Mexican Holiday – Total Experience

Display in a gift shop

On display at the same shop

At the end of our Mexican holiday we came away with an overall impression of the total experience which was comprised of millions of visual images, sounds, smells and all sorts of happenings. There were the beach and pool events, general activities within the hotel, including dining at the different restaurants, and our visits to places such as Cancun, Cozumel and Coba; there was our air travel from and to the UK and numerous other experiences, plus our subjective understandings of all of these things.

Macabre sculpture at Playacar

My Blog describing our holiday has been a kind of sketchy diary in which I have tried to record our day to day activities; sometimes I have expressed very personal interpretations of what I saw. Others, and even my wife, who may have seen the same or similar things will have their own interpretations of what they saw. To illustrate certain things I haven’t mentioned to date, I have chosen the accompanying photographs which I have not used before. They give an extra insight into a subject that to me would seem to be a Mexican national characteristic, an interest in the macabre, and things to do with death and the afterlife. This may be a generalization, but for me, the evidence is abundantly there.

Overgrown tomb at Xcaret Eco Park

A goodly number of tat shops display articles representing the human skull, the human skeleton and ghostlike figures. Representations of the cross, a symbol of death and resurrection, can also be found in market places where craft articles are for sale. I saw macabre sculptures and carvings in unexpected places such as Playacar, and at Xcaret Eco Park I saw a graveyard with weird tombs. At Coba there was a shrine devoted to dead relatives with photos of them and an image of the Virgin Mary. Our Mayan guide told me that the Virgin represented the way to life in heaven and that she was the very means of getting there.

Shrine at Coba

Well, I hope you have enjoyed travelling with me to Mexico. If you have the chance of going to the Yucatan Peninsula, I would recommend that you do, and if you stay at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya Hotel you may enjoy your time there as my wife and I did.


Link


Riu Palace Riviera Maya Hotel

http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/caribbean/mexico/mexico-caribbean-coast/playacar/hotels/riu-palace-riviera-maya.html