We landed in Cancun, a worse version of the Canadian border side of Niagara Falls. The public beach is the most beautiful spot in all of Cancun, and then as you pass that, it just goes downhill from there. Luckily it’s not high time for college students, so there weren’t so many people partying insanely. Still, we saw a topless woman, and Frat guys screaming on a boat, blasting LMFAO. Not exactly my scene. The beaches are lined from end to end with monstrous hotels. It’s hard to enjoy the beauty with such horrific modernization everywhere around you. If you don’t want to feel like you’re too far from home, Cancun is the place for you. Where you can still enjoy your TGIFriday’s and Hard Rock Café. Even though it may feel like the USA, you still have a woman juggling in the middle of the street, people coming up to you wanting to sell this and that, and packs of stray dogs.
Now that we’re driving out of Cancun and past all the houses of working class Mexicans, I feel that we’ll finally be experiencing the real Mexico. It’s similar to India in many ways (the buildings, stray dogs, people on the side of the road, etc), but somehow the people here seem to be trying to rip you off a lot less. I very proudly had a conversation in Spanish with the woman at the bodega while buying water, and I peered my head over the counter to see what the cost was on the computer, 15 Pesos, when she say quince to me.
We couldn’t find anything remotely authentic in Cancun, so we asked the tourist bureau at our hotel for a recommendation and she said Mextreme as “good, real Mexican food.” It was as silly looking as the jungle themed place we ate at in India, with the safari-suited waiters. Still, it’s probably the best place to eat in Cancun. I had really good Guacamole, my mom had a yummy looking Aztec Soup, my dad had a Cheese Quesadilla, and Julian had Cheese Enchiladas. I hope we eat some street food soon!
