With 92 pages of in-depth information that is designed for location independent digital nomads as well as savvy adventurers and pensioners who enjoy getting the most out of their travels and experience life on the ground like the people who live there, the Marginal Boundaries Live Like a Local in Cancun, Mexico guide gives you everything you need to know to explore and live in the city just like the locals do. From market days to restaurant reviews, local accommodation referrals, tips and tricks on navigating the local culture and lifestyle plus Cancun-specific information gathered by me over the past year and a half of living in this Mexican paradise, you won’t find a better guide to help you settle in to live just like the locals do while you pursue your digital nomad lifestyle. Priced at $23.99, the Cancun guide is current as of November, 2011 with everything you need to know to start enjoying the digital nomad lifestyle. Click on the image below or the “Buy Now” button to get your copy today.

 The following segment is an excerpt from the Cancun guide. Bear in mind that while the guide is primarily targeted towards people interested in living here on a long-term basis, the information included can benefit you regardless of if you are here for a week or a year, so if you are someone who prides themselves on immersing themselves in the local culture no matter how long they are on the ground, this is the perfect guide for doing so.

A coastal city nestled on the Yucatan Channel separating Mexico from Cuba, Cancun is popular tourist destination for a number of reasons. With an ever-changing skyline and serving as the municipal seat of the Benito Juarez municipality, Cancun is one of the world’s leading balnearios (Latin American seaside resort), with access to dozens of miles of pristine beaches along the Mayan Riviera as well as the culture, history and ancient remnants that make up the northern tip of the great Mayan empire. A combination of modern amenities blended in with a tropical environment and a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites, Cancun is a multi-cultural area with a contrasting range of experiences.

First and foremost, Cancun is a very easy place to transition into the Latin culture if you haven’t ever experienced it before. However, the very reason it is so simple is because this is a very Americanized Mexican tourist destination that caters to English-speaking foreigners. It is the primary cash cow for the Mexican tourism branch of the government, bringing in a major percentage of the tourist income the country sees on an annual basis.

Cancun is currently on track to becoming the next Miami-type destination, although slightly more tropical. Some might argue that this is a bad thing, but for others they see it as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a city that is rapidly expanding. Even in the current economic crisis (Yep, still going on and it’s 2011) there are condos and apartment buildings being built left and right. After Hurricane Wilma the U.S. government gave Mexico a billion USD to help with the rebuilding of Cancun and the city is continuing to dole that money out on various projects that benefit the city. Such as the current (October 2011) re-asphalting and concreting all of the streets in the residential areas across the city.

Cancun as a city is barely 40 years old, which means there is still a lot of room to grow. While what exists now has been a slow growth over the past few decades, since the influx of money after Wilma hit the city has grown in leaps and bounds, and as of 2011 has more 5 star hotels and resorts than Las Vegas, Nevada. While living like a local means you won’t be spending the majority of your time on the strip (unless you do so by choice), the point is that the city is continuing to grow even in the face of economic stagnation everywhere else in the world. This is a growing city, and Mexico as a country is continuing to develop.

Something else to consider is the safety of Cancun compared to so many other places. If you haven’t read the 30 Ways in 30 Days e-book or read the post regarding safety when it was first published, keep in mind that Quintana Roo as an entire State within the Yucatan has a 2/100,000 murder rate. This is in comparison to Washington D.C. which has a 31.4/100,000 murder rate, 9/100,000 in New York or 8/100,000 in Denver. These are the same statistics governments around the world use to determine whether or not a country or city is safe or dangerous, so when you compare Cancun to cities around the world you come up with one conclusion: Cancun is one of the safest cities in the world as far as murders go. (These numbers are as of 2011)

However, that’s not to say that general thievery and pickpocketing/mugging don’t exist. They do, but the thing to remember is that those types of issues are not specific to Cancun or are they specific to Mexico. You can get pickpocketed or mugged in any city in the world. When you are here you certainly do need to follow common-sense street smarts, but other than that Cancun is no different than any other city in the world and you can go about your business without any worries.

Since Cancun has such a high influx of tourists coming in during the high seasons (December through Spring Break) there is the aforementioned U.S. influence. You will see a lot of brand names you might recognize from back in the States, ranging from Wal Mart to Home Depot to Office Depot, Applebees, Outback Steakhouse, Hooters, Sirloin Stockade, Sears and beyond. The city is extremely modern and has every single amenity you could ever want or need. The deeper into the Hotel Zone you go the ritzier things get, so in many ways Cancun is a city that is only limited by how much money you can spend on a per-day basis.

However, the amount of tourists can be a downside for some visitors, and some of you might be thinking you had never thought of Cancun as a livable destination before due to the fact you didn’t want to deal with hordes of pasty, overweight, commercialized, addicted-to-instant-gratification-and-consumption tourists hailing from Western countries. And while it’s true they do exist there is something important to remember: most of the tourists very rarely venture out of the Hotel Zone. It’s a 30 minute bus ride to Centro and the few who do make it into the central areas almost never make it past the Wal Mart on Avenida Coba. Cancun is a fairly large city and there’s a lot more than just the Hotel Zone. That means that while there might be lots of tourists, since you are living like a local in one of the Mexican barrios in Centro or one of the residential sections of the town you probably won’t ever brush shoulders with any unless you happen to head to the beach or are in Centro during high season.

With that in mind, the further out you get from the Hotel Zone the fewer people speak English. This might be a problem if you don’t speak the language, but if you are in the Centro area most people will understand a smattering of basic English, and most shop owners and restaurants plus hotels are staffed by English-speaking locals. You can’t even get a job in the Hotel Zone unless you have a basic 80% understand of English, so you don’t have to worry about it if you are hanging out in that part of the city. However, once you get beyond Avenida Kabah (west of the Hotel Zone, running north and south) you better be able to speak at least 50% Spanish, because many of the locals out beyond that point don’t understand English. That’s where many of the original residential areas exist and they are filled up with Mexican families known as the pioneers or founders because they were the first people to come to the city 40 years ago and helped build it as well as settled down with their families.

As you stand atop the balcony at Plaza las Americas looking out past California Pizza Kitchen across Avenida Bonampak east towards the Hotel Zone and the open ocean, you can see the vast expanse of development that is currently underway as of 2011. There are dozens of towering apartment and condo buildings going up and they have created multiple entry streets that will be networking throughout the various sky rises and office buildings and condos and new palm tree-lined subdivisions that are being created. You can look west of the mall and see the latest residential development areas to get an idea of what will be coming; rows upon rows of urban jungle that is being transformed into the modern day Cancun.

One might think that Cancun wouldn’t be a place to set up shop as a location independent digital nomad. On the contrary, because there are dozens of reasons to be here, as this guide will explain. Not only is this a great jumping off point if you don’t speak a lot of Spanish and want to get your toes wet in Latin culture, but it also has an international airport, which is perfect for digital nomads. You can get in and out and go anywhere in the world you want from Cancun, all within a matter of minutes since you can hop a taxi and be at the airport in 30.

Above and beyond that, everything in and around Centro is fairly modern and the residential neighborhoods surrounding may be 15 to 40 years old but you can find a variety of rentals as well as property and buildings for sale. Real estate and rentals are discussed later on in the guide, but the thing to know is that prices here are dirt cheap in comparison to almost anywhere else in the world. What you would need to pay 100-150k for back in the States you can get here for 35-50k as far as houses, condos and townhomes go, and rentals are the same.

Public transportation is reliable and comfortable and the city is easy to navigate. It’s broken into easy-to-navigate sections called super manzanas, with manzanas inside of those sections which are clearly marked on the Cancun Wiki as well as other places on the Internet.

It’s also a really Bohemian place to kick back and take life slow. Time doesn’t exist in Cancun, and it’s just like the rest of Mexico in the sense that this is the land of manana. Nothing happens today, watches aren’t necessary, you won’t need an alarm clock and nobody really pays attention to a strict schedule. This is one of many great places in the world to come if you want to just relax for six months out of the year or set up for a couple of years as a beach bum.

Which is one of the major selling points of Cancun. This is the primary beach destination for the entire county of Mexico, and has been nicknamed the Mexican Caribbean. From the azure waters to the crystalline beaches that line the Mayan Riviera, this is a beach-lover’s paradise. Tropical weather, year-round sun, tequila, ceviche, margaritas, cervezas, mouth-watering tacos and beyond, there is a reason billions of dollars get spent here every year. For fun in the sun there are few places in the world that provide as many all-inclusive, beach-front hotel packages, not to mention timeshares and condo rentals, which means if you are a lover of soaking up the rays and snorkeling your way towards your next margarita and a nap…well, this is your place.

But Cancun also has more to it than its beaches and five star hotels. While this is certainly a tourist destination it is also a jumping-off point for the exploration of the Mayan culture. Once one of the largest empires in the world, spanning across several different countries through Central America ranging from Mexico to Belize and Guatemala, there are thousands of ruins scattered throughout the jungle, with only a fraction of them having been rediscovered. The Maya people still exist today, although they are a modern version of their ancestors. Even so, the tribal way of life still survives, as do their shamanic rituals and culture that focuses on nature and our connection with the universe and the energy that binds all of us together.

It is an impossibility to truly explore the entirety of the Mayan history within your lifetime, or even all of her ruins, but Cancun is a good first step towards taking that journey and seeing how much you can uncover. There are dozens of tours that have their starting point here in Cancun, ranging from Tulum just south of Cancun up to Chichen Itza, several hours way and northwest of the city. There are also multiple tour groups that have their headquarters in Cancun and specialize in taking people on customized tours of the Mayan ruins in and around Cancun, as well as down into Guatemala, up into Belize and further west into Mexico. This was once part of one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen, and there are some truly magnificent things to see and experience in the jungles of the Maya people.

In short, Cancun is a multi-cultural destination that has every modern amenity you could ever need or want while at the same time providing you with a mixture of sun, surf and tuf, cultural immersion, Maya history, lethargic days spent on the beach with the waters of the ocean lapping at your feet, the jungle, freshwater cenotes that are just waiting for you to discover them hidden beneath the jungle canopy where you can dive in and explore your own personal jungle paradise…Cancun has it all, and whether you choose to live it up in the Hotel Zone or live like a local in Centro or one of the residential areas, there is always something to see or experience in this Mexican paradise. 

Medical Tourism

Much like many other countries around the world, the cost of medicine in Mexico is drastically less in comparison to the United States and other countries where doctors use the excuse “You can’t put a price tag on human life” to charge obscene rates for their services. Most people these days are familiar with medical tourism, and Cancun is no exception to the rule. Services that you would pay thousands of dollars for cost literal pennies in comparison, yet the quality of the medical treatment is exactly the same as what you would expect in the United States.

For a full list of the available hospitals, clinics and treatment centers in Cancun, you can visit the Health Tourism website here. They have a fairly comprehensive list of the highest-quality centers in the city.

Schools and Education

Cancun may not be a major city on par with New York, London, Bogota or Rome, but it still has its fair share of universities and schools. If you are someone who is concerned about the quality and availability of education for your children while you are living like a local in this Mexican coastal destination, have no fears. There are plenty of English-speaking schools as well as universities which focus on English curriculum alongside universities and schools that focus on Spanish or a mixture of both.

If you plan on branching out from Cancun you can visit the Association of American Schools in Mexico, as they have a comprehensive list of English-speaking schools throughout the country, including here in Cancun. You can also visit the International American School’s website to find more information about their programs (which go from 7th grade through the end of high school), as well as partnerships they offer with other schools in Cancun.

If you are interested in your children having a multi-cultural experience, you can visit the Solexico’s website for more information about their range of language classes.

While Cancun is primarily known as a seaside resort destination, there have been an influx of higher education institutes in recent years, which means it is entirely possible for you to settle down here and have your kids educated all the way from kindergarten up through college. Currently, these are the universities offering higher education:

• The Technological Institute of Cancun
• The University La Salle Cancun
• University Anahuac Cancun
• The University of Technology Cancun
• The University of the Caribbean
• The Interamerican University of Development
• The TecMilenio University

The Mayan Culture

Within the last decade there has been an explosion of information blasted out on the Internet regarding the Maya culture and the relevance of the date 12/12/20120. With that in mind, it is impossible to cover in any one place all of the information regarding the Maya people, culture and history. Cancun may not be a Maya cultural spot, but it is a starting point for people interested in the northern section of the once-great Maya Empire.

The first mistake people make when they think about the Maya people is that they are no longer in existence. They are still here, and very much a thriving people, although they have evolved over time. There are around 7 million of them scattered throughout Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, but in much the same way the Italians still exist despite the fall of the Roman Empire, the Maya people are still around. However, the chances of you fully immersing yourself in the Maya way of life while centered in Cancun is fairly remote; the majority of them live south of the Yucatan in the Chiapas region of Mexico, along with Belize and Guatemala.

With that being said, Cancun is still a major starting point for people interested in getting to know the Maya history. There are literally dozens of ruins that serve as day trips, ranging from the ancient resort city of Tulum to the massive ruins at Chichen Itza. While they are normally packed full of tourists, there are hundreds of more elusive ruins scattered throughout the Yucatan, although getting to them will require a combination of Spanish and investigative know-how, or some local contacts and tour guides who specialize in the secret places of the Maya.

There are two options if you choose to explore the Maya way of life. The first option is to take the tourist route, which is simply ruin-hopping and touching on the ancient history, either on your own or with a tour guide/group. The second options is immersion. The Maya people are a very spiritual people, very much in touch with nature and very keen on sustainability and the symbiotic relationship between humans, plants and animals. The second option is suited only for those who are already in touch with their spiritual side, and who are interested in the true, shamanic nature of the Maya culture.

If you are looking for a relaxed, slow-paced Mayan adventure, I highly recommend Snail Adventures, based out of Cancun, Mexico. Ran by a group of professionals who have years of experience taking groups through the Mayan ruins and immersing people at a relaxed pace so you get the most out of your time spent exploring this amazing culture, Snail Adventures is one of the premier Mayan tour groups in the Yucatan. Book your adventure today and experience the Mayan culture in a way that no other tour can allow you. Don’t forget to tell that I sent you in their direction!

For more general information on the Maya people, their history and their culture, the Wiki page for the Maya history and civilization is chock-full of quality information and links. You can also visit the Wiki page on the Maya people for more information on the Maya people living in the modern era. (More links to come in the future)

General Links

There are literally hundreds of various websites out there dedicated to people’s blogs and quick little vacation stories regarding their time in Mexico. And while the purpose of theMarginal Boundaries: Live Like a Local in Cancun, Mexico guide is specifically targeted for this city, there are many other resources for the country as a whole.

While the Lonely Planet forums and section for Cancun are without a doubt a good place to start if you are looking for generalized information about Cancun and being here on a short-term basis, hands-down one of the ultimate resources for anyone planning on spending a significant amount of time in Mexico is the Mexperience website. Initially founded in 2002, the website has grown into one of the ultimate resources for information specific to living, breathing and immersing yourself in the country of Mexico.

Above and beyond that, you can also visit the main website for the Cancun Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, which lists a variety of local events and hotspots to keep you entertained throughout the year regardless of what type of cultural activities you prefer.

There’s no time like now to start enjoying the perpetual sun and fun that is Cancun, Mexico. From the beaches to the food to the culture to the Mayan Riviera, everything you could ever want starts here.

 

 

 

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