When we moved to Cancun some 4 years ago, I used to wake up to the smell of something burning, nearly every morning for at least 2-2.5 years. Havent noticed it for a while, but today, at 430 am, it stank again. When I walked outside, there was actually visible smoke in the air... Before, we used to live opposite of Plaza Nayandei on Bonampak, but now we are in the Centro. Does anyone know what this is?? I heard that there are bush-fires in Chetumal(dont know if its true, havent checked news...), but since this has bee going on for quite a few years, Im really curios to find out what it is that wakes me up at 4am... Yuck. I was thinking that they used to burn the mangrove, but hardly think there is enough for several years, daily...
HI Rawkus!!! Could it possibly be the burning of some trash?? I have noe idea how they handle the garbage collection and storage in Cancun, but doubt very much that they have some kind of a garbage **treatment** facility or similar.
Forest (jungle) fires, they've been burning for weeks Cancun desperto bajo una capa de humareda por incendios forestales - Grupo SIPSE, sipse.com
Scorpio: have no clue. When we lived on Bonampak, the wind came straight from the ocean/lagoon, yet I had to put up with the damn smell for nearly 3 years... almost daily. Dont know whereabouts the trash-heap is located, but it seems weird when the smell came from the HZ area with the wind. Steve: This is the first time I smell it since moving to Centro. I could buy that its the fires, but I find it hard to believe wild(?) fires caused it the last few years. Thanks for the info though. EDIT: This is the first time I actually saw smoke, so your link clearly explains that, I assume. Im still curious about the past years though, haha.
It is most likely the bush fires somewhere around Cancun, not in Chetumal,since it is way too far from Cancun to have a smoke visible from Cancun Centro. Chetumal is what, 300km south of Cancun?? NO WAY you can see smoke from bush fires in Chetumal in Cancun Centro. I still want to know more about the garbage processing in Cancun, since the city and HZ produce tons of it every day!! Just imagine all those resorts and crap, left after tourists....
The fires are a lot closer than Chetumal, the two big ones are Leona Vicoria and by the highway to Merida. As for garbage processing there is very little you can do with domestic and commercial waste unless it is pre-sorted prior to collection. This is why in the UK you have 7 different bins that you have to use, which are picked up only once every two weeks and pay a fortune for the privilege. The only real 'processing' you can do with unsorted garbage is incineration which separates the metal and glass, but incineration brings with it its own problems such as increased dioxins and other nasties and you still need a landfill to dispose of the ash which is often highly toxic in itself. Here we have our rubbish picked up daily (except when the council runs out of money to pay them). There is a certain element of waste segregation in that every single dumpster normally has a guy or two rooting through it throughout the day, and if you leave a bag of aluminium cans outside the house within an hour its gone.
I think Steve is right. Must be something burning not far from Cancun.Leona Vicario and Merida highway sound like 2 reasonable destinations for a **smoke visibility** from where Rawkus is )) Wow, 7 different garbage bins in UK???? Holy cow.... We only have 2 in Canada-Blue bin and Green bin Picked weekly. Cancun definitely needs something better in terms of garbage collecting/processing. The city is getting bigger and bigger, throw in all those new Resorts being built or being projected, and you get a steady increase in the volume of a daily garbage...
The smell is really strong this morning- does this mean the fires are getting closer- ?the sky looks kind of murky also. Tracey x
When we flew back the last time, on 2 May, as we flew over the peninsula we saw many forest fires burning, with large areas already burned out (the part of the peninsula we were observing appeared to be mostly uninhabited). It's been a long time now since we had any rain to speak of, and conditions are just right for large areas to burn. It's not very pleasant to have to keep the windows shut in the AM to keep the smoke out, but I'm sure it's worse, nearer the fires.
