Mexico vs US
Not necessarily a horror story, but best place to post it....
I just got back from a trip to Cancun that I won at work. (no way I could afford to go on my own). In between margaritas, I noticed some of the differences from down there and US standards.
We stayed at a 5 star resort (bills at $750 a night, very all inclusive). It was one of the most friendly places I've been to. They had a extensive grounds crew that was not afraid to be seen working. The place was very clean and well maintained. It was laid out with art in mind. It was like walking through a park. However, it looks like it was built in 5 months. I'm sure most of these places are built this way. It had a built to be bulldozed (vegas style) feeling. Tile grout was sloppily done and missing in some places. They even buttered the wrong side of a tile in our room.
Wood rots in about 5 minutes down there so there is very little to burn. I don't know how much force they use to pop out, but I noticed the sprinkler caps were painted over
Apparantly GFI's are not required or common down here. This resort is only a few years old (They are still building on the grounds).
These lights were all over the resort in the covered walkways. You could even buy them in the gift shop. I noticed that they stapled the wire to one of the crossmembers of the walkway canopy and looped it over the top to hang the light. Looked like a typical US 16/3 extension cord.
This was on Isla Mujeres. It looks like where the power transmission cables came onto the island. I looked on Google street view (it's been EVERYWHERE) and it used to be a locked cabinet with 275KV marked on it.
This are meter sockets about 2 hours out into the Mexican Jungle (near the Coba Mayan ruins). Guess you learn not to touch by touching around here...
Our tour van stopped at a small town in the jungle for a bathroom break and if anyone needed drinks/snacks. I did not see any incandescent light bulbs anywhere on the resort. It was mostly LED and some CFL's. I figured it was just being a modern resort. This was at the store we stopped at. Looks like Mexico got rid of incandescent years ago.
They also had recycling out in the Jungle. The resort had bins for "plastic" "metal" "organic" "inorganic (everything else)"
They did not allow glass outside of your rooms for safety reasons with the amount of pools they have. Water was the only thing in plastic on the resort (so you can take it around the pools.. All your mixed drinks were served in fancy plastic cups too). The pop in your rooms was in glass "deposit" bottles. Same in the stores in town. Very little pop in plastic bottles.
It was a interesting trip. They are far ahead of us in terms of environmental stuff, but when it comes to safety... you are on your own for common sense. We went swimming in a cenote (cave) on one of the tours. They asked if you can swim. if you said no, they tossed you a lifejacket before you rappelled into a hole in the ground. Same thing walking around on the catamaran going out to Isla Mujeres. 1 slip and you go into the ocean. Just a small cable keeping you on board.
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