Mexican resort beach shut down, accused of stealing sand

by Katie Hammel on

Visitors to a Cancun beach found themselves restricted by yellow crime-scene tape yesterday, when Mexican police cordoned off the beach under accusations that the sand was stolen.

According to the AP release, after Hurricane Wilma washed away much of the resort area’s beach in 2005, Mexico spent $19 million replacing it with sand pumped from the sea floor. That sand has been slowly eroding, prompting some resorts to build breakwaters, which keep their beaches nice and sandy, but result in more sand loss for the surrounding beach areas.

The Mexican police are claiming that the resorts who’ve built these breakwaters are, in effect, stealing the beach from others. They’ve also detained five people they believe were using pumps to bring up more sand from the ocean floor. Mexico’s Attorney General for environmental protection said the beach at the Gran Caribe Real Hotel was made of “ill-gotten, illegally accumulated sand” and decided to shut it down.

Many tourists and hotel guests gathered around the “stolen” beach area and complained about the closure. There was no indication of when the beach would reopen and at the time of writing, the resort’s webcam was not active on its website.

Mexican airlines grounded after safety violations and unpaid bills

by Scott Carmichael on

It’s one thing when the recession leads to higher prices and a general doom and gloom in the travel industry. But when the economic downturn actually starts jeopardizing aviation safety, it’s a pretty serious issue.

In Mexico, the aviation sector has been in a real double nightmare – the economy sucks and they had to deal with the swine flu outbreak.

The Mexican government recently grounded their fourth airline since 2007. The airlines had performed insufficient maintenance checks, resulting in fluid leaks and other technical deficiencies.

The airlines were also guilty of not repairing aircraft damage and poor pilot training.

In addition to this, three airlines have been grounded because they failed to pay the required government fees and taxes.

One of the airlines involved, Aviacsa, operates a daily Mexico City – Las Vegas flight and was grounded when inspectors discovered a whopping 280 problems with their fleet of 23 planes. When the suspension was overturned by a court, the airline was once again grounded when they failed to pay a $21 Million air-traffic control bill.

The airline called the 280 problems “cosmetic”, but the head of enforcement at the Mexican transportation department correctly states that even cosmetic problems could easily become big problems. In the end, it is reassuring to see that the Mexican aviation inspectors are doing a good job, and are doing everything they can to keep unsafe planes on the ground, where the belong. And remember, not all Mexican carriers can be as sexy as Viva Aerobus!
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Gadlinks for Friday 7.10.09

by Brenda Yun on


TGIF! Really. Thank goodness. Another summer week has passed us by and there are, as usually, tons of great travel reads to keep you occupied through the weekend. Here’s the latest:

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend, everyone!

More Gadlinks here.

Gay pride parades around the world

by Jamie Rhein on

June is the month of gay pride parades. Last Saturday, in Columbus, Ohio, High Street took on a festive vibration as a mixture of art groups, political organizations, churches and business made their way from the state house to Goodale Park in gay pride solidarity. Both people in the parade and those that lined the streets whooped it up in a joyous sound of shouts and applause.

Today that scene is being repeated in other parades in other cities. New York City is one of those where this weekend is filled with events. The parade is just one of them. It’s a grand happening for good reason. The first such parade in New York took place on June 28 in 1971, one year after the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. The riots were caused after police raided the Stonewall Inn and people resisted arrest. If you saw the movie “Milk” this year, there’s footage of both of the events.

In 1971, parades also happened in Chicago and San Francisco. Back then the message was mostly political, but over the years the tone has changed and the number of cities and countries that hold pride parades have increased.

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Political groups still participate, but these days, the tone and purpose is mostly celebratory. No matter what’s happening with gay rights, during the parade, life is a party.

Like all parades, there is a continuity among them that ties them together. There are also aspects that are quite unique and take on the character of the places where they are held. Years ago, I was at the gay pride parade in West Hollywood. It mirrored the flashiness that one might attribute to this part of California.

In Columbus, Midwest tastes and sensibilities factor into the line-up. Last year, there was a group of guys dressed up like the Brady Bunch singing the Brady Bunch-theme song and other Brady Bunch hits.

Browse through pictures of gay pride and you’ll see images that look like they’re from an earnest Mardi Gras parade with a heartfelt message. The variety of pictures are as varied as the countries where gay pride parades happen. The absence of some countries among the Flickr photos can also be noted. Also, important, anyone can be in a gay pride parade whether gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, or religious or not. You name a category and there will be someone who fits it–well, almost. Some people just aren’t that happy.

(The first picture was taken in France. The man with the rainbow on his cheek was in Mexico.) Click through the gallery to see which other countries are pride friendly.

Biggest Hotel Sale Ever to combat swine flu travel fears

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are after a bargain, Mexico is where it’s at. We’ve posted about how a group of hotels have a deal for those who do get swine flu from their trip to Mexico. But since that probably isn’t going to happen, there are deals for those who don’t get sick.

There’s a “Biggest Hotel Sale Ever” campaign in Mexico through Expedia. In general prices are 26% cheaper than this time last year. Resorts also have deals on spa treatments, dinners and alcohol, so check out a resort to see what you can snag.

In case you’re worried about catching swine flu, check out this AP article . As the article explains, getting swine flu in Mexico is a long shot, and people have begun to see that these deals are not to be missed.

Here’s my take. There’s a lot of sickness you can get in all sorts of places, but they don’t end up on the news. I’m not saying that swine flu is a sickness to pooh pooh, but in reality, a person can get sick by heading to any place that has a lot of people milling about. Staying home sounds boring.