[Aztlan] Island-Mainland Contact

[Jules Siegel]

D. M. Urquidi wrote:

> If even the residents wee aware of the perjoraitive meaning, it might 
> have referred to the activities during Sping Break whenthe students came 
> down and acted like. . . . . getting so drunk they did not know what 
> they were really doing.
> Dea

Spring breakers have never been an important segment of the Cancun 
market, but they did get a lot of publicity, mainly because of MTV, 
which broadcast from a beach here, and also because many of them were 
quite disreputable. I'd have to dig out the current statistics, but the 
last time I checked they were less than 3%. I believe its even less now.

When I first got here in 1983, students didn't come to Cancun. That 
began after Hurricane Gilbert, 1988, when they were aggressively 
promoted by some hotels. They caused so many problems that the municipal 
authorities had to impose stringent regulations. Many hotels began to 
reject spring breakers. The Hotel Association discouraged its members 
from booking them. Despite this, Cancun is now indelibly stamped the 
spring break resort.

But that's all beside the point. The residents weren't referring to 
tourists, but to themselves

>  OR did you all not read what the newspapers were reporting the last couple of years?

If you're talking about local newspapers, they haven't had much to say 
about spring breakers since their behavior was brought under control. 
But I don't have to read the newspapers to know what's going on in the 
Hotel Zone. I live in the Hotel Zone, and my wife and I raised three 
children here, all of whom went through their teen-age mating rituals in 
the very same discos frequented by American college students. My 
daughter was even a reporter/photographer for a local daily for a while.

But all of this is beside the point. The issue is what does the name 
mean literally and what is its significance. We all agree, I believe, 
that Can is the great rattlesnake, but what is cun, or cu'en, or cu-en? 
Why does the name appear on a site in Guatemala as well as an old maps 
of this area? Why is Cancún sometimes spelled with an accent, which it 
definitely does not require in Spanish?



--
JULES SIEGEL Apdo. 1764, 77501-Cancun, Q. Roo, Mexico
http://www.cafecancun.com/bookarts

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