Cozumel-Eminence Waterfront

Cozumel · Mexico · Caribbean Field Notes

I Am an AmeriCAN, Not an AmeriCAN’T

A tourist trap, a Caribbean Los Angeles, a level playing field, and a place where money speaks first and English comes second.

Enter Cozumel
The Call

I Am an AmeriCAN, Not an AmeriCAN’T

“It is nice to know that I can still pay for things in a currency that no longer exists: the U.S. dollar.”

Foreign Land

Cozumel Has a Caribbean Los Angeles Vibe

Navigator and Freedom of the Seas passengers debarking in Cozumel

Navigator and Freedom of the Seas

Passengers debarking into a place built to absorb the energy of tourism.

The endangered expat in Cozumel

An Endangered Species: The Expat

Locals fill the tourism jobs. The playing field is level, and the fantasy of importing yourself into paradise has limits.

It is not as pretty as Cabo San Lucas on the Pacific Ocean in the Sea of Cortez, but Cozumel has a Caribbean Los Angeles energy. It feels like passing through one of the barrios off the Harbor Freeway, without the traffic and without the Los Angry Cars.

I would have liked to work in this beautiful tourist trap. Forget about it. Locals are able to fill the tourism jobs in the region. There is a leveled playing field here in Cozumel.

Related field notes: Cabo San Lucas and Los Angry Cars.

Trials

They Speak Money First and English Second

The happy-go-lucky locals understand that money is not the key to happiness, but if they have enough of it, they can have a key made.

English Problem 01

There is no egg in eggplant.

English Problem 02

There is no ham in hamburger.

English Problem 03

There is no pine or apple in pineapple.

English Problem 04

You park in a driveway and drive on a parkway.

English Problem 05

Double negatives are a no-no.

Local Fluency

Money is the first language. English is the second.

The Elixir

Am I Better Off Than I Was Four Trillion Dollars Ago?

Paying for things in a currency that no longer exists, I ask myself whether I am better off than I was four trillion dollars ago.

In Mexico, the answer is yes.

Humor+ Currency+ Perspective= Cozumel
Cozumel · Mexico

AmeriCAN

The dollar may have lost its meaning. The experience did not.

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