Debí vender mas boletos — from Superbowl booking to pineapple slicing, Bad Bunny has had to get creative after failing to sell enough tickets for his Mexico City tour. (Punto Shot/Instagram)
MEXICO CITY — In a stunning career pivot that nobody saw coming (except literally everyone on Reddit), global superstar Bad Bunny was spotted Tuesday behind a taco stand in Mexico City, furiously chopping cilantro and muttering “yo no hago trap… ahora hago tacos.”
Witnesses say the reggaeton icon — real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — set up the stand after critics “absolutely obliterated” his latest concert tour, which one reviewer described as “like watching a Wi-Fi signal slowly deteriorate with rhythm.”
Celebrity pulling power has seen hungry Chilangos appear in droves.
“I thought it was performance art,” said one local foodie. “But then he handed me a taco al pastor and said, ‘This one’s called Un Verano Sin Salsa.’ I realized… he’s serious.”
Sources close to Bad Bunny confirm that despite the humbling fall from sold-out arenas to a sidewalk griddle, Benito remains upbeat. “He’s channeling the same artistic energy,” one friend said. “He used to drop beats; now he drops onions.”
The stand has already gone viral, with fans eager to sample items like the Me Porto Fajita combo and the limited-edition Titi Me Preguntó Si Quiere Guacamole. Others note that his tipping policy — mandatory reggaeton dance moves for a discount — has become a local sensation.
When asked if he plans to return to music, Bad Bunny reportedly shrugged. “The reviews hurt,” he said, flipping a tortilla with the precision of a Grammy winner. “But here, at least, everyone dances — with or without tickets. And if my next single flops again, I’ll just open a second stand in Guadalajara.”
The State Search Commission in Jalisco is at the forefront of a new approach to finding Mexico's disappeared. (Comisión de Búsqueda de Personas del Estado de Jalisco)
Mexico’s disappearance crisis is so vast, so scattered and so complex that traditional investigative tools have repeatedly failed to keep pace. For years, the most reliable searchers have not been state institutions but the families themselves — the madres buscadoras who learned to read the landscape through grief-sharpened intuition: disturbed soil, insects that shouldn’t be there, a patch of unusually green vegetation.
Now, in Jalisco, those grassroots observations are being transformed into an emerging forensic science — one that treats nature itself as a map of clandestine burial patterns.
Forensic science is helping to unlock the environmental patterns that signal the presence of buried bodies. (Tracy L. Barnett)
Last week, that work was the focus of a technical conference at the State Supreme Court of San Luis Potosí, where more than 100 officials, human rights advocates and relatives of the disappeared gathered to hear Dr. Tunuari Roberto Chávez González, a biologist and Director of the Area of Analysis and Context for Jalisco’s State Search Commission (COBUPEJ).
“Mexico is boiling,” he told the audience, displaying a map livid with yellow, orange and deep-red thermal gradients. “Not only because of climate change but also because of so much pain and so much rage.”
Chávez coordinated the book “Interpretar la naturaleza para encontrar a quienes nos faltan” (“Interpreting nature to find the missing”), a synthesis of years of experimental research into how the decomposition of bodies transforms the surrounding ecosystem — and how those transformations can be detected, mapped and analyzed.
The ultimate goal: more findings, more identifications and less territory to search blindly.
A scientific approach rooted in the natural world
The basic premise is stark: a clandestine grave changes its environment. Nitrogen released during decomposition can alter soil chemistry; certain insects arrive in predictable succession; some plants flourish while others die back; even the ground surface may cool or warm in anomalous ways detectable through thermal imaging.
“Every grave corresponds to a pattern. We look for natural patterns to find the grave, and then forensic patterns to confirm identity.”
New answers are being sought in public discussions for Mexico’s crisis of the disappeared, with at least 115,000 people missing. (Tracy L. Barnett)
To test these ideas, the Jalisco commission constructed two controlled research fields, each containing 16 simulated graves using 65-kilogram pigs — the global standard biological proxy for human decomposition. Over months and years, researchers documented how vegetation differed above buried remains, how insect colonies developed, how nitrogen levels in soil shifted, and how all of this looked through multispectral and thermal cameras.
“The plants themselves take advantage of that nitrogen to become greener, for example,” Chávez said, describing one of the most easily observed surface indicators.
The findings help refine probabilistic models — maps that highlight areas where clandestine graves are statistically more likely to be found based on environmental signatures.
These methods are no longer theoretical.
According to Chávez, around 25 people who had been unidentified for years have been identified and returned to their families using this systematic approach. Another 450 to 460 identification hypotheses are currently being analyzed.
Grassroots knowledge becomes scientific method
Two days after the Supreme Court presentation, the research returned to its roots: Guadalajara. There, in a public discussion at the Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL), Latin America’s largest, the book was presented before an audience that included academics, geospatial analysts, forensic scientists and families of the disappeared.
The scale of the problem is so profound that it’s often families, not systematic search efforts like the one seen here, that uncover bodies. (Comisión de Búsqueda de Personas del Estado de Jalisco)
Víctor Hugo Ávila Barrientos, head of Jalisco’s State Search Commission, opened with an acknowledgment that resonated across the room.
“This first edition is based precisely on the knowledge of the searching mothers, and what we did was provide scientific and technical backing to knowledge already proven in the field.”
This merging of institutional science and grassroots expertise is one of the project’s most innovative — and politically sensitive — features. For years, colectivos de búsqueda (search collectives) have been the ones discovering clandestine graves, often outpacing state institutions. Many of their field strategies have now been formalized into data collection methods.
Panelists at FIL underscored both the progress and the obstacles. The technologies used — high-resolution satellite imagery, geophysical instrumentation, thermal mapping and molecular analysis — remain expensive and sometimes hard to deploy in remote areas.
“Scientific knowledge has to move forward, but institutions like ours are operational, not research institutions. Applying this knowledge requires real resources,” said Alejandro Axel Rivera Martínez of the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences.
A crisis that continues to grow
Mexico’s official registry includes more than 115,000 people reported missing — a number widely understood to be an undercount. Jalisco alone has more than 15,000, one of the highest figures in the nation.
Searching for clues like biological patterns that might suggest a burial ground. (Comisión de Búsqueda de Personas del Estado de Jalisco)
The scale of the crisis is so profound that some states have largely abandoned systematic searches. Others depend heavily on families to lead the way.
In that context, Jalisco’s experimental model has drawn attention from other states facing similar surges in disappearances. The approach does not replace traditional investigation, but it adds new layers of probability, helping narrow search areas that once seemed impossibly vast.
Chávez emphasized that the human dimension remains central.
Behind every soil sample and pixel of multispectral imagery, he is keenly aware of the families waiting for answers — and families asking difficult questions.
A mother’s question, and a scientist’s answer
In one training session with search collectives, a mother raised a question that Chávez says he has never forgotten.
“In one of the sessions, a mother asked whether this meant she would be looking for her son still alive. From a technical point of view, the answer is that if a body has changed its form of life — if her son is no longer in the form in which she last saw him — then in some sense she would be looking for him in the flower. But it would be in the most lush, most beautiful flower, because it is the one that has different nutrients and water.”
The idea that nature makes visible to those who know how to look is being harnessed in the movement to find the disappeared, notes biologist Dr. Tunuari Roberto Chávez González. (Tracy L. Barnett)
For many families, the idea is not metaphorical. It is a way of understanding that even in death, their loved ones continue to exist — materially, biologically — in forms that nature makes visible to those who know how to look.
During his Supreme Court presentation, Chávez projected a line from Norwegian painter Edvard Munch that has become something of a guiding phrase for the project.
“From my decomposing body, flowers will grow, and I will be in them. That is eternity.”
A shifting paradigm in the search for Mexico’s missing
The idea that ecosystems can hold forensic clues is not new — but applying it systematically, at scale, inside a government search commission is groundbreaking.
In a country where thousands of clandestine graves remain undiscovered and where families continue to search in desert washes, forests and fields and city edges, the integration of biology, geology, entomology, satellite analysis and grassroots field knowledge represents a new way forward.
It’s not a replacement for traditional investigation, not a substitute for justice, but a tool — grounded in science and shaped by the people who need it most.
The new methods are not a replacement for traditional investigation, but just another tool. (Comisión de Búsqueda de Personas del Estado de Jalisco)
As Mexico continues to grapple with the magnitude of the disappearance crisis, researchers like Chávez say the work must keep evolving, informed both by scientific rigor and by the lived experience of the families of victims.
Because in Mexico, the landscape itself remembers.
Tracy L. Barnett is a freelance writer based in Guadalajara. She is the founder of The Esperanza Project, a bilingual magazine covering social change movements in the Americas.
Tenochtitlán as it likely looked during the era of the Mexica, between the 14th and 16th centuries. (Gary Todd/Wikimedia Commons)
Many different cultures around the world have seen the winter solstice as a spiritual death and rebirth of the sun. This idea seems appropriate as the date marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. During the solstice, then, the sun and the forces of light are defeated by darkness. It is, however, from this moment on that the days grow longer and cosmic balance is restored with the triumph of the warrior sun.
For the Mexica or Aztecs — who ruled over much of modern-day Mexico between the 14th and 16th centuries — the winter solstice was a celebration of Huitzilopochtli, their patron deity, the “Sun Lord” who presided over government, war and commerce.
The Codex Tovar, attributed to 16th century Jesuit Juan de Tovar, contains information on Mexica ritual festivities such as those celebrated for Panquetzaliztli. (Public Domain)
Huitzilopochtli, the warrior hummingbird
In Nahuatl (the language of the Mexica, which is still spoken by millions of people today), Huitzilopochtli means “Hummingbird on the Left” or “Left-Handed Hummingbird”. This mystical name refers to the fierce nature of hummingbirds, who, despite their pretty looks, are willing to protect their nests with unexpected violence. The Nahuatl word huitzillin, meaning hummingbird, comes from huitztli, or thorn, a stinging metaphor for both beauty and pain. In Mexica poetry, these birds are commonly associated with arrows that fly swiftly towards their enemy.
Huitzilopochtli is the ruler of the south, a region of combat and sacrifice; of the wars and rituals that nurture the sun with blood. Symbolically, the solar south is also midday, and the north, the land of the dead, is the lunar midnight.
The birth of the sun
Several Mexica testimonies, recorded during the early decades of the colonial period, tell the tale of Huitzilopochtli’s birth, a mythical story that explains the origin of day and night. It starts when Coatlicue, the Mother Earth, finds a precious feather one day while she is sweeping her temple. She keeps the feather under her skirt, and a few moments later, she realizes it is gone —and she is pregnant.
Coatlicue shares the news with her four hundred sons and her only daughter, but they are not happy. For them, Coatlicue’s unexpected pregnancy is a dishonor, especially since they do not know who the father is. Her daughter, Coyolxauhqui, commands her brothers to kill their mother before her child is born. Coatlicue seeks refuge in a sacred mountain, where she gives birth to a son, Huitzilopochtli, fully armed and ready for war.
Huitzilopochtli protects his mother, the Earth, by facing his brothers, whom he defeats single-handedly (he is, after all, a hard-to-defeat, left-handed warrior), and his xiuhcoatl, the serpent-shaped solar rays. He cuts off Coyolxauqhui’s head. His sister is then turned into the moon, who is defeated once every month, when her power becomes too strong, and his now enslaved brothers become the stars. This is how the sun constantly saves the Earth from the forces of night.
Solstice rituals in Tenochtitlán
The myth of Huitzilopochtli’s birth is represented in the most important temple of the Mexica, the Huey Teocalli or Templo Mayor of their capital, Tenochtitlán, located in the heart of Mexico City. Upon its top would be an image of Huitzilopochtli, the sun. At its bottom, a disk-shaped stone represented his sister, Coyolxauhqui, the moon. During special festivities, war captives were sacrificed on the Huey Teocalli; their bodies would roll down the temple’s staircase, imitating the sacrifice of the warrior lady.
The sacrifice of foreign captives was one of the ceremonies performed during Panquetzalilztli. (Extract of Codex Magliabechiano, Public Domain)
This place would have been the setting for the rituals dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. Written sources speak of a feast called Panquetzaliztli or “Raising of Flags,” which was celebrated around the winter solstice, the moment when the newborn sun defeats the moon. Panquetzaliztli is one of the 20 18-day-long months of the Mexica calendar, which dictated religious life in their city and most likely throughout their domain. To the subjects of the Mexica, Huitzilopochtli was the deity of foreign power and domination, the invincible lord of the enemies.
Justice is sometimes ironic. The top of the Huey Teocalli is long lost, and the image of Huitzilopochtli was most likely one of the first destroyed during the conquest. Coyolxauhqui’s carved disk was preserved and casually stumbled upon in 1978. Hers was the first discovery at the now thoroughly excavated archaeological site.
Panquetzaliztli ceremonies
In his 1580 treaty “Historia de las Indias de Nueva España e Islas de Tierra Firme” (“History of the Indies of New Spain”), Dominican friar Diego Durán recalls one of the ceremonies carried out during Panquetzaliztli in honor of Huitzilopochtli: “There was a feast dedicated to this said great idol, and it was that (they) sculpted him in dough, in a size that a man could carry him in arms and run so swiftly that the others could chase but never catch them.”
According to Durán, this race was called ipaina Huitzilopochtli or Huitzilopochtli’s rush. The fastest man in Tenochtitlan would carry the image of the deity and run “down the street of Tacuba … arrive at Tacubaya, and from Tacubaya he would go to Coyuacan and from Coyuacan to Huitzilopochco, and from there he would return to Mexico.” The circuit encompassed much of today’s Mexico City center-southern part, which would have been adorned with flower arches and paper flags to welcome the triumphant Sun Lord. Other people would follow them along the route. If any of them matched the runner, the author emphasises this would have been a very scarce occasion — they would attain a special blessing from Huitzilopochtli.
The sacrifices
Along with Durán’s book, one of the most precious sources for understanding Mexica ritual life is the “Historia General de las Cosas de la Nueva España” (“General History of the Things of New Spain”), compiled by the Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún between 1540 and 1585. According to Sahagún, during the first days of Panquetzaliztli, women and men alike would sing and dance to hymns. The whole Mexica society would have been preparing for the most sacred moment of Huitzilopochtli’s feast, when the Lord of War demanded sacrifices of foreign captives during Panquetzalilztli.
Lydia Leija is a linguist, journalist, and visual storyteller. She has directed three feature films, and her audiovisual work has been featured in national and international media. She’s been part of National Geographic, Muy Interesante, and Cosmopolitan.
Light up the Christmas tree and forget all about the holiday blues. (Secretaría de Educación Guerrero)
My first Christmas in Mexico was just terrible.
Instead of staying with my host family like I should have done, I accepted an invitation to spend Christmas with my then-boyfriend and his family. He was from Coatzacoalcos, a city in Veracruz that can best be described as the opposite of a postcard. That was my first mistake.
Holiday tip No. 1: Don’t spend Christmas in a nightclub in Coatzacoalcos. (Gobierno del Estado de Veracruz)
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, it didn’t occur to me that it might be too different an experience in Mexico. My first hint came with the discussion of Christmas dinner. My boyfriend’s family was not planning to cook, but rather to order food from a restaurant. I thought it was a little strange, but I wouldn’t dare begrudge someone resistance to cooking a big meal.
The worst Christmas ever
Now I know ordering Christmas dinner is pretty common. That’s fine. I was also amused that the family really wanted spaghetti at the meal. Like, it was super important to them (spaghetti and Jell-O: two foods that you eat when you need something as basic and cheap as can be in the U.S., but party food here).
The real surprise came, though, when I realized that we were not only eating very late, but that we’d be going out to a nightclub afterwards. Oh my!
Mistake No. 1 was wearing heels that were high and sexy but very uncomfortable.
Mistake No. 2 was assuming we’d dance for like an hour and go home.
As it turned out, we stayed at this club all night and went home around 7 a.m. as the sun was rising Christmas morning. I had not impressed anyone by whining and eventually sleeping on the hard bench of a table (spoiler alert — we didn’t make it), but I didn’t care. I’ve got the circadian rhythm of a hen, and being forced to stay up all night is basically torture for me.
Finding familiar traditions is one of the keys to avoiding the holiday blues. (Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México)
When I talked to my mom midday on Christmas, I struggled to keep my voice cheerful so she wouldn’t worry. But really, it was the worst Christmas ever.
Why do I regale you with this story, dear readers?
Well, the holidays are upon us. And even though I’ve had no repeats of that first Christmas here — thank goodness! — it is a day that always makes me feel a little out of place, even after all these years.
There are strategies I’ve come up with over the years, though, to make it more special and less homesickness-inducing. Let’s have a look!
But there are plenty of overlaps too: Christmas trees, lights,poinsettias — did you know they’re Mexican? You might hear some familiar Christmas carols in Spanish, and find Santa at the mall if you’re lucky! The more you can find, and sometimes create, crossover, the happier time you’ll have!
Remember: The culture of gift giving is different in Mexico than it is in the U.S. (Instagram)
Remember thatthe culture of gift-giving here is different. In the U.S., families go pretty overboard with presents. Here in Mexico, most people don’t. Presents are mostly for the kids, and are primarily given on Three Kings Day (January 6th). While adults do sometimes give each other presents, the expectation isn’t as ingrained here as it is up north. If you want to do a gift exchange, propose one!
Hang out with other people from your culture, if you can find them. Normally, I’d say, “No, what you need to be doing is hanging out with Mexicans!” And this is true, you should do that. But for especially familial holidays, it can be hard if you’re here without a family. Next best thing? People who are from your own culture. You don’t have to be best friends or anything, but maybe plan a nice Christmas outing or something. Next Saturday (which might be the Saturday this is published), I’m hosting a Christmas get-together with our “desayuno de extranjeros” group!
Keep some of your own traditions alive, and invite others to participate! For me, that’s cookie-making and watching the Mikhail Baryshnikov version of The Nutcracker ballet (it’s on YouTube!). This year, we invited my kid’s two besties and their moms to join us. This made it both a new and old activity, and very fun!
Do a little decorating. You don’t have to go all out. If you’re not up for a tree and all its trimmings, fine. But a poinsettia point or two can just make things look so bright and festive, and you can find them everywhere around this time.
For me personally, I like decorating for Christmas almost better than Christmas Day itself. It’s especially been nice since I hauled a lot of the Christmas ornaments on the tree when I was a kid down here. Those ornaments from the 1980s, my grandmother’s little nativity scene … it’s the little things!
More good tips
Go to Christmas events! Depending on where you live, there are probably some good Christmas spectacles to be had. In bigger cities, you might be able to go see “The Nutcracker” or go to Christmas concerts. If you look on Facebook and search for city name + cartelera (basically event announcements), you’ll likely find some fun options. Invite someone to go with you!
Events like “The Nutcracker” or other ballets are a good way to chase away the holiday blues. (Moscow State Ballet)
Giveaguinaldos, the holiday bonus, to anyone who works for you. It will be much appreciated. I like to throw in some fancy chocolates, too!
This last one might seem silly, but I love it: make a playlist! Put on your favorite Christmas carols, and mix them with some Mexican holiday songs as well. It’s a good way to transform homesickness to excitement for your new home.
The holidays aren’t always easy, but especially with some community — the key to everything, really — they can be made very special.
Tijuana was at a low point in terms of public safety and civic pride by 2009, until one man had an idea to bring the city back to life. (Unsplash / Barbara Zandoval)
By all accounts, 2008 and 2009 were very bad years for Tijuana. Drugs, street crime, extortion and kidnapping were rampant. The long-dominant Arellano-Felix cartel, which had controlled crime in Tijuana, was challenged by the Sinaloa Cartel and the New Generation Cartel, which began fighting and killing each other. Terror gripped many parts of the city. In 2008 alone, 844 Tijuanenses had been murdered, up from 337 the year before.
The members of the business community became prime prospects for the sale of armored vehicles and hired bodyguards that protected their homes, offices and even guarded them when they went to restaurants. Tijuana’s restaurants, which had long been popular for business lunches, were still popular during the day, but few ventured out in the evening. Many families that could afford to do so bought homes across the border in San Diego and Chula Vista. Many have never returned.
José Galicot, the man behind Tijuana Innovadora and a renewed sense of civic pride in the “Gateway to Mexico.” (Tijuana Innovadora)
Tijuana’s teenagers, adults today, remember when almost all social events — parties, dances and dates were put on hold. Some didn’t go to school at all, while others were enrolled in private academies in San Diego.
Tourism and healthcare businesses that catered to cross-border visitors were severely hurt.
Tijuana’s reputation was so bad that when Tijuanenses traveled abroad, they said they were from “Mexico” or “near San Diego.” Some civic leaders even considered changing the name of the city.
José Galicot and the revival of Tijuana
But by 2010, things began to change rapidly. How the bad times ended was and still is controversial. Mayor Jorge Ramos and his successor, newly elected Mayor Carlos Bustamente, were credited by some. Others point to the Mexican Army, which worked with civic leaders, police and state prosecutors to effect change in the police force and courts.
Nevertheless, the city’s reputation was ruined. Tijuana had a name in the world that was associated with crime and cartels. Locally, citizens had no pride in their hometown. Then one man, business leader José Galicot, worked to change it with one startling and high-profile event — Tijuana Innovadora.
In 2010, Tijuana Innovadora launched its efforts to earn the trust and respect of key sectors of the community, including local, state and federal government, the private sector, national and regional media, business professionals, civil society, students and residents of the community. A tall order for a city whose reputation was so severely damaged.
The first Tijuana Innovadora took place in 2010. (Wikimedia Commons / Osdarin)
José Galicot envisioned an exhibition so positive that it could change the image of the community. First, he booked the iconic Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT), the only structure of the federal Secretariat of Culture in the country outside Mexico City. Then, to fund the project, he made a list of the 50 largest companies in Tijuana, hoping to get a positive response from at least 20.
The birth of Tijuana Innovadora
Instead, much to Galicot’s delight, all 50 agreed to help fund the project and to exhibit at CECUT. These included Toyota, Welch Allyn, Kyocera, Plantronics (now Poly), Medtronic, Samsung, Honeywell, Foxconn and Bose.
High-level speakers were engaged, including President Felipe Calderón, entrepreneur Carlos Slim, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, broadcaster Larry King, Qualcomm’s CEO Paul Jacobs, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and Tetsuo Agata, an executive of Toyota … among others. Manufacturing in North America was a theme highlighting the city’s achievements in technology, science and culture. English to Spanish translation aided in communications during all sessions.
Attendance at the conference was 750,000 during its 14-day run time. Parents from all over the city brought their children to see the exhibits of companies where they worked. This instilled in the children pride in Tijuana that had not been there previously.
Tijuana Innovadora has continued on a bi-annual basis since its 2010 inauguration. In addition, it has spawned many other projects, including Art in Industry, Leadership Development, House of Ideas, InnovaModa (fashion and design focused), Paseo de la Fama (honoring bi-national leadership), Tijuana Verde (Green City), Comuna Creativa (Creative City) and Fablab (Digital Fabrication Laboratory).
A renewed sense of pride
From the concept of José Galicot in 2009 to improve the image and develop pride in Tijuana, Tijuana Innovadora today has worked hard to reverse regional migration as more San Diegans learn to call Tijuana home. They help to cultivate pride in the city and to offer creative outlets for its youth.
Tijuana has got its groove back since the early days of Tijuana Innovadora. (Unsplash / Guatam Krishnan)
Major universities such as Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS) and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) attract students from both sides of the border.
Spurred by Tijuana Innovadora, the city today is home to 26,545 companies from 83 countries, including the U.S., with 348 companies, Spain with 53 companies, Japan with 53 companies and the United Kingdom with 27.
A thriving city of more than two million people, Tijuana is an industrial and cultural powerhouse. Perhaps, more importantly, residents are proud of their city.
Cancún was built solely with tourism in mind. (Unsplash / Fernando Garcia)
Mexico. Where Pueblos Mágicos unfold across mountainous landscapes. Where city sprawls stretch 25 miles from east to west. Where rainbow-colored fisherman villages dot coastlines, Cortés-era haciendas ring ancient Maya ruins, and spiky agave plants scratch the Jaliscan sky. In a country that practically explodes with culture, how is it that Cancún became the first most-visited beach destination in Mexico, and the second-most visited destination in the country overall?
In short, it was built that way.
A resort born from computer calculations
Cancún is the rare Mexican resort destination with no real history. (Unsplash / Aman)
Cancún’s history is remarkably short. Unlike Mérida or Puebla, it didn’t spring from an ancient village. In fact, the city didn’t exist until the federal government and Banco de México decided to develop it in 1969. A development team targeted an existing sandbar off the tip of the Yucatán peninsula — then home to only a few small settlements, jungle and mangroves — using advanced computer technology and geographic research. They evaluated specific criteria, including climate, beach quality, hurricane risk, workforce and distance to the U.S. market, determining that this would be the perfect place to create a vacation hub.
The goal was ambitious: build a desirable, accessible destination that would rival other Caribbean spots and Miami while generating millions of tourist dollars. The economic dream of creating a flashy beach resort flanked by turquoise Caribbean waters and lush jungle would come to fruition — no matter the cost.
INFRATUR and the land grab
The timing was strategic. In the late 1960s, Acapulco was the crown jewel of Mexico’s coastline and a favorite getaway for Mexican and Hollywood elites. However, it was nearing the end of its golden age when overcrowding and pollution began to dull its glamour. The country desperately needed an alternative destination to replace the Pacific paradise while also attracting northern neighbors.
Banco de México established INFRATUR, a tourism-infrastructure trust designed to finance large-scale tourism projects. The trust moved swiftly, quietly purchasing over 12,000 hectares of coastline to lease in parcels to investors and hotel developers. The area would be divided between the tourist zone, the lagoon system, conservation land and urban area.
Not everyone welcomed this blueprint. As whispers about the project reached local landowners and speculators, a scramble erupted to capture land or inflate its value before the bank claimed it. It didn’t matter. Construction began in 1970 anyway, backed by federal funds and financing from lenders like the Inter-American Development Bank. Within a few years, the project consumed around one-fifth of Mexico’s federal tourism investment, a clear signal of its political focus.
Breaking ground in paradise
The sandbar was priority number one, but it could only be accessed by boat – hardly feasible for transporting the abundance of materials and manpower needed. Engineers solved this by building a road from Puerto Juárez, along with a provisional airstrip. Large-scale dredging removed mangroves and opened access between the lagoon system and the sea.
Cancún, as a vacation destination, is less than 50 years old. (Unsplash / Daniel Vives)
The project evolved in 1974 when the newest iteration of the fund, FONATUR (Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo), took control and introduced a three-phase strategy: Phase 1 focused on the hotel zone; Phase 2 emphasized the mainland urban area for employees; Phase 3 involved the international airport and infrastructure to establish Cancún as a major destination.
FONATUR wielded unprecedented control, acting as landlord, developer and gatekeeper over all movement within the emerging city. This power allowed the fund to manipulate land distribution through negotiated deals and exclusive invitations. Consequently, a relatively small circle of large hotel chains, Mexican business groups and foreign partners secured the best-served, highest-value sites along the hotel zone.
The price of paradise
This selective development strategy came with significant costs, both social and environmental. The cherry-picking of investors sparked unrest among the expanding population of workers and informal settlers who found themselves excluded from the best areas, even as they built — and eventually staffed — the new resort destination. Many ended up in rapidly expanding inland neighborhoods with precarious housing and limited access to drinking water, drainage and even public transport, far from the polished image in Cancun’s advertisements.
Environmental consequences proved equally severe. Researchers documented how Cancún’s tourism boom led to pollution and erosion affecting Nichupté Lagoon, beaches and coastal ecosystems, necessitating almost-constant artificial beach replenishment. Damage to the surrounding aquifer resulted in contaminated waters and increased flood risk that disproportionately affected low-income neighborhoods. The dramatic loss of mangrove cover left the city vulnerable to dangerous storm surge and coastal flooding.
From first lobbies to spring break legends
Despite these growing pains, the resort took shape. When construction finally moved from survey stakes to actual hotels, the first wave of properties felt almost like a private club in the jungle. Government backing helped finance early hotel-zone projects, including high-profile names like the Hyatt Cancún Caribe and the Camino Real, alongside one of the earliest properties on the strip, the then-modest Playa Blanca (now living its provocative era as Temptation Cancun Resort).
This intimate resort experiment didn’t last long. By the 1980s and 1990s, Cancún had exploded into a full-blown spectacle: neon-lit discos, mega-clubs with laser shows and all-night parties that crowned it as a spring break capital. Venues like Coco Bongo mixed Vegas-style shows with thumping dance floors, turning a night out into the kind of over-the-top performance tourists bragged about for years.
The shadow city
It didn’t take long for Cancún to become a full-blown spectacle, with a city growing in the shadow of the hotel zone. (Wikimedia Commons / Cancun Strand Luftbild)
While the hotel zone partied, Cancún, the city, grew in its shadow, essentially serving as a mainland hub for workers and services. INFRATUR and later FONATUR planned a gridded urban core and early residential areas to house government employees and tourism workers. However, migration quickly outpaced planning, and by the 1980s, thousands of people from other parts of Mexico had already arrived looking to capitalize on extensive job opportunities.
The municipality of Benito Juárez became one of the country’s fastest-growing urban areas and now houses nearly one million residents. This accelerated growth consistently outstripped infrastructure development, creating persistent issues with traffic, garbage collection and drainage that continue to plague the city today.
The modern challenge
Today, Cancún’s wild-child reputation endures, but in moderation, and Quintana Roo now boasts more than 130,000 hotel rooms. Current initiatives include new governance structures and major infrastructure projects like the Nichupté vehicular bridge — an 8-11 kilometer elevated road directly linking downtown Cancún to the hotel zone.
While promoted as essential for managing visitor loads and providing hurricane evacuation routes, environmental groups and court challenges question whether a massive bridge through a protected lagoon can ever be truly low-impact. It represents yet another battleground where the costs of “connecting” Cancún’s next growth phase are fiercely debated.
From computer calculations on a sandbar to a sprawling resort empire, Cancún stands as both triumph and cautionary tale — a testament to what can be built when governments dream big, and a reminder that paradise always comes with a price.
Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog or follow her on Instagram.
Workers install decorations and structures in Mexico City's Zócalo for the Winter Lights Festival. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
The week of Dec. 15-19 saw Mexico navigating complex regional tensions while making strides in energy infrastructure and economic positioning.
As the Mexican peso reached its strongest exchange rate in months, the administration also faced criticism over the Maya Train’s mounting losses and a viral congressional brawl motivated by dissent from the ruling party’s actions.
From offers of mediation with Venezuela to trade talks with India and Canada, Mexico demonstrated both pragmatic diplomacy and strategic economic planning as it approaches the crucial USMCA review year.
Didn’t have time to follow this week’s top stories? Here’s what you missed.
Venezuela tensions and regional diplomacy
President Sheinbaum positioned Mexico as a potential mediator between the United States and Venezuela as tensions between the two nations escalated dramatically.
The diplomatic crisis intensified after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela on Tuesday, while declaring the Venezuelan regime a foreign terrorist organization and surrounding the country with what he called the largest armada ever assembled in South American history.
At her Wednesday morning press conference, Sheinbaum reiterated Mexico’s constitutional position of non-intervention and opposition to foreign interference, emphasizing peaceful conflict resolution and self-determination of peoples. She called on the United Nations to assume its role in preventing bloodshed, asserting the international body had not been sufficiently visible amid the crisis.
🚨 Sheinbaum responde a Trump por bloqueo a Venezuela
Luego de que el presidente de EUA, @realDonaldTrump, ordenó el bloqueo “total y completo” de todos los buques petroleros que entren o salgan de Venezuela, la presidenta @Claudiashein se pronunció y señaló que la posición de… pic.twitter.com/Tp5qAzHECe
Sheinbaum later suggested Mexico could serve as a negotiation or meeting point for talks between the U.S. and Venezuela if both parties were interested in dialogue, or help seek other mediators to avoid regional conflict. The Venezuelan government called Trump’s blockade announcement a grotesque threat, with President Nicolás Maduro vowing to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty over its oil, gas and mineral wealth.
Energy infrastructure push
The Mexican government unveiled ambitious plans to transform the nation’s power grid through a combination of public and private investment totaling nearly $9 billion.
The 20 projects, selected from 98 proposals submitted in response to the Energy Ministry’s October call, include 15 solar power plants and five wind farms to be built in Campeche, Hidalgo, Yucatán, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas, Quintana Roo, Puebla, Veracruz, Zacatecas and Querétaro.
The government plans to issue a second call for proposals in January to reach the targeted 6,000 additional megawatts of generation capacity. Meanwhile, the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) announced $4.32 billion in investment for five new combined cycle power plants in Tula, Salamanca, Altamira, Mazatlán and Los Cabos, along with $710 million for expanding the Puerto Peñasco solar plant to become Latin America’s largest at 1,000 MW capacity.
Trade developments
India seeks FTA with Mexico
Facing steep new Mexican tariffs that could hit $2 billion worth of Indian exports, India accelerated efforts to negotiate a free trade agreement with Mexico. The tariffs, which could reach as high as 50% and take effect Jan. 1, target countries without free trade agreements with Mexico, including India, China, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
India’s trade secretary Rajesh Agrawal announced Monday that preliminary technical discussions had begun following an online meeting with Mexico’s deputy minister this month. The new duties are expected to particularly impact India’s automotive sector, which exports around $1 billion worth of vehicles annually to Mexico, its third-largest car export market, with import duties on cars climbing from 20% to 50%.
Last year, India exported $5.73 billion of goods to Mexico while importing $3.01 billion, with key exports including vehicles, base metals, auto parts and textiles. Mexican officials have defended the tariffs as necessary to protect domestic industry and reduce trade imbalances rather than as a political measure.
Canada plans its largest trade mission yet
Canada announced it will send its largest-ever trade mission to Mexico in February 2026, with stops in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.
Ambassador Cameron Mackay told Canadian media that hundreds of Canadian businesses have applied to join the mission, which will be led by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
The Feb. 15-20 mission will focus on opportunities in agriculture, advanced manufacturing, information communications technology, clean energy and creative industries. Two-way trade between Mexico and Canada reached nearly $41 billion in 2024, up from less than $5 billion before NAFTA took effect in 1994. Canada ranked as the fourth-largest foreign investor in Mexico in 2024 behind the United States, Japan and Germany.
Water agreements ease cross-border tensions
Two significant water-related agreements helped defuse tensions between Mexico and the United States this week.
After Trump threatened a 5% tariff on Mexican imports over unmet water delivery obligations, Mexico and the U.S. reached an understanding on Friday on water management under the 1944 Water Treaty. Mexico committed to releasing 202,000 acre-feet of water starting this week, with deliveries extending into 2026 rather than meeting Trump’s year-end deadline.
The agreement addresses Mexico’s water deficit from the 2020-25 treaty cycle, when the country delivered only about 50% of the required 1.75 million acre-feet due to severe drought conditions. President Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico isn’t delivering more than treaty requirements and that transfers won’t adversely affect domestic water availability. Both countries agreed to continue negotiations and finalize a plan for repaying the outstanding deficit by January 31, 2026.
The accord calls for $93 million in improvements to Tijuana’s sewage system, including doubled treatment capacity, a new ocean outfall, sediment capture basins and a water infrastructure master plan. EPA officials emphasized the improvements would not cost U.S. taxpayers, though a cost-sharing formula will apply to river cleaning operations.
The peso strengthens
The Mexican peso reached its strongest position since July 2024, trading below 18 to the US dollar on Monday morning. The currency closed the week around 17.99 per dollar, marking an approximately 16% appreciation in 2025 after ending 2024 at 20.88 to the dollar.
Analysts attributed the peso’s strength to the continued decline of the U.S. dollar on international markets and the resolution of tensions with the United States over water disputes. Other factors supporting the peso include the Bank of Mexico’s still-high benchmark interest rate, despite 11 consecutive cuts bringing it to 7.25%, and strong foreign investment inflows.
Middle class surpasses poverty: For the first time in Mexican history, more citizens are categorized as middle class than living in poverty, according to government data based on World Bank findings. The middle class — defined by WB as people with daily incomes above US $17 (around 340 pesos) — grew from 27.2% of the population in 2018 to 39.6% in 2024, while poverty declined from 35.5% to 21.7% during the same period.
Brawl erupts in Mexico City Congress: Physical confrontation broke out Monday between lawmakers during a debate over disbanding the Mexico City Transparency Institute. The melee, involving hair-pulling and minor blows between female deputies from the PAN and Morena parties, went viral on social media after PAN lawmakers invaded the congressional dais to protest changes to an agreed-upon replacement structure that would give the Morena party greater authority.
Maya Train marks first anniversary amid losses: One year after becoming fully operational, the Maya Train generated revenue covering just 12.6% of its operating expenses during the first nine months of 2025. Experts predict the train will need government support for 10 to 20 years before becoming profitable, potentially costing nearly $1.4 billion over the next decade. Freight operations, key to financial viability, are not expected to begin until late 2026 or 2027.
Volaris and Viva plan merger: Mexico’s two major low-cost airlines announced Thursday plans to merge under a single holding company while maintaining separate brands and operations. The combination would control more than 70% of Mexico’s domestic air travel market, with Viva holding 38% and Volaris 33%. The merger, structured as a 50-50 partnership, is subject to regulatory approval and expected to be finalized in 2026. The new airline group would operate a combined fleet of 211 aircraft, significantly outnumbering flagship carrier Aeroméxico’s 161 planes.
Looking ahead
At her Friday morning press conference, President Sheinbaum outlined her administration’s 2026 priorities while expressing optimism about upcoming challenges.
She identified public investment as a key driver of economic growth, alongside continued focus on security improvements, social and human rights, education, healthcare, housing and welfare programs.
Friday’s conference offered a peak into President Sheinbaum’s policy goals for 2026, as well as her own wishes for the new year. (Gabriel Monroy/Presidencia)
On trade matters, Sheinbaum clarified that the USMCA will undergo a “review” next year rather than a full renegotiation, declaring herself “very optimistic” despite Trump’s numerous tariff impositions. She noted that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently acknowledged the agreement’s overall benefits.
Regarding Mexico’s new tariffs on imports from China, India and other non-FTA countries, Sheinbaum indicated openness to dialogue but suggested significant modifications are unlikely, as the tariffs serve Plan México’s goals of reducing import dependence and creating 1.5 million new jobs.
Mexico News Daily
This story contains summaries of original Mexico News Daily articles. The summaries were generated by Claude, then revised and fact-checked by a Mexico News Daily staff editor.
I think it makes a fascinating case study to observe and learn from on so many levels. In many ways, Tulum provides us insights into the perils and pitfalls of herd mentality and group thinking that is so prevalent on social media today. Allow me to explain.
I have been going every year to Tulum now for 25 years. That much consistency, over that long of a time period, makes me sound old — but also makes me a pretty good authority on the place. Over these 25 years, I have witnessed multiple distinct phases that I will simplify as follows:
Phase I – Very few people knew about Tulum other than hippies and the locals that lived there.
Phase II – In addition to hippies, European backpackers and yogis started going.
Phase III – As more Europeans went, U.S. and Mexican hipsters started going.
Phase IV – As more U.S. and Mexican hipsters went, lots of tech bros, models and hipsters worldwide started going (peak Tuluminati).
Phase V – Lots more not-so-hip Americans and Mexicans started going.
Phase VI – Tech bros, models and hipsters stopped going.
Phase VII – Many Americans and Mexicans stopped going.
And so here we are, now in the still-being-defined Phase VIII, in which the vast majority of those that at one point hyped up Tulum as the “it place” are now no longer going there and many others are intensely criticizing it.
What’s striking to me is how predictable this pattern has become — I’ve seen it with San Miguel de Allende, Puerto Escondido and now Tulum. The algorithm-driven narrative always follows the same arc: discovery, hype, oversaturation, backlash. Each phase being driven not by on-the-ground reality, but by whatever generated the most engagement — views and clicks.
So now what? Where does Tulum go from here? Last week I spent a week there to check firsthand, get my own sense for where things are going, and explore the trustworthiness of the “Tulum now sucks” narrative that has become so prevalent on social media. I just couldn’t take another person confidently telling me that they had heard Tulum is now ruined. Rather than relying on viral TikToks, Instagram reels or confidently wrong tourists, I wanted to see first hand what the economic indicators, infrastructure development and actual resident experiences would tell me.
Here are some of the key observations from my trip:
1. A few days before I got there, a massive fancy new La Comer grocery store opened in town. This is in addition to the huge new Soriana Hiper and Bodega Aurrera supermarkets that opened last year. Just two years ago, the Chedraui store in town nearly doubled in size and became a Super-Chedraui. Next year, both a Walmart and a new shopping mall will open in town. This is all of course in addition to the recently opened Tulum International Airport and Maya Train which has a stop both in town and at the airport.
2. Tulum is most definitely hurting from a significant decline in the number of tourists, especially during the summer and fall months of this year. Many businesses have shut down and closed, significant numbers of people have lost their jobs and countless new construction projects have been halted. That being said, there were still signs of life everywhere with many new construction projects still continuing.
3. Tourist friendly policies are returning. The AMLO administration created Jaguar National Park, which for a short period of time was charging an eye-popping 500 pesos per person entrance fee, has changed its policies. The park is now free to walk in (driving in costs 60 pesos per person if you are Mexican or a resident). The staff treats you well and smiles when you arrive. Parking within the park is free. The restaurants and beach clubs in the park don’t charge a minimum consumption fee (and proudly tell you so).
4. Prices are coming back down to earth in many establishments (but not all). The cost of parking is down by half or more in many places. Minimum consumption fees at non-park beach clubs are down significantly. Restaurant prices in some areas are even down. Places seem to actually want your business versus before when entry seemingly was often based on good looks and connections.
5. “Normal human beings” are returning to the beach. Families, retirees and locals of all economic classes are using it again. I saw local boys playing beach soccer, local girls playing beach volleyball, people practicing yoga and local couples making out at sunset — all the kind of normal signs of life that I hadn’t seen in years.
6. The beach vibe is becoming more Mexican again. Gone are the “Zimbabwe tiger prawns,” “Alaskan king crab legs” and “Australian beef” dishes of US $100 or more that I used to see on menus. An increasing number of restaurants are again serving local Mexican food: tacos, guacamole, fresh local fish. Gone are many of the snooty model-like waitresses from around the world — back are smiling, friendly local staff. Gone are many of the techno and dance music DJ scenes, back are places playing Caribbean or Mexican music — both live and streamed.
On our last evening, I was getting gas at a local station and found myself talking to a young woman named Veronica who was filling our tank. She had moved from rural Chiapas to Tulum three years ago. I asked her how she was doing.
“It’s been hard on all of us,” she said. “We are really hoping for a strong January.” I asked her how her family has been coping with the downturn, and she said “we have had enough to eat, so we have all been ok.” She seemed embarrassed, ashamed as she said it. That was hard to see. I couldn’t help thinking about how she had picked up and moved from her quiet hometown with the idea of living a better life in Tulum. Now that she is here, going back is no longer an easy option.
While social media algorithms may have moved on from Tulum, the place and the people who call it home are still there. (Spencer Watson/Unsplash)
Social media is often far too quick to lift up a place (or a person, or a brand), only to then quickly pivot and move on. And far too often, the goal is to get more views, more clicks and more ad revenue. It’s more important than ever for us to keep this in mind, as there are real people that are impacted by the lifting up and tearing down of places by social media. People like Veronica and her family that followed the dream of a better life to Tulum. People like Veronica who have seen their dream taken away by social media influencers wanting to now divert clicks to the next location that they have “discovered” or by others who benefit from the narrative that “Tulum now sucks.” The social media influencer quickly moves on, but Veronica and her family cannot.
As we left Tulum, I said to my wife, “How ironic is it that when Tulum was amazing, hardly anyone knew about it. Then, when Tulum became too crowded, too expensive and too full of itself, the world raved about how amazing of a place that it had become. Now that Tulum is in many ways returning to its beautiful, magical old self again, it is being called terrible by the next wave of social media influencers looking for clicks.”
Ironic indeed. And a very good reminder to get informed by reliable sources and get out and discover places for yourself versus letting some social media influencer tell you where to go and what to do. As a yoga teacher friend of ours, Mariana, who has lived in the area for over a decade said to us with a smile on our last morning: “I have no doubt that Tulum is coming back — it is too special of a place not to.”
Travis Bembenek is the CEO ofMexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
