelling, and thousands of people going absolutely nowhere.

The city itself is composed in two parts. The first being the Hotel Zone, a small narrow strip of land not but 200 meters from the mainland, a quagmire of 4 and 5 star hotels stacked on top of each other all vying for the limited beachfront property. Literally miles upon miles of coast line, track housed with huge monoliths like the Royal Caribbean, the Ritz Carlton, and the Hilton. With all the glittering lights and over-extravagance in juxtaposition to its tranquil surroundings it felt like Las Vegas had been relocated to the beach. The second part is Downtown and, while not as much as a consumerist postcard as the Hotel Zone, is itself littered with American fast food chains and Marriotts and Holiday Inns. Kinda hard to feel like you're in another country when everything around you is American.

I arrived during the tail end of the US University spring break chaos. Each year thousands of co-eds descend upon this high rise resort outpost and spend their time off killing any brain cells they might have accumulated during the preceeding school term. It was a sight to behold. Beach parties during the day time, complete with beer bongs and smashing empty cans on foreheads and huge all-you-can-drink disco parties at night. Girls gone wild was filming in the bars and Cassidy was performing at the concert hall the night I went out... Purely for investigative purposes of course.

When I asked about the nightlife at my hostel, consisting mostly of Aussies and Englishmen, they all responded with the same hesitation, saying it was an experience, but ¨there are a lot of Americans.¨ After witnessing the binge drinking, loud-mouthed, attention seeking attitudes that these kids exhibit over and over again I understood what they meant. They didn´t mean the number of Americans, they meant the type, and it´s not that hard to realize why so many internationals tense up at the sight of a large group of Americans. Kinda like a deer caught in headlights, they don´t know whether to turn and run or freeze in the hopes that they won´t be seen.

It wouldn´t have made a difference with the way these college kids were acting and I was embarrassed. But, I also remember that I was once one of those loud-mouthed drunkards picking fights and pretending everywhere I went was at a Frat party. I guess it´s just a part of our youth culture that we grow out of a couple years out of college. Yet, I still saw men in their 30´s and 40´s slamming down meter high glasses of booze and singing old Fraternity songs.

After two days of reliving my college years, I am ready for a change of pace, which was just around the corner, or off the shore, I should say in the form of the much more laid back Isla Mujeres. My dad and sister are flying in this evening and the next day we'll take the morning ferry over and spend the week there. In the mean time, I'll have to ride out the Sig Ep brotherhood songs and and binge drinking debauchery for at least one more night.