Are things improving for those of us who live in Cancun Centro? It goes against expectations, but the repaving of the inner city side streets, which has been going at a rapid rate; the repaving of Av Bonampak north; and, the extremely good maintenance of the park near my home (SM4) makes it seem like it, to me- not to mention all the real, as well as the cosmetic improvements that have occurred at my (state) university over the last year! Scroll through the photos to see what I'm talking about. http://www.unicaribe.edu.mx/ ______________________
Not so good here on the repaving issue, potholes that have been here for 6 months are just getting deeper and new ones forming. Friendly neighbours put lumps of concrete in them (!) to lessen the blows but it's still like a slalom course driving out.
Things could be better, but things could also be worse. The re-paving was VERY welcomed, as our street looked like Beirut, except without the excuse of war... The time line given was as Mexican as always: "It will take 9 days..." ...and 4.5 weeks later they were done. One thing Im amazed at: The lack of garbage bins- NEVER lived in a city(country?) that has so few garbage bins. If there are any, they are usually the size of what we use in our flat. I lack decent parks in the Centro. There are some small patches of grass, littered with old TV´s, mattresses, beer cans/bottles, used diapers etc. One thing that gives me a good laugh on a daily basis, are the poor old fellas who rake leaves into piles, then leave it and somehow expects the piles to still be there until they come to pick them up at 7-8 pm... Obviously it fails, and thus they have created chores for the following day, only for it to be repeated. I blame that on lack of organization. I have never felt unsafe in my 5 years here, except for maybe 2 or 3 occasions, none different from anywhere else Ive lived, except that the crooks have been dressed in blue/black, carry machine guns and badges, jeje Saturday and Sunday mornings are great for early dog walks in and around Ave Sunyaxchen(spelling?) as the party-people always manage to drop cash when the leave from Yaxchilan.
I live a little outside of the Centro, so maybe my experience is a little better. All the roads around me (including my little street) have been repaved in the past few months and still look decent. (decent by Cancun standards, anyway) We have several very nice parks in my neighborhood, at least 5 within a 5 minute walk. Too bad I work during daylight hours and can't enjoy them! The one big problem we have is that we have a streetside dumpster at the end of every street for garbage. Nice idea in theory, but there's one by the main road that is used by people from all over the area. Since they have no key, they just dump their trash bags, Christmas trees, couches, etc right on the sidewalk. It stinks to high Heaven and it draws in dumpster divers on a daily basis.
Can't give you prices except on those things I've picked up, recently. Tons of fruit for around ten pesos a kilo, right now. Bread about 32 pesos for a large, solid loaf of whole grain. Ground sirloin, which we use for hamburgers, around 90 pesos for 90/10 (we find the 95/5 to be too fat free!) I think we pay much the same for skinned chicken breasts. What with the peso at near 14, a lot of things seem cheap to me, right now.
Here are some of those prices from my trip this week to Mega Comercial Mexicana: 1. Bread: $19 pesos for a "medium" bag of sliced wheat bread 2. Fruit: Banana ($10.90/kilo), Mango ($40/kilo), Pear ($29/kilo), Grapefruit ($8.90/kilo) 3. Meat: Ground sirloin ($82.90/kilo) and Salmon filet ($172/kilo) 5. Jar of Prego spaghetti sauce: $39.90/680 grams 7. Veggies: Tomato ($14.90/kilo), Carrot ($11.90/kilo), Poblano Chile ($23.90/kilo)
No idea, but when we shop in the U.S., we generally feel we are paying a little more, and especially for fruits and vegetables; but, in Florida at least, wine is noticeably cheaper.
People with small salaries are actually not buying salmon, ground sirloin, skinned chicken breasts, Prego spaghetti sauce, etc. But we buy these and a host of other things that we and middle class Mexicans can afford, and like. Were you just concerned about our poor, in posing your questions?
