My family and I stayed at the Crown Paradise hotel.  It was an all-inclusive sort meaning the food, drinks/bar, and tips were all included.  Plus there was tons to do with its multiple pools, mini golf, tennis courts, and more.  It was an all around fun time.  In Mexico it’s legal for me to drink, so Sarah was jealous that I got the red bracelet which gave me access to alcoholic drinks.  Luckily I’m already pretty addicted to my drug of choice, Diet Coke.

Mexico was much different than America.  It had the feeling of a poor neighborhood if you got out of the glitz of the strip with all the hotels and tourist spots.  Everything had a pretty grungy look to it and it wouldn’t be a place I could live.  I feel bad that their government can’t come up with a suitable way to turn the country around.  We didn’t go too far into Mexico (it can get dangerous…) but we did go about half an hour away from Cancun by public bus to visit a marketplace.  It was still a tourist marketplace, but it was a bit different than the hotel area.

One thing that really really bothered me in Mexico was the business philosophy.  If you go into the marketplace, the people really pressure you into buying stuff.  It’s also not a fixed price, so you can bargain for whatever you want.  I LIKE fixed prices though, and the comforting structure they offer in any business model.  The fact that they abuse the emotional tie you have with them is disgusting.  I really hate feeling both pressured and like I’m letting people down.  Two for two for Mexican tourist traps.  Obviously I did not have too much fun in the marketplace.  Got some decent pictures though.

Another thing I don’t like about making money in Mexico is the people who work for tips.  They don’t have a real job, they do various things that you probably don’t actually want them to do and then have the audacity to ask you for a dollar or two.  I’m just not into that.  Again, it just gets me that they expect to take advantage of people.  What is wrong with a good hourly wage job?!  I can understand if they can’t get a job, but using that as an excuse for hassling people is just not acceptable in my view. 

I went to the bathroom at the airport and this Mexican guy shook my hand and asked how I was.  I answered and kind of (naively) just thought the guy was being friendly.  Then when I was coming out he got me a towel when I was washing my hands.  I’m sure a lot of you can see that he’s simply setting me up for giving him a buck, but I tend to not be cynical and think people have an overall decency built into their humanity.  As I’m walking out the door though, he did in fact ask for money.  It really through me for a loop, but I’m not sure how I couldn’t have seen it coming.  I told him I didn’t have any money.  I actually had $80, but it was in $20 bills and it’s not like he has change.  The point though is that I felt used and taken advantage of in the end.  Where people would just SIMPLY BE NICE in the US, people here expect money for it.  Even if I had all the dollar bills in the world, I wouldn’t have given him any.  It just made me pretty sad about the already downward trend of the world.

Ahem, anyways.  It was a good vacation.  I’m not happy to miss school so much, but I guess that just happens sometimes.  I think I gained at least 7lbs there because of the buffet that was open for about 14 hours each day.  Free food buffet style never makes for weight loss, true life fact.  While I was in Mexico though I thought up a few more things to write up in my blogs, more than just daily coming and goings, so I want to start tackling those issues that plague our society.  Mmm, mmm, good!

LOTS of pictures and vblog later.  Ciao.

PS- Danny and Gina’s wedding went really well yesterday.  It was pretty fun to see them get married on the beach.  Congratulations to them!!

Oh, and 3 DAYS UNTIL THE ZUNE COMES OUT!

I DID however update my gallery with some ‘Back in Minnesota’ pics, and I also updated my YouTube thing with a super short ‘goodbye’ video for the week I’ll be gone.  You can get to those using the links on the left side of the blog.

Pray for me to be safe, thanks!