American Movies & Mexican Audiences...

Last night Jen & I went to Cinemex in what I call the Home Depot Plaza (behind Home Depot at the west end of Coba) and saw The Campaign. It's funny enough, if you like Will Ferrell movies. At one point in the movie, Ferrell, who plays an infantile North Carolina fat boy-turned-Senator (think George W Bush before he found Jesus at age 40) and his naive gay opponent (think Richard Simmons' lamer brother) have some drinks together and Ferrell, in party mode, cries out, "We are going to Cancun...!!"

The trash-talking scene in The Candidate

Looking for Market 28? This AIN'T It!

Jen & I live 5 minutes from Market 28, Cancun's main market. It's a great place to shop (Market 21 is slightly cheaper, but much smaller). Tourists flock to this place to buy everything from shot glasses & T-shirts to silver rings & porcelain pottery (photos below).

Almost every day we pass along a road called Tankah, that runs south from Market 28. And almost every day, when we return, we pass a large shop called Plaza 28. And almost every day, when we do, we see a group of white-clad men standing nearby, shouting something about Market 28 at passing tourists.

Buying Water - Agua Men-a-Poo!

I've blogged before about the water here in Cancun. We still buy most of ours in 20L bottles ($2), from one of the army of men who ride, drive, or otherwise roll through every area selling it. You'll be sitting at home, or lying in a hammock writing a blog post, and hear "Agua! Agua! Agua!"

 

Mexico's Day of the Revolution

Statues of revolutionaries at the National Museum of the Revolution

November 20th (tomorrow) is Mexico’s Día de la Revolución (Day of the Revolution). It’s not Independence Day, and it’s not Cinco de Mayo (which celebrates the Mexican victory over the French during the battle of Puebla in a war that Mexico eventually lost).

More Ants! (Best Story So Far)

I've blogged before about ants. A lot.

I've blogged about ants at Xcaret, ants in our cereal, ants in our hostel, ants on our pizza, ants in our fan...

Some of those stories are worth reading, but yesterday we had an ant experience like no other...

I was sitting in our living room, merrily adding anecdotes to our website (anecdotage.com - home to thousands of funny anecdotes), when suddenly I heard a scream. It was Jen and there was a problem: ants in the bedroom.

Actually, that wasn't really the problem. We've had ants in the bedroom before. Big ants, medium-sized ants, and little ants. But this time, the problem was wee, teeny, tiny ants. And they weren't in the bedroom per se...

Paletas: Amazing Mexican Popsicles!

Paletas - so good they'll make your vision blurry!

One of our favorite things in here is so-called Paletas -- Mexican ice pops! 

These popsicles are amazing, and Mexicans love them too. In fact, one city in Michoacan even raised a statue of a paleta at the entrance to the town!


I had managed to forget about paletas (they are verrrry addictive) until I came across a story in the LA Times about how they are becoming more popular with Latin Americans in the US, and who can blame them...

"Chock-full of chunks of fresh fruit and available in a hypnotizing array of colors and clear, not-too-sweet flavors -- conjure images of hot afternoons in the park, time spent on a bench under a shady tree, clear blue skies dotted with red, white and green balloons..."

Damn you LA Times!

Jen & I are going home for Christmas soon & won't be able to get any of these in Canada. 

Maybe we need to buy a cooler so we can bring some back with us :)

I did an interview for blogexpat! You can check it out here :)

Sexy Mexican Women!

I'm busy with our newly launched website anecdotage.com (30,000 funny anecdotes about celebrities) but I'm still trying to post something every day...

Pressed for time, what's a busy blogger to do? Simple answer: post something about sex! What sells better than sex, sex, and more sex?

In that spirit, I just googled "sexy mexican women." I always knew Mexican women were sexy but I'm still amazed by what I found...

In addition to the obvious pictures of sexy Mexican celebrities like Salma Hayek...

Zapped!

Jen & I love the house we're renting, but there are a few things we'd fix if we ever bought the place.

One evening when our friend Jesse was visiting recently, we went out on the patio to play with our dog Diablo in front of the house, just to the right, behind the fence, in this photo...

Public Hygiene in Cancun... Ewww!

Jen's been nursing a cold for more than a week & I've still got the cough I blogged about (here) more than a month ago. We expected to be sick more often here, and we have been, but we expected to encounter digestive issues, not respiratory infections. It's hard to believe...

At least it was until recently.

I won't go so far as to say that Mexicans are less hygienic than other North Americans (hey, my dad once saw a skanky woman drop her pants and urinate in a busy gas station parking lot in the middle of the day), but Jen & I have now seen a few things which help to explain how we keep getting sick.

Here's my top 3...

Beep! Beep! Honking in Cancun...

Near Plaza Las Americas in Cancun

Jen, and I ride our bicycles almost everywhere here. Though guidebooks often warn tourists not to ride bikes and scooters, I often marvel at the decency of the average Mexican driver. Their reputation seemed undeserved.

More Funny Spanish - Calzones!

Living in Cancun, I often find myself trying to communicate with Mexicans who speak very little English. Because I speak very little Spanish, I often have to try to guess what the Spanish equivalent of a word might be.

While shopping the other day I saw a sign that made me laugh. It also reminded me that attempting to communicate the way I do can be a tricky proposition.

The sign said simply... "Calzones (Boxers)."

Mmmm - calzones...

Cheap Night Out in Cancun

Just a quick post to illustrate how you can live in Cancun for a few dollars a day.


Jen & I went to the casino for brunch. Cost: 75 pesos each, which we won back with our free credits (as we often do).

 

Later we hit McDonald's for dinner. Tuesday is Big Mac day. Cost: 44 pesos each.


Then we saw the new Bond movie (Skyfall) tonight. Tuesday is 2-for-1 night at Cinemex. Cost: 25 pesos each.

 

We also stopped at Elite Cyclery to get my rear derailleur cable (and some cable housing) replaced. Cost 50 pesos.

So, to sum up, I fixed my bike & got dinner & a movie for about $10, 
roughly half what I would have paid for the repair alone at home...

Cancun.. I'm lovin' it.

Fire Ants at Xcaret?

Jen & I just returned from a road trip south of Cancun. Among our stops was a visit to Xcaret (which was fun but, we, felt, vastly overpriced compared to the other theme parks in the area). 

The first thing we did was the "guided jungle tour," a 1 hour tour through a few dozen metres of jungle, culminating in stops at a chicle tree (where we chewed real chicle) and a large orchid greenhouse & edible fungus farm.

At one point, I looked down & noticed a funny looking grey insect at my hand & asked the guide what it was. "Ant," she said. Then I asked her if there were any dangerous ants, like fire or bullet ants, in the area. No, she said.

Hahahaha. Jen & I have both received pretty painful bites from ants here &/or in Belize so I
didn't believe her for a second...

Dolphin Sex... That's Not His Hand!

A pair of dolphins mating, while a friend swims nearby without a hint of embarrassment

Jen & I just returned from a road trip south of Cancun. Among our stops was a visit to Dolphin Discovery. While Jen was swimming with the dolphins, I was videotaping the festivities and watching a trainer teach a youngster to fetch balls and hoops.

Jen & I both learned all sorts of interesting facts about these amazing creatures. But I just found some interesting facts (here) that they neglected to cover!

Mexicans in the United States

So many of the people we meet here claim to have lived in the United States that I was beginning to wonder if some of them were lying. Then I read this in a recent article in the Economist about business in Mexico: 

Mexico is unusual in that it not only has a globalised elite but also a globalised peasantry. The rich study in the United States; the poor mop floors there. Both groups benefit their homeland. The elite pick up skills and contacts at American universities, which help Mexican firms do business with their giant neighbour. Migrant mop-wielders send money home to poor Mexican villages. The scale of border-straddling is colossal. One Mexican in ten lives in the United States—some 12m people. Add in the descendants of Mexicans born in the United States and the number is 33m. This creates a market for Mexican products: Corona is the most popular imported beer north of the border.

Renting a Car in Cancun - Cheated by Alamo!

Alamo - Return Unhappy?*

Jen & I just spent a few days south of Cancun in the Riviera Maya. We rented a car from Alamo & had a slight problem. Here's the letter Jen wrote (& sent to the local office and the American HQ). I've added some comments in square brackets & I'll post an update if/when the issue is resolved: