First of
all you should considerer that Cancun is a relatively new tourist
destination. Thirty years ago, the only larger town in the east of the
Yucatan peninsula (where Cancun is located) was Merida.
But in
the 70s, the former Mexican president, Echeverilla, started an ambitious
project to build up a new resort even further in the east, towards the
Caribbean Sea. The place chosen was a deserted sand spit, somewhere offshore
near a little fishing village, called Puerto Juarez. The name of the
uninhabited place was Snake's Nest, but of course in Maya language: Cancun.
It is
hard to imagine how everything started. There was nothing more than jungle and
mosquitoes at that time. Even a road had to be built through the jungle to be
able to reach the eastern part of the Yucatan peninsula. Cancun was the first
ever large project which this part of the country had ever seen.
Today, three decades later, Cancun, once a forgotten jungle village, has
grown into one of the world's greatest and most visited vacation resorts.
Especially during the first two decades, the Mexican government pushed the
project by investing itself vast amounts of money into the infrastructure of
the area.
Now, Cancun- Mexico has well paved roads, stable
water and electricity supply and everything that you would expect from a world
class resort area. This island has also one of the largest reef systems
worldwide; the unique Cenotes for scuba divers, and great and friendly people
living there.
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| In these photographs compares “The Bleak Cancun” in 1978; in contrast with the “Tourist” one in 2010, which is the version that everybody knows… |
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| And the version that I really enjoyed with the best company |
