"Cancun how come I never knew it was so... " a Cancún Travel Page by keida84

Back about 40 years ago the resort town of Cancun was born. The Mexican government wanted to make a "new" Acapulco. Bolstered by Walt Disney's success of transforming swamp land in Florida, the government pinned their hopes on a tiny spit of an island called "Cancun." They took a huge gamble and the payoff was immense. Club Med was the first major hotel to sign on choosing one of the most southern spots on the island. The major hotels slowly began to build their mega hotels and voila, a Mexican resort town, now more popular than Acapulco, was born.

It is simply mind boggling how the architects and builders were able to transform this small island into a tourist friendly, mega resort almost like Las Vegas south, resort town. We had a laugh and proclaimed a cruise ship must have run aground and they just built the town up around it, for it does seem like these huge resorts are all land locked cruise ships.

Don't let the "touristy" atmosphere throw you, it really is not very hard to find the Mexican culture in and about the area. It is right in your hotel. It is the people of Cancun who serve your meals, bag your groceries, check you into your hotel. All you have to do is stop and talk to them. They are excellent people and if you simply say hello or "good day" in their native tongue you will be the recipient of a brilliant smile and a warm greeting in return. Don't forget to learn how to say words like, "Please--por favor" and "Thank you--muchas gracias" in Spanish just learning a few basic phrases will help you get along very well in Mexico. Oh yes and here is one more: "Donde esta el bano, por favor? Where's the bathroom, please?"

I brought with me a $100 in one dollar US bills, I came home with about $65 of them. Although we stayed in an all inclusive resort where tipping was included in the price we still tipped a dollar or two to the maid on a daily basis, we had twice daily maid service so we felt it was appropriate. We also tipped the room service waiter and when we went to the restaurants if the service was above and beyond we tipped the waiter as well.

Tipping up is at your discretion. We met several people there that did not tip as they felt this was already included in their package and so they did not tip extra. To each their own. We had really top notch service so we felt it appropriate. By the way, things like tours and spa visits that are not a part of your all inclusive package should be tipped, 10% of the service price is fair.

We tipped both our tour guide and driver on the Grey Line Tour to Chichen Itza.