Riviera
Maya
Hotel Occpancy Rate
Hotel Occupancy as of 2/22/02:
Available Rooms--43,983
Occupied Rooms--35, 533
Rate of Occupancy--83.0%
Same Time Last Year:
Available Rooms--40,293
Occupied Rooms--34,923
Rate of Occupancy--86.6%
Difference in Occupancy:+4.61%
The Second Largest Wedding
Just over a week ago the second biggest
wedding in the history of the Riviera Maya occurred at Xcaret. Since
Xcaret does not normally host events of this type, it had to be something
big. The groom is a King of cruise ship
corporations, Carnival and the bride is the queen of the Mayan Riviera
eco-cultural theme parks, Xcaret. The nuptials took place in the park
offices just 4.5 kilometers down the beach from Playa del Carmen.
The groom brought a ton of promise in
a cruise passenger tourism plan and the bride is providing the home
port for the big ships with the construction of a deep water harbor
for off loading the folks that want to visit the Riviera Maya's paradise
playground.
That the impact of this union on tourism
in the Riviera Maya is probably only second to the development of
Cancun is undeniable. The initial investment for the development of
port and associated facilities is $35 million dollasr. The numbers
are these: 1300 construction and 3900 operation employees by 2003.
By 2006 the projection is for 11,300 operation employees. The projection
for passengers or guests is 50,000 in 2004 and 192,000 in 2006. The
expected return on this investment is 46.5 million dollars in 2004
and 90 million dollars by 2006. That is only the beginning.
The impact on the local economies of
Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Akumal and others will be thunderous. There
has been a rumor for the last few years of an international airport
being planned about 10 kilometers or so outside of Playa de Carmen
that will probably come to fruition and take the strain off of the
Cancun International Airport. There is excess hotel room capacity
in towns up and down the Mayan Coast that will soon be filled. The
many restaurants, bars, shops and related tourist businesses that
have been singing the blues will be on the good foot if they can hang
on about a year and a half longer as the tourists are on the way.
The only question is whether the impact
of this ingression of new humans that need water, food and drainage
treatment throws the local ecology out of balance. Or, will the developers
be sensitive to this emerald paradise and resist the urge to turn
it into another Cancun or Cozumel and let it develop as the ecological
wonder of Mexico that it already is.
Also, what makes the Riviera Maya more
interesting than many tourist venues is the mystery of the land and
the ancient Mayan civilizations. The Mayan culture has been embraced
as part of the tourism experience and not as a sideshow. The key part
of that cultural experience is the land, because the land shapes the
way people live and behave. As long as the developers and politicians
hold that thought in mind the Riviera Maya will be a sweet ripe fruit
that will last a long time.
(By the way, the biggest wedding was between
the developers of Cancun Island and the poor folks who sold their
land to them.)
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Blood and Sand in Cancun
A matador
survived a serious attack by a very talented Spanish Fighting bull.
The matador was was knocked down and gored by the raging animal. Toreros
rapidly came to the felled matador's assistance and distracted the
animal. The matador was quickly taken to the American Hospital where
he underwent surgery to repair his damaged left leg. He is expected
to fully recover.
In the 12 year history of La Plaza de
Toros Bonampak Bullfight Ring in Cancun there have only been 4 incidents
of gored toreros. No toreros have been killed.
Many bulls have.
If you are interested in seeing a direct
connection with Spain's colonial influence on Mexico and a beautiful
pageant surrounding a serious blood sport, then La Plaza de Bonampak
is the place to be on Wednesdays. Any, taxi driver can tell you where
to find La Plaza de Bonampak and would be glad to take you there.
If you arrive before 11:00 am you should have no trouble finding a
seat. It is not for the faint of heart or squeamish.
If after a day at the bullfights you
still have an appetite, then you should cross the street to the famous
Yucateco (Yucatan) restaurant of Los Almendros. Try the Panuchos de
Cochinita and a cold Montejo beer, and you will thank yourself for
being in Cancun. No, bull.
Photos by Voz del Caribe
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News
& Reviews
Here
is where we post local news and possible points of interests, if you
are planning to visit the the Riviera Maya and Cancun area. We will
also have occassional reviews of restaurants, beach clubs, nightclubs,
beaches, cafes, musical events, shops, stores and just about whatever
grabs our interests here in the Land of the Maya. Some of the news
or reviews will be posted as a window link from the related places
of interest. We will at all times try to keep a sense of humor.
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Bip
Bip, Restaurant and Bar
 
The
many choices of restaurants in Playa del Carmen and the surrounding
area are much more than you could ever experience in a one
or two week vacation. In downtown Playa del Carmen, within
a 4-block radius from the beach there are well over 200 places
to eat food of some sort. Probably 8 or so of those places
are chain related, Mc D's, Burger King, Subway, T.G.I.F. Fridays,
and a few other American related. Hooters even tried to make
a go of it in Playa del Carmen. They lasted about 3 months.
(For future reference to investors in Hooter franchises-stay
far away from beach towns and definitely, stay away from towns
with topless beaches). There are also some Mexican chain restaurants
such as 100% Natural and Senor Frogs, as well as a few formulaic
or theme type establishments on the upscale side with prices
to match.
Then you have the restaurants
that are operating from a tried and true formula of offering
good food, good service and good prices. It sounds almost
to good to be true, but in Playa del Carmen it is. One of
the best restaurants in Playa del Carmen goes by the unassuming
name of Bip Bip (pronounced: Beep Beep). Bip Bip does something
that all good restaurants should aspire to do, but few, except
the best, accomplish. A good restaurant should aspire to provide
consistent preparation of their dishes and they should do
that with the freshest foods. Of course, there is one caveat:
A good restaurant must have good dishes from the start.
Bip Bip provides an amazingly
broad menu of international cuisine that leans toward the
North American palette mixed with classic Mexican dishes and
some regional specialties. There are few restaurants, if any,
in Playa del Carmen with such a breadth of dishes. For example,
what restaurant in Playa del Carmen--other than a pizzeria--has
over 20 different types of pizza on the menu? The answer is:
only Bip Bip. And, they also have burgers, salads and sandwiches.
All food is prepared fresh and taste like homecooking.
My wife and I recently drove
back to Playa del Carmen from California. On the final leg
of the trip across the Yucatan Peninsula between Villa Hermosa
and Playa we were planning our first meal options at Bip Bip.
Our lists consisted of the Steak Milanesa, Steak Tampicana,
Seafood Soup, steak or chicken brochettes hot off the charcoal
grill, or the delicious Mexican platter, or the famous regional
Mayan Tiki Chik whole fish prepared in local spices wrapped
and cooked in a banana leaf to seal the flavors or the charcoal
grilled whole fish or lobster, or maybe fajitas. We settled
on the steak dishes with huge salads and plotted our next
Bip Bip dinner. (A tip: If you are a seafood lover--as I am--ask
a day or so ahead for the special lobster, shrimp, conch,
octpus, calamari and fish grilled platter. It can be prepared
for four or more people. It is the best seafood platter that
I ever had. It is a short story in itself. If you order it
be ready to eat well and hearty.)
After the meal we had drinks
at Bip Bip's Bar with the friendly owner/chef Javier and the
pour till you say "when" bartender Pedro. A Canadian
couple from Edmonton said that they voted Pedro the best bartender
in Playa. I agreed. The service is friendly, prompt and attentive.
The atmosphere is pleasant and tropical with a huge tree that
has a wildly arrayed trunk in the courtyard setting. No one
seems to know what type of tree it is, but it is definitely
a reason for another round. For a change of pace drink that
is refreshing try the Iguana or the Bip Bip. A word of warning:
do not mix the Iguana drink with the Bip Bip drink or you
could end up with a Coco Loco.
Bip Bip is open for breakfast
and on until the late night for dinner and drinks. The variety,
quality, service and prices are what make Bip Bip a restaurant
for all seasons. Enjoy!!!
Bip Bip is located at the corner
of Constituyentes and 5th Avenue under the big palapa and
big tree.
Bip
Bip's Grades
Atmosphere: A | Food: A | Service: A | Music: B
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Mexico Unveils A Change in
Agrarian Land Policy
by Mark Stevens--Associated Press (1-30-02)
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MEXICO CITY
- President
Vicente Fox has unveiled new
policies that mark the most ex-
plicit admission to date that an
80-year-old land reform - a pro-
gram that came to symbolize the
1910-1917 Revolution, and one
that caused endless headaches
for people trying to buy land in
Mexico - was finished.
Fox announced a six-year
farm policy Monday aimed at
clearing up problems in land
titles, and his administration de-
clared an end to an agrarian re-
form program that handed out
millions of acres since 1917.
"The time came, as it had
to,
to declare an end to the handing
out of land," Agricultural Re-
form Secretary Maria Herrera
Tello said. With most arable land
already doled out - and peasant
farmers increasingly slashing in-
to protected forests - she said it
was time to recognize that "the
land does not expand by presi-
dential decree."
After landless peons rose up
in arms in the Revolution, the
new government rewarded them
with small, often communal
farms scattered like a patchwork
over much of Mexico. Many of
the farms were barely viable, and
the same land was often handed
out twice, creating community
conflicts that persist to this day.
"History and experience sho-
wed us that land reform, by itself,
did not solve rural problems or
lead to development," Herrera
Tello said. "The shadow of po-
verty fell over rural Mexico, as
the mark of an era that had to
end."
Some here say that Fox never
much liked the agrarian reform.
Fox's grandfather, an Irish-
American immigrant who bought
a ranch in northern Mexico,
apparently had to maneuver hard
to keep his property from being |
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doled out to landless
peasants
at the height of the program in the
1930s.
But Fox said the new policy -
which aims to clear up land title
problems, rather than hand out
parcels - was driven by reality.
"As all of us who have wor-
ked the land know, the starting
point is to achieve legal assuran-
ces for land titles ," Fox told a
ceremony at the presidential
residence in Mexico City.
Fox said that only about half
of Mexico's approximately 250
million acres of rural properties
had clear titles, a situation that
has led to land disputes and diffi-
culties for farmers in getting pro-
duction loans.
"This will allow us certainty
and confidence in planning our
production, and allow us to give
our children a secure future
when they legally inherit the land,"
Fox said.
The confusion over rural pro-
perty - much of which is commu-
nally owned, unclearly marked
and the subject of dispute - has
caused headaches for both Mexi-
cans and Americans.
In the most recent case, do-
zens of U.S. homeowners were
evicted from their beachside
community in Punta Banda, Baja
California, 100 miles south of
the U .S .- Mexico border. The
communal farm that purportedly
owned the property gave long-
term leases to the foreigners to
build homes there - but it turned
out the farmers didn't have title
to the land, and a court decided it
belonged to a Mexican company.
The new owners offered to
negotiate new lease terms with
some of the residents, at a higher
price.
In 1991, former president
Carlos Salinas announced he
was ending the land handouts,
and enacted reforms to allow |
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individuals farmers title to pieces
of the communal farms. There
has been talk ever since of dis-
banding the Agrarian Reform
Secretariat, which spends its time
now sorting out land dispu-
tes.
Briefly, in 1994, the govern-
ment returned to its old ways,
promising to dole out land again,
after landless Indians joined the
leftist Zapatista uprising in Chia-
pas and began taking over thou-
sands of acres of private ranches
and plantations there.
Those promises proved lar-
gely empty. But farmers conti-
nue to stage protests in front of
government offices in Mexico
City - the most recent in Decem-
ber demanding they be given a
piece of the decades-old dream:
free land.
For more informaition on buying land in Mexico:
Purchasing
Property in Mexico
Buying
Property in Mexico:
(Articles in Adobe Acrobat)
1. Buying
Land in Mexico
2. Ejido
versus Private Land
3. Land
Trusts or Fideicomiso
4. Market
Update
5.
Buyer
Be Aware
6.
US Financing
7.
Subdivisions
in Sonora
8.
Texas
Realtors & Mexico
9.
Closed
Deal
Get
Adobe Acrobat:
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