México & Cancun Brief History

About Mexico Officially United Mexican States, republic (1995 est. pop. 93,986,000), 753,665 sq mi (1,952,500 sq km), S North America. It borders on the United States in the north, on the Gulf of Mexico (including its arm, the Bay of Campeche) and the Caribbean Sea in the east, on Belize and Guatemala in the southeast, and on the Pacific Ocean in the south and west. Mexico is divided into 31 states and the Federal District, which includes most of the country's capital and largest city, Mexico City. Land Most of Mexico is highland or mountainous and less than 15% of the land is arable; about 25% of the country is forested. Most of the Yucatán peninsula and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the southeast is lowland, and there are low-lying strips of land along the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of California  In the south the deserts yield to the broad, shallow lakes of a region, comprising the Valley of Mexico, known as the Anáhuac and famous for its rich cultural heritage. South of the Anáhuac, which includes Mexico City, is a chain of extinct volcanoes, including Citlaltépetl , or Orizaba (18,700 ft/5,700 m, the highest point in Mexico), Popocatépetl , and Iztaccihuatl . To the south are jumbled masses of mountains and the Sierra Madre del Sur. People The great majority of the population are of mixed Spanish and indigenous descent and speak Spanish, the official language, as their first language. Various Mayan dialects are also spoken. Since 1920 the population of Mexico has had a very high rate of growth, almost entirely the result of natural increase; from 1940 to 1990 the population grew from 19.6 million to 81.1 million. The resort destination, is one of the most popular in the world and it is in the process of recovering from the impact of Hurricane Wilma. Public and private investment for the rebuilding has totaled $1.5 billion.   Cancun CityProfile   Government officials and investors created the city of Cancun, less than 30 years ago to attract the growing market of sun-seekers from abroad. Cancún boasts terrific infrastructure for receiving and transporting environmental travelers to less congested areas, such as the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve and Celestún. The city currently receives 3 million visitors a year. Vendors at tourism kiosks generally receive a commission, so they rarely have information on community-based or eco-friendly projects.   Diving & Snokeling   The most popular area for snorkeling and diving in Cancún is Punta Nizuc, a national marine park. It became a protected area in July 1996 along with the west coast of Isla Mujeres and Punta Cancún. A portion of every tourist dollar supports park monitoring and conservation efforts. Biologists call this a "sacrificial reef," because it is visited by thousands each year. Although snorkelers are given instructions on exploring the reef in a way that does not harm them, they often disregard them. On my trip here a tourist wanted "just a souvenir. Just a little piece of coral? Please?" The boat guide managed to discourage him, but imagine this happening not once but tens of thousands of times. It's amazing the reef is in as good a condition as it is.   Whe to go   High season begins in mid-December and lasts until about May, which is the dry season. During the summer and fall rates are less expensive, but travelers also risk hurricanes and tropical storms.   Sports   Baseball fans, check out the Tigres. The season runs March-July. Soccer team Atlante won Mexico's Torneo Apertura title in December 2007. Originaly based in Mexico City, Atlante moved to Cancún to improve its fan support.   Isla Mujeres   One of the natural highlights of the Cancún area is Isla Mujeres (Island of Women), also a case study in the dangers of excessive tourism. Millions of people visit Cancún each year, and many take a day trip to the island.   El Garrafón   El Garrafón lagoon is slowly dying, a victim of its own appeal. Snorkeling amongst the minions of tourists, it's more common to see someone else's fins than the local tropical fish, which have swum elsewhere to avoid the churning waters. In addition, too many tourists came and destroy the coral, snatching a piece of it for a souvenir. Efforts are underway to beef up vigilance and improve environmental education.   Isla Contoy   Long, narrow Isla Contoy, established in 1961 as a special biosphere reserve, is one of the most important bird refugees in the Mexican Caribbean. The lack of freshwater supplies have kept the island free of human settlements and have encouraged the survival of the wilderness. The island has extensive coastline, interior lagoons, and mangrove swamps that are home to 70 species of birds including frigate birds, brown pelicans, and double-crested cormorants. Visitors are charged an entry fee that supports the management of the reserve. The island is just an hour's boat ride from Cancún.   Hurriccane Wilma   Hurricane Wilma pounded this Caribbean resort city for several days in October 2005. The storm became a Category 5 hurricane in less than 24 hours and pounded the city for two days and nights. Despite the unusual strength of the hurricane, no casualties among tourists were reported. To reclaim the beaches Belgian company Jan de Nul used two ships that sucked up sand 20 miles off the coast, carried it to the shore and laid down half a mile of beach a week.   A Brief Hitory   Cancún has one of the highest employment rates and per capita incomes in Mexico. To better understand the glamorous image Cancún has sculpted for itself, it's necessary to review its relatively short history. In 1968 the only town in the area was the small fishing village of Puerto Juárez, population 500. That year FONATUR, the national tourism development agency, announced that it would develop a megaresort in this relatively new federal territory (Quintana Roo became a state in 1973). The first resort hotel opened in 1974, and the rest, as they say, is history. The original management plan for Cancún called for a great number of green areas that were to be left as open space. But the success of the hotels called for expansion, and urban encroachment won out over conservation. The financial success of this development plan has colored the notion of "ecotourism" in the region. The focus has been on creating environmentally friendly megahotels that cater to the affluent elite of the ecotourism market. Smaller efforts are simply drowned out by the chorus of loud advertisements and sales promotions at the Cancún airport or at information kiosks. Ask for information on the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve or smaller parks, and you'll likely elicit a blank stare. As tourism agents don't get commissions from these trips, they're not that interested in distributing information about "alternative tourism." In 1996 Mario Villanueva Madrid, the governor of Quintana Roo, proposed a Maya Coast ecotourism corridor. The project attempts to replicate the success of the tourism corridor between Cancún and Tulum. The effort to construct environmentally friendly hotels is noteworthy and commendable, but unless the development also supports conservation measures and includes and benefits local communities, it's hard to call the project "ecotourism."   A few words about Cruise Ships   Environmentalists in the coastal area have long complained that cruise ship traffic along Quintana Roo's tourist corridor could damage the Maya Reef. In December 1997 those fears were realized when the Leeward, a Norwegian-flagged ship of the Norway Cruise Line, sailed directly over Los Cuevones reef, part of the Isla Mujeres marine park near Cancún, "shaving off" 80 percent of that reef. Authorities filed charges against the cruise line and environmentalists mourned the destruction. Oceanographer Roman Bravo Prieto told television reporters that it would take 500 years or more for the reef to recover. ''The damage is worse than if a full-force hurricane had run ashore,'' he said.