Timeshares & snorkeling

We spent this morning resting and reading on the roof. Then we went to a time share presentation. Yep, I'm serious.

We were offered several hundred dollars off of a week-long car rental in exchange for sitting through a 90 minute presentation at the Occidental Grand Resort here in Cozumel. It seemed worth it. We got a free lunch at the resort and then were pressured to buy a time share. It was actually deeply intriguing to me because of my interest in tourism.

First of all, we're paying about $50/night for our hotel. The Occidental is about $450/night. That's a fricking huge difference. We're quite happy at our hotel, especially the atmosphere. We've already been invited to dinner by one of the other couples here and another (from Traverse City, Michigan) has given us beach suggestions for good snorkeling. The atmosphere at the Occidental seemed snooty and people weren't engaging with one another.

I asked our sales person a bunch of questions that I'm sure seemed pretty odd. For example, I wanted to know about the ecological impact of the hotel. His response: "It's an eco-resort. See, look at the iguanas." Despite the fact that there were several large iguanas running around the outside area of the resort, that wasn't exactly a satisfactory answer for me.

I also asked whether or not they hire local people to work at the hotel. He said that any position where the employee has to interact with tourists requires some level of English fluency. (I won't even go there...) and if they can't find folks with the necessary skills locally, they can't hire them. He also said, though, that people come from all over Mexico because they know there are many jobs in the resorts of the Yucatan peninsula.

We found it interesting that a Mexican man served as the salesman who gave us a tour of the property and who began to initially tell us the details about purchasing, but then when it came down to making a decision, two non-Latino white guys (one from the US and one from Canada) came to talk with us.

I tried to explain that while I could sometimes enjoy the pure relaxation of an all-inclusive resort, including never having to leave the property for anything, I wouldn't be satisfied traveling like that for the rest of my life. I would want to engage with the local culture, visit local restaurants, etc. Both Dave and I had the impression that they totally did not understand me.

It was really intriguing and reminded me of research that I've done on ecotourism, including questions about environmental sustainability and authenticity.

Afterward we drove to Playa Corona. (Yep, that's really the name of the beach.) It's just a small, fairly run-down restaurant and bar, but the employees were really nice and the water was gorgeous. Here's a view of the beach area from the water.
And a couple views of the water from the beach

We went snorkeling at Playa Corona. The water was very, very clear and there were lots of fish, even some that I've never seen before. Here are several photos, courtesy of my super-cool underwater digital camera:

There was a whole underwater garden of purplish sea fans, which made me think of my sisters (both of them love purple!)
And this needlefish was a curious little fellow. He scared the dickens out of me the first time I saw him because I thought it was a barracuda. He followed me around for at least 15 minutes.
And this has got to be one of the funniest photos of the trip so far. (Click on it to make it larger.) Dave and I both died laughing when we saw it--I definitely look like a seven year old! :)
We went to Las Otates for dinner tonight. It's an authentic Mexican restaurant that had just as many locals as gringos inside. I successfully communicated in Spanish (yay!) and we got a cheap, delicious dinner--pork burrito for Dave and veggie burrito for me. I also tried a popular local drink called Jamaica, which is made from dried hibiscus flowers. It was great!

And, as a super random ending, last night we saw a lizard on the wall of the restaurant. Tonight Dave saw a lizard on the roof of the inn.