1, 2, 3 ... Cancun!

In recent years, it has somewhat become a common joke for basketball pundits to use "1, 2, 3 ... Cancun!" to make fun of some professional players whose season is about to end. Sometimes, right before play, a team will huddle and shout something like "1, 2, 3 ... Team!" to build team morale. But the joke here is that some players are playing so bad (or otherwise resigned to the fact that their team will lose), that they are more focused on their soon-to-come vacation after the season instead of on the team, and they thus shout, "1, 2, 3 ... Cancun!" (instead of "1, 2, 3, ... Team!").

Tired joke aside, did you notice where these professional players are vacationing? Cancun! Or in Spanish Cancún!

Cancun has been an extremely popular vacationing spot for American tourists for many years, but it has developed a bit of the reputation of being an overcrowded spring break destination for drunk college students. And after one American couple being jailed for 32 days, a German tourist being attacked by locals and plentiful reports of tourists being overcharged for a taxi from the airport to their hotel, some are wondering if the "Cancun vacation ideal" has indeed faded from its past glory.

The answer is a resounding NO!

This isn't a photoshopped picture from the internet. I took this with my mid-budget Samsung phone from the balcony of my mid-budget Airbnb about a couple months ago. So, don't utterly disrespect the local culture like the German tourist, don't sign some expensive timeshare contract like the Americans, do take the new 7-dollar bus specifically designed to combat taxi abuse/reserve a cheap taxi ahead of time on GetYourGuide (you can take an Uber back to the airport no problem), sit back and enjoy the anything but mid-budget views.

At this point, you may have guessed that the main reason you should go to Cancun, the thing that separates itself from other international vacations, is that you can relatively easily hop on one cheap, very short flight from Miami to Cancun International and take a cheap 20-40 minute cab/bus to your balcony over paradise. Again, all the above pictures were personally taken from this surprisingly affordable Airbnb (shout out to Gianmarco on Instagram).

Anyone who travels knows that, if you don't do it right, the work to set it up and get there can be overwhelming. Cancun is just easy in comparison—so whether you want to do some remote work with that fake paradise background come to life or just want to de-stress and marvel at creation, this is it, bub.

When you do decide to step out of the building, just a few steps away lies one the greatest beaches in the world, second only to Fiji (I've been to the Bahamas, Punta Canta and Sardinia as well)—sugar-white, soft sand, crystal-clear, bright blue waters and just a touch of that cove-like geology that characterizes some striking European beaches.

Pro tip: Don't go during Spring Break (duh!), and all should be well. In fact, we went just before Spring Break, at the end of Februrary, and even though we were pretty close to Coco Bongo (supposed club-like area), you couldn't hear a thing nor in the Airbnb nor by the basically private beach (it was actually kind of nice to be close enough to walk to restaurants and civilization, even the Coco Bongo area wasn't too crazy/rowdy at that time of year and Häggan Daz was a perk!).

By the way, Mexican food is great and everybody knows it. Trevor Noah once told a joke about a certain fine, young gentleman's anti-Mexican rant at a public event in response to a journalist's question:

“Boy, I’ll tell you what. I don’t [care} any of these ... Mexicans, you hear? They came over here and they ain’t supposed to be here, boy. Woo! ... you heard? That’s right, go on back to where you came from. Woo! These Mexicans ain’t done nothing good. They ain’t brought nothing good ... We don’t need y’all. Now c’mon Bubba, it’s Taco Tuesday!”

Boy, Bubba would have loved Doña Yola's Mexican Home Cuisine right around the corner from Coco Bongo. Homemade guacamole, fresh shrimp and anything (quesadilla, fajita, etc.) arrachera (Mexican skirt steak) are all next level and affordable.

And it's not just amazing Mexican food. A short 5-minute walk away is Capri Pizzeria Moderna, an Italian restaurant with pizza that rivaled anything I've had in Italy. Check the Google reviews if you have doubts.

Don't forget to take a bus/Uber in town away from the Hotel Zone. Parque de las Palapas on a weekend night offers a more authentic local experience with a bit of music, a dinner market, food carts with local sweets and more affordable souvenirs. It didn't feel dangerous at all, and it was a chance to meet real local families. Check out the nearby Walmart (it's unique and your overall best bet for supplies/souvenirs), and finish at Al Chimichurri for an authentic ribeye and margarita.

You probably expected the beach and the food. What many don't seem to know of for some reason and what absolutely pushes Cancun over the top are the rare opportunities to explore prime nature, history, culture and architecture all in one go.

Rent a jet ski or drive a speedboat through Cancun's jungle lagoon mangroves.

We spotted a few Magnificent Frigatebirds. Though not always visible, the males have a stark red throat pouch which inflates to impress their female counterparts. What does consistently stand out are their strikingly angular Batmobile-like wings. Known as "pirates of the sky," Magnificent Frigatebirds are named for their impressive aerial-maneuvering ability and their penchant for stealing food from other birds right in the sky.

Perhaps the two "coolest" things about a Cancun vacation are two things bewilderingly unknown to some beachgoers: the cenotes and Chichén Itzá.

Cenote "roof" in Mexico

Most famous in Mexcio, cenotes are beautiful jungle/limestone-surrounded natural pits or sinkholes of exposed fresh water, and they meant life to the ancient Mayans in the middle of the jungle where water, of course, was very scarce. Though unverified, our tour guide (Mayan descendant) claimed that the ancient Mayans weren't proponents of the ill-famed practice of human sacrifice sometimes associated with their history, but rather, the Aztecs (stronger, taller and bigger than the Mayans) bullied them into introducing that aspect into their culture. Supposedly, human sacrifice in the cenotes led to contamination of their rare water sources and possibly the downfall of the people.

Today, there are many tours (about an hour and fifteen minute air-conditioned bus ride from Cancun) you can take to learn about ancient Mayan culture (any religious aspect you are uncomfortable with you can easily excuse yourself from), visit the jungle (it wasn't bad at all with the heat and bugs when we were there), taste and learn about rare types of authentic tequila, swim in the cenotes and marvel at the stunning, surrounding ancient architecture.

There are fish in the fresh water!

The most stunning of that surrounding ancient architecture is the pyramid Chichén Itzá, an ancient Mayan temple.

Together with the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, the Colosseum, Christ the Redeemer and the Taj Mahal, it forms one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Probably about a whole 10 centuries older than Machu Picchu, this is something lovers of history and archaeology can't miss. The level of geometrical skill behind this work of art is on full display and boggles the mind. In fact, during the spring equinox, an optical illusion in the form of a serpent appears, the result of pinpoint geometrical design on the part of ancient Mayan builders. The connection to the Bible's account of the tower of Babel and the Serpent don't go unnoticed to those aware.

Just steps away is the largest ancient tlachtli (sporting field) in the Americas.

Basketball any one? Notice the small circle on the wall in the left of the above picture. According to our tour guide, the game consisted of two teams of 7 players, and the goal was to put a ball through that circle. Verified sources report the game was associated with human sacrifice. But again, our tour guide claimed that it was the Aztecs that changed the outcome of the game and forced this practice on the Mayans. From that point on, according to him, human sacrifice was introduced and in fact upon all members of the winning team, for supposedly it was to be considered nothing less than an honor and a privilege (talk about a game you wouldn't want to win!).

I doubt those ancient Mayan/Aztec "basketball" teams said it, but times have changed, and the history, the architecture, the tequila, the cenotes, the arrachera, the Magnificent Frigatebirds, the nature and the beach await you.

So let's all say it together:

"1, 2, 3 ... Cancun!"