After Wilma, Is Mexico Ready For Some Fun?

Cancun

Flowers and towering palm trees used to crowd the median of Kukulcan Boulevard, announcing to new arrivals that they were entering a tropical paradise. When I arrived, the median was almost bare, except for an occasional bent and battered palm tree with a Q-Tip top.

The next morning I drove down the coast as far as Tulum. About 24 hours later I returned to Cancun and did a double take when I hit Kukulcan Boulevard. Huge towering palms with bright green fronds were back.

What seemed like a mirage ended after about two miles. Then, for another two miles, big holes dotted the median -- obvious receptacles for the full-grown trees anticipated soon.

The palms are an apt metaphor for Cancun: There's no denying the devastation it suffered, but the speed of the comeback is startling.

Repeat visitors might find some disappointments. For example, if Lorenzillo's lobster house is your favorite restaurant, you might rejoice to hear it's open. But if you had your heart set on eating in the part of the restaurant that sits on stilts on the water: Sorry, the roof is gone and the stilts are leaning.

Cancun's greatest loss has yet to be fully recovered: that glorious beach.

Travelers who seek authentic experiences without a hint of Americanization sometimes scorn Cancun. While I understand the sentiment, I always made an exception for Cancun, for two reasons. First, authentic Mexico lies within a short drive. But perhaps more important, whatever Cancun lacked in authenticity, it compensated for with sugary white beaches splashed by crystal-clear water in several gorgeous shades of blue.

The water remains; some of the beach has washed to sea.

The vagaries of nature are demonstrated at the five Royal Resorts in Cancun. One of the company's properties, Club International, added about 16 feet of sand to its already wide beach. Three properties -- the Royal Mayan, Royal Caribbean and Royal Islander -- are about the same as before. At the Royal Sands, where I stayed, the beach is gone. Waves lap at the base of steps that are partially collapsed.

The hotel zone is marked in kilometers. Hotels from Kilometer 0, closest to downtown, through Kilometer 9 all gained sand. That area, however, is on the Bay of Mujeres. While the beach along the bay is as white and fine as elsewhere in Cancun, the water is not as brilliantly blue, the waves not as high, as along the ocean.

Between Kilometer 9 and Kilometer 29, erosion has been a major problem. But some resorts still have at least some beach in front and a nice, gentle entry from the sand into the ocean for swimming. Others, like the Royal Sands, are crossing fingers about a $20 million federal program to pump sand back to shore. Meanwhile, the now inappropriately named Sands shuttles guests who want beach time to the other nearby resorts.

The pumping equipment to move sand from the ocean to the shore arrived earlier this month. Federal officials, according to Mancera, believe they will be able to replace about 1,640 feet of beach per week. How well that will work remains to be seen. Despite the scarcity of hotel rooms, a marked decrease in arrivals and bookings means that lodging is still available, even for the usually busy week between Christmas and New Year's.