Introduction

On a quest to add more stamps to my passport, I decided that my next vacation would be somewhere in the Caribbean. I originally planned to go to Negril as a birthday gift to myself, but those plans fell apart at the last minute. Traveling to Nassau was beyond my budget, and the trade embargo meant that visiting Havana was out of the question. I settled on Cancún as my "south of the border" destination for fun ... but the change of plans forced me to push my trip back nearly two months.

Leap Year Day

When my flight touched down at the airport on Sunday afternoon, I stood in line to clear customs. Once I finished dealing with the agent, I boarded a shuttle van to go to the Chac Mool Hostel. We meandered through the hotel zone, dropping off passengers as I took in the sights of American-oriented lodging chains and fast-food restaurants. While seeing familiar icons from the United States didn't bother me, I was troubled by the homogenous look of high-rise complexes lining Kukulcán Boulevard. (It reminded me of the Las Vegas Strip, minus sand and water.)

If the hotel zone was a scaled-down version of a big city, the downtown area was a better reflection of what Cancún is really like. Dozens of storefront shops dotted the neighborhood as residents and tourists shuffled to and fro. Heavy traffic made its way along Tulum Avenue and other major thoroughfares as the van headed toward the hostel. The driver turned onto a side street, and we eventually found ourselves going in circles. Eager to reach my destination, I got out and walked the short distance to the hostel.