In January, Cancun Feels Mighty Right

We’re kicking back, a Saturday afternoon on Mexico’s Caribe. The ocean out there is turquoise, then it blends to a slightly darker shade of blue. We’re in a place that I once thought I’d never visit…Cancun! Never say never.

That’s because GoNOMAD espouses the philosophy of visiting the less-visited. We publish hundreds of stories each year about places all over Mexico and the world, and obscure yet fascinating parts of the US besides the usual tourism suspects.

But the opportunity to warm up and spend some time in front of an azure sea during the harsh month of January was irresistible. How can we not enjoy changing into shorts and swimming up to the bar, or walking in the brilliant sunshine to a restaurant by the lagoon where we saw a barracuda swallowing falling pieces of chicken? Cancun’s hotel zone is a strip of land that’s shaped like the number 7, with the lagaoon on one side and the ocean on the other.

We’ll be here for the weekend, and then we’ll visit a ecotourism site where we’ll have lunch with Mayans. Our guide Roger speaks the Mayan language, and he promises that this will give us a day-long taste of the indigenous people who once ruled this Yucatan peninsula. Until Monday at 9 am, we’ll chill out, doze off, and enjoy feeling this Mexican sun warm us up.