Touristic Places

Playa del Carmen is a beach located close to Cancun, the most touristic place in Mexico. “Playa” as most people call it, is also a very touristic spot where Mexicans and foreigners spend their vacations and relax whenever it’s necessary. One of my best friends had to move to that beach when her dad was promoted, and she had to start a new life there. I talked to her in the past days and I realized that life can be so different depending on where you live, no matter your social or economical status.

When I asked her about her school, she told me it was really cool and that she loved the people who was there because they were all very different from everybody she had met before. What caught my attention was that she told me that since their first year of high school they must study the subject of “Tourism”, even if they’ve already decided they want to be something else in life. She told me that they had several classes a week from that subject and they studied how to be hotel receptionists, captains of waiters, restaurant managers, tours sellers, nightclub managers, tour guides, etc. She later told me that although it was only a subject, teachers we’re always trying to convince the kids that being a hotel receptionist was the world’s coolest job and the one they were all born for. Those teachers always tried to push the young residents of that beach to choose the career of tourism and specialize in that area.

I was really shocked to hear those words, first of all because I finally realized the differences between cities just because of their locations. It is very remarkable that these people live from tourism. They have a whole different life from us because all they see is tourists and all they do is serve them and satisfy their needs. That’s what their lives are based on. Second of all, I couldn’t believe the culture these people have. I know we must be tolerant and respect others opinions but, why do they want their kids to conform to those jobs? I’m not saying they are worthless of course not, but there are young people with such a potential to be directors of huge companies, or doctors, or widely recognized executives, or market experts, etc. And all they want them to do is run small businesses that won’t even belong to them. All they want them to do is say hi to tourist and with a wide smile do whatever they ask them to do.

I think it isn’t fair because they’re being taught that this is the world’s greatest thing to do since they are really young and they don’t even have the ability to decide by themselves. I know I can’t change this because that is the way they live and perhaps that is what they NEED to do in order to preserve their beach as that touristic place it is, but they shouldn’t decide for their kids. Finally, I think that this is an example of how economy affects society, by changing their behaviors in order to survive in a world that’s driven mainly by the economic principles and the need to have the enough supply for the demand that’s always present in the planet.

The Beautiful San Diego

On my Semana Santa vacations, I went to San Diego with my family. It was a fun trip I really liked. First of all, we lost our flight from Phoenix to San Diego because our previous flight was 2 hours delayed. The airline changed our flight but we had to wait for three hours at the Phoenix Airport. Anyway, we arrived at San Diego at 3 pm. We were starving and wanted to be to the hotel as soon as possible. My brother made me realize his geography classes were useless because he asked full of amazement as the plane was landing “San Diego has a beach?” In case you are wondering, San Diego has a beautiful bay and a Naval Station.

The first thing we did was looking for a fine restaurant at downtown. We chose a nice Italian restaurant on 5th Street. I had never been to an Italian restaurant where the waiters are actually Italian. The food was simply delicious. We went to Balboa Park the next day. It is a huge, literally huge, park in the middle of the city where you can find museums, theatres, restaurants and San Diego Zoo. There are trees all over the place and everything is really clean and impeccable. Next day, we went to Sea World and we decided to use the public transportation to get there. It was a different experience and gave us a look at the city not many tourists get. Sea World was really nice! As a major touristic site, there was a huge diversity of people at the park. On Saturday, we went to Coronado and to San Diego Zoo. We crossed the huge bridge from San Diego to the island. We walked around the famous Hotel Del Coronado and the beach. The water was really cold and it was very different to Mexican beaches.

San Diego is a very wealthy city; there is no doubt of it. The tax is higher than in Arizona so the standards of living are better. Because of this, no wonder Californians have a particular culture different from the rest of the Americans. An important part of the income comes from tourism. The city has everything to offer to international visitors and it is really clean. I find it hard to believe that such a great city is so close to the border. Being along a border brings a lot of issues to a city but San Diego has being able of taking advantage of these circumstances for their benefit. It is amazing how the government takes care of every single spot of the city. At night you could see people cleaning the sideways and taking care of the way downtown looked. That must be the major difference you notice when you cross the border between Tijuana and San Diego. The amount of money our Mexican government invests on the cities is a lot less. As I mentioned on a previous blog, I think it is fascinating how a border divides a territory so deeply in all the possible ways. I hope I can visit this beautiful city again.

If you visit San Diego you cannot miss Seaport Village, Gaslamp Quarter, Coronado and Balboa Park.

Lets visit MEXICO !

Tourism in Mexico is a very important economic activity for the country and one of the greatest in the world. Mexico is in the 8th most visited country, world wide speaking. The most visited places are the ruins of the Mesoamerican culture, the colonial cities and the beaches. Its temperate climate and its cultural historic inheritance make Mexico an attractive touristic place. The coastline of Mexico houses many beaches, which are the main touristic point. The most visited beches are Cancun, Acapulco, Playa del Carnem, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarte, Puerto Peasco, Bahia de Kino, San Carlos, and Los Cabos.

Visitors come mainly from the United Sates and Canada. Mexico is very popular for its food, traditions, culture, beaches, ruins, and its people. Mexico is a very atractive place beacuase turiste know that they will be able to have fun and spend a nice time. Just in 2006 21,4 millions of visitants came to Mexico. Thanks to tourism Mexico earn 12,17 thousand million dls. Maybe Mexico is not one of the most important countries in bussiness or technoogy but it is one the most importantein tourism. For this reason the Mexican goverment should invest more in it. If the goverment invested more money in tourism, the tourist points could improve their quality. The creation of Hotels, restaurants and those kind of places are important. Keeping clean the touristic points, like beaches, is also very important.