Where is destination for travel?

When you are doing volunteer work in a third world country, you never know what you are going to see next, but what we did not expect was a woman in labor showing up in the back of a taxi.

The poor Mexican woman was accompanied by her husband and her doctor.The doctor had been taking care of her in her home and determined that she needed to be in the hospital to make sure everything went well with the delivery. So, here they came.

This poor couple not only showed up in an unusual way, but they looked like they had only been to town a few times before. They were obviously very poor. The Mexican people take pride in their clothing and would wear their best for a trip to town. But, these people had well worn clothing that were clean but threadbare.

During the one hour that they were in the hospital we found out more about them. This was to be the woman’s twenty fifth child. She had several sets of twins in the lot. Of those twenty five, sixteen were still alive. No wonder they looked so poor!

When the baby was born, the father pulled out the baby blanket. We felt pretty bad when we saw the four worn cloths that had been sewn together to make a ‘quilt’. Although the baby was obviously loved by her parents, we were distraught at the poverty.

They left as they had come. The family in the back and the doctor in the front with the driver.

My wife was impressed with their visit to the extent that she held a fund drive and raised enough money to get a real nursery. Before, the babies had stayed with the mother who was supposed to care for the baby as she recovered.

Not only did they get a new nursery, but each baby got a new flannel blanket to take home. The parents were thrilled. They were not used to such luxury!

We told the people

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So, We’re off to the Beach in Cancun, jewel of the Yucatan in Mexico

You simply can’t go to one of the world’s premiere beach resorts and NOT go to the beach - it’s just downright illegal. From the main bus terminal take any bus headed Southeast (to the right) along the Avenida Tulum that’s marked “Playas” or “Zona Hotelera”. When you get to the luxury-hotel-lined peninsula you can get off anywhere and cross the street to access the beaches. They’re along the left side as you head away from town. Several are specifically set aside for the general public, but you should know that ALL of Cancun’s (and Mexico’s) beaches are public property. You can walk along and swim at ANY beach no matter how much the hotel costs that fronts it.

To access many beach areas, however, you’ll either have to be able to fly or walk through hotel property. Most hotels don’t mind you walking through their premises if you’re unobtrusive and discreet. Local maps, especially of the tourist area, are easy to pick up. There’s a tourism information counter right in the main bus terminal that has them and other useful information at no cost. A map will help you to more readily identify the specific beach areas. A few of the more notable ones are: Playa Las Perlas, Playa Tortugas, Playa Chac-Mool, Playa Ballenas, Playa Linda and Playa Caracol, to name only a sampling.

HOLY HOT FOOT !

No matter how hot the weather gets or how intense the sun is, the sand of the beaches in Cancun won’t burn your feet because the sand isn’t composed of silica, but is instead, the skeletal fossils of billions of microscopic plankton. Not only is the sand always cool, but it’s lightweight as well. Get some hot honey or hunk to bury you up to the neck in it at high noon and you’ll see. (Not that it’ll matter at that point!)

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an ELT Teacher Trainer, English language learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. He has published more than 350 articles and academic papers and presented at numerous EFL teacher training and TEFL conferences throughout North America, South America and Europe. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

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Whether you’re planning on teaching English in Mexico or are just traveling in Mexico, you still have to eat, don’t you? So here are some of my recommendations for eating out inexpensively in the Historic District of Mexico City.

Caf

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