Distinctive features
There is little in Mexico as unlike Mexico as the Yucatan Peninsula. It is closer to Havana and even Miami than to Mexico City. Half the male population wears the same white guayabera shirts untucked, as they do somewhere in Santo Domingo; instead of tequila, they drink rum; even the cuisine here resembles Caribbean more than Mexican. Unsurprisingly, Yucatan was the only place in Mexico that constantly tried to secede, and the separatist red-white-green flag with five stars still adorns the bumper of every other car. That is how Cuba would look without Black people. There are no Black people on the peninsula. On Yucatan, the Maya work as the Black people – they live in the same round bamboo huts as on thousand-year-old bas-reliefs, chatter in their bird-like language, and sell souvenirs to gringo tourists at the entrance to the ruins of their cities.
As in other resort areas of Mexico, shops and stalls in Cancun are simply bursting with all kinds of souvenirs: from cheap T-shirts with colorful images of beaches and sharks to little bottles with Cancun sand and local sea water. But the most popular are tequila, sombreros and Mexican hammocks. A reliable and comfortable hammock is not a luxury item but an absolutely indispensable thing in Mexico. Even in the rooms of some hotels, hooks are installed above the beds in case you prefer a netted hammock cradle to sheets.
Usually, making a good hammock takes from 12 days to a month, depending on quality and size. The weight of a full-fledged hammock averages about 1.5 kg, and its price ranges from $10 to $40. The most expensive is the ‘matrimonial king-size’ which, according to traders, supports up to 180 kg. In the distant past, Yucatan used sisal for making hammocks – a fiber obtained from a special type of agave.
Nowadays, woven beds are made from cotton and nylon threads. Hammocks are so common that a bed woven from elegant white threads is often given to newlyweds as a gift. As everywhere, the golden rule applies here: it is better to buy all souvenirs during excursions at the numerous provincial market stalls. There they are several times cheaper than in resort areas.
Salute, money and boobs!
Mexicans say this toast before drinking tequila. As for the first part of the toast, everything is clear – who doesn't need money? And as for the second... Everyone puts into the second part of the toast what is close and understandable to them. For some it is the breast of their beloved girlfriend, for some the breast of their beloved wife, and for some the breast of their beloved neighbor's wife. But! The Aztec goddess of fertility, Mayahuel, had 400 breasts, and it was she who, according to legend, gave humans agave, from the juice of which pulque is made – a type of homebrew. Mexicans believe that a real macho is obliged to drink three liters of this three-proof drink daily because it enhances potency.
But let us return to tequila. When consuming it, Mexicans identify three stages of its effect: joy, shamelessness, loss of consciousness. There are more optimistic variants: with water, without water, and instead of water. The best tequila is only made in Mexico; on the label it must have the distillery number (the letters NOM and numbers). The best varieties are three-year-old anejo. They have a straw color, strong agave smell, and leave an even taste trail on the palate. They also lighten your wallet by about $60 (per bottle). And that is a lot, considering that in Mexico tequila costs $3-7 on average. A special brand of tequila – dos amigos ("two friends") – is infused with two worms (hence the name) that feed on agave in their lifetime.
Tequila is drunk straight and in cocktails. Tequila with salt (licking it from the hand) is considered in Mexico a peasant way of drinking. More often it is drunk with lime juice. Connoisseurs recognize tequila only with clamato – tomato juice and spices. The best tequila-based cocktail is the Margarita: 1 slice of lemon, a little salt, ice cubes, 40 ml tequila, 10 ml curacao, and 10 ml lemon juice. And then – the Mexican-style ‘final shot.’ The way machos drink. Before downing a glass of tequila, you have to eat a small chili pepper pod, and the beginning is made. Now you speak the same language with them. One in which lemon is limon, tunnel is tunnel, and stores sell candies called Pruebalo! You are in Mexico. Salute, Mexico!
ZAGRANITSA REFERENCE
* Getting a Mexican visa ($45) is not easy; the main thing is to prove your solvency. Processing time is three weeks.
* In Chankun, a two-week stay in a four-star hotel on an all-inclusive basis averages $1,350. Accommodation on a bed-and-breakfast basis is cheaper – about $1,144. A five-star hotel in the center of Nankun costs from $1,782 until May 1 of this year, including transfer and insurance. Two weeks in a three-star hotel in Acapulco cost about $808, in a four-star with breakfasts – $1,009, five-star – $1,446.
* In Mexico, you can buy inexpensive silver. For example, in Chichen Itza and Mexico City, silver items sell for $0.5 per gram, while in resort Cancun they are $1-1.5. Everywhere you have many souvenirs, among which sombreros are in particular demand. But it is far more practical to buy a real Indian hammock ($10-40), which will also serve perfectly at your country house. It is better to buy all souvenirs during excursions at the numerous provincial market stalls. There they are several times cheaper than in Cancun. Silver, on the contrary, is better to buy in large shopping centers – prices, although higher, rule out the possibility of forgery.
* Be sure to go on an excursion to Chichen Itza to see the Kukulkan pyramid there. We also advise you to go fishing for blue marlin. In a local restaurant, try tequila with clamato (tomato juice with spices) and cactus.