Cucurrucucù

Guantanamera?

A Mariachi band playing Guantanamera makes you feel

They are playing  “Guantanamera”, because people from all over the world know  the song; do the mariachi think that tourists think it’s a typical Mexican song?  Never mind, Guantanamo is really not so far away from Cancun, geographically.  While waiting for the bus that takes us from the airport to Cancun I kindly ask the band in tourist Spanish to play “Cielito Lindo”. That’s Mexican (!) and I love that song. I have known it since high school times where our English teacher (a sturdy, short, quite unhandsome chap)had taught us the song in a bout of cosmopolitanism. He didn’t teach us much English but he certainly opened up our minds for the differences in human kind. For all my life I had believed that Cielito Lindo  is a name, like Cielito being the first and Lindo the family name.  How unromantic of me, it means something like “sweetheart”.  Before I could request “Cucurrucucù Paloma”, my other favourite Mexican song,  the bus came. (Actually I only know these two songs, but the lyrics almost by heart)

There are about a thousand (mas o menos 1000) good reasons to come to Mexico for holiday.  Bear with me for a couple of letters and you’ll know them all. 1st  The country is well prepared for tourism. In the airport  the employees speak English fluently, they explain to you how to get to town by bus. Everything is calm and orderly, no harassment of false helpers who want to lure you into their taxis and to their hotels. And don’t let any “Lonely Planet” tell you about Cancun’s chaotic traffic and reckless drivers.  It’s not true, that’s  reason no. 2: On the whole peninsula of Yucatan drivers are rather orderly, respectful and calm .

See you soon for the next 998 reasons

Cheers Gerburg