What's the story with air-condition vs fans in Cancun? I've assumed air-con is a pre-requisite for breathing indoors, not to mention to fall asleep. Of course I know the vast majority of Cancunites don't have it. But don't you all? P.S. And out of curiosity, do veteran expats continue to drink only bottled water?
Nobody recommends drinking the tap water, though most of the time it would probably be bacteriologically safe to drink. It's unsafe over the long haul because of its extremely high mineral content, near the legal limit I've been told, which can increase the risk of kidney stones. I do have acquaintances who claim never to drink anything else, however. (Hotels have their own water systems, or use bottled water for drinking: restaurants serve only bottled water, so any tourists who may be reading this can relax about that.) I'm grateful for A/C here: using it is up to you, and your wallet. We have twenty units in my building: more than half the owners live without a/c, routinely, and accept sweating as the price you pay to save money. We run ours nearly 24/7, at an annualized average monthly cost of less than twenty five USD. (Our largest bills are 1,400 pesos for a two month billing period, and tend to come when the electric company is switching to winter rates, in October, at which time the effective rates become many times higher than the summer rates: this can be seen in the November bills, for the period mid Sept to mid Nov. Our smallest bills are less than 300 pesos for a two month billing period: these occur, as you might suppose, during the coolest months of the year.)
Cancuna: We have AC, but rarely use/need it. One of the perks of living on the ground floor is that the neighbors take most of the heat(sun). Our most expensive electricity bill landed at 289 pesos. Thats 2 months Ceiling fans are a MUST, at least for me personally. Mosquitoe nets in the windows, along with the continuous breeze = success
I lived here for the first 5 years with no air conditioning. I was lucky to always have a good breeze, though. At our current house we did get AC in our bedroom because there is absolutely no breeze there. I am pretty comfortable with just a fan in our living room, though, but then again I'm used to it. Like others have said, everyone in Cancun (even Mexicans) drinks bottled water all the time, but they brush their teeth with the tap water. I even give my dogs bottled water because the vets say the local tap water can cause stones.
I keep my a/c on before I start perspiring. My most costly two month bill was about $1,100, probably $40 something US per month. I would rather be comfortable all of the time than have an extra $30 US in my pocket, that I would no doubt waste on something. Gringation, did you forget to mention that recently you drank an entire glass of tap water and lived to tell about it. Personally, I brush my teeth with it and certainly ingest some in the shower and don't seem worse off for it. My first trip to Mexico back in the 80's I ran out of bottled water one night and the next morning brushed my teeth with a Coke. Don't tell anyone about this stunt though. Enjoy your life; you only go around once on this planet.
Thank you All for your replies. Now it's clear to me. I too believe air con is needed most of the time. And it's not outrageously costly either. I do hope to get big water bottles home-delivered, though.
As far as water bottles go, there are always men riding around on tricycles shouting "agua" and you just have to pop your head out and flag them down. They are always nice enough to carry the water containers up flights of stairs for an extra few pesos. You just give them your empty one and they're on their way!
Hahahaha I dunno if it's safe or if I've worked up some kind of immunity over the past few years, but I can safely say it's not a mistake I plan to repeat.
