Mexican Independence Day Draws Near

On 15th September 2006 Mexico celebrates it’s 196th Independence Day. Here in Cancun it is always a big party with tens of thousands packing the Palacio Municipal area on Ave. Tulum for live events and the famous Grito. Incidentally, Cinco de Mayo although celebrated in the US, hardly merits a mention here.

For several weeks now the flag and banner sellers have had their brightly coloured stands on many street corners and certainly add a touch of colour to the place.

In 1810 a group of Mexican nationals hatched a plan to overthrow the brutal regime of the Spanish that had occupied their country for the last 300 years. The plan was that the Mexicans would rise up against the Spanish in a War of Independence that would begin on 2 October.

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Hurricane Ernesto to avoid Cancun

Three days later things are becoming clearer. The bad news is the tropical storm has now strengthened into a Category 1 Hurricane, with predictions showing it will strengthen further.

The good news is, if it keeps to it’s predicted tracking path it will totally miss Cancun. Each time a new update is published Ernesto seems to be bearing more and northwards.

We may have a few showers as a result of the outer bands but it’s just as possible that we wont see any affect on the weather. It looks like poor old Cuba will feel the brunt of this one.

For the latest on the storm development then you should follow advice from the National Hurricane Centre Site

Tropical Depression 5 set to affect Cancun

Just when it’s been a very quiet season a Tropical Depression develops. When I first checked this out a few hours ago the 5 day tracking map had it headed directly for Cancun.

The latest update shows it being pushed northwards, and that trend is likely to continue. It hasn’t even reached Tropical Storm status yet, let alone Hurricane status. If it does progress to hurricane status then it will be named Hurricane Ernesto. Hopefully, it will bring nothing more than a few days of cloud and some rain - and that wont be for about another 5 days in any case. It may miss us altogether, just too early to tell but something to keep an eye on.

For the latest on the storm development then you should follow advice from the National Hurricane Centre Site

Cancun Newspaper Offices Bombed

I’ll start by saying that these newspaper offices are situated well downtown and nowhere near any Cancun Hotels, the perpetrators are believed to be members of drug cartels who didn’t take kindly to the current reporting of their activities.

The bombings took place last night around 10pm in co-ordinated simultaneous attacks and were carried out against the Newspapers Por Esto and Que Quintana Roo Se Entere. The ‘bombs’ were not bombs in the sense that many people will think, they were fragmentation grenades.

As can be seen by the picture on the left, these are small devices and do not cause a lot of damage, although I wouldn’t liked to have been near it when it went off.

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Fat Tuesday Cancun, to Close

The popular spring break hang out Fat Tuesday in Cancun is set to close. Apparently, the owners owe a lot of money both in rent and in wages to the staff.

The company that the land is rented from FONATUR (Mexico’s national trust for the promotion of tourism) have repossessed the building and it seems certain that Fat Tuesday will not re-open. The newspaper reports that the area will be redeveloped to provide beachside facilities such as restaurants and bars (and no doubt more of those tacky flea market stalls).

Sadly, it seems the workers are unlikely to receive get their wages either. We visited the beach nearby last Friday and the workers were on picket duty outside. The black and red flag is, apparently, the recognised symbol in Mexico that a strike is in progress.

Video of the Worlds Biggest Beach Party - Cancun, Mexico

To celebrate the restoration of the beaches in Cancun and also to generate some world wide publicity the ‘Worlds Biggest Beach Party’ was held over 3 days in August. Officials were expecting 30,000 people to attend and the party would extend along thirteen miles of beach. Stretching from Punta Nizuc to Playa Delfines there were 3 main centres. We visited the main party event at Playa Delfines on Friday, a family friendly event with no alcohol allowed, we were greeted by hundreds of people enjoying the Cancun sun.

I have 5 videos to post the first one is above and you can see the second by following the continuation link, apologies that the quality is not all that (and for my big thumb on the second video!). I’ll have to use my digicam next time instead of the movie function of the stills camera. The other three will be posted in a day or twos time.

Continue reading Video of the Worlds Biggest Beach Party - Cancun, Mexico…