Homesick in Cozumel.

[dozersmama]

Hi everyone,
The weather and the water are beautiful here. The sun is shinning and the people are friendly (maybe to friendly) and I WANT TO GO HOME! Almost everyone here speaks English, which is very strange. The islanders are all wayyy to friendly. I was talking with the cab driver on my way to the shopping district about this and his explanation was , " We have to take care of the tourists! We live and work just for you!" Later that evening , I realized just how true that is. As you walk down the shopping streets everyone is calling you. Hello Amiga come here let's YOu chat If you don't go in you feel rude , as they are smiling friendly and welcoming. LOok at my shop, no buy , no problem. And we always ended up buying of course , some trinket we didn't need because we don't want to hut peoples feelings. We eventually started ignoring everyone! We couldn't take it anymore. EVERYONE here accepts tips, EVERYONE! From the front desk person , to the tour guide, the waiters at the ( already paid for in your package) buffet.If you want a coke 9also already paid for) you have to go to the bar and tip the bartender too. The person booking your tour, the person bringing your room service, the person picking up your tray, the person renting beach towels for gosh sakes. just EVERYONE! They live on it. The islanders are so friendly to Americans, because they see dollar signs. They are not just generally friendly , I do not believe. Although I have not experienced any rudeness . Everyone here just seems to smile thinking DOlleros Dolleros. No natural exports. No real economy accept for tourism. It is slighlty frustrating. I want to go home , where people are genuinely rude lol. And everyone knows we are not rich, like they seem to think here.

 

[KMARINO]

I was there in June and I totally agree with all you are saying, they do make their living off of tourist and stay pretty much planted up your A**, It is hard to ignore, but just do it, I just got it in my mind I will never see these people again, and you are one in a million faces they see. Don't feel obligated to look or even buy off of them, the next sucker will!! If you do not tip extra since it is included don't feel obligated to tip more, you are not hurting their feelings, they just move on to the next. I am a very good tipper, but it comes to a point. Enjoy you time there, when you get home you will wish you were back.

 

[kazzy220]

It's the same in a lot of places that thrive on the tourist industry. The people you are tipping are probably not getting paid very much at all, despite it being an all-inclusive (which I'm assuming is what you've got). So the money you paid for this vacation is going into the hotel chain owners pocket and these people are possibly living in basic conditions.

It was the same when we had our honeymoon in Dominican Republic - one of the other guests told us to tip our room service girl in european/american chocolate because to them it would be a luxury they could never afford and they could treat themselves or sell it to somebody else. So we stocked up on Mars bars and twix everytime we went near a store and left them on the bed for her. We never got such WONDERFUL service!!!

So if it helps, just think that every tip you give somebody working at that hotel is possibly their main source of income for them and their family. There is a good possibility that compared to them you are indeed very rich.

Hope that helps ... but yes get into the habit of ignoring the store and shop people - just smile politely and say no thank you.

Enjoy the rest of your vacation, and think of us in Ohio if it helps with another major snow storm coming our way tonight - ready to drop up to 12 inches of snow on us!

 

[RescueMe]

Have a wonderful time. It sounds like a pain to ignore all that. On the other hand I will trade you, I havent been on a vaca in over 15 years.

 

[NikkiSchoolcraft]

You really dont have to tip everyone (especially if your at an all inclusive) but the smallest tip is appreciated there. IF you give someone $1 here they call you a cheap ***...you give someone $1 there... they appreciate it. Also, you should NEVER pay full price when you go shopping....negotiation is half the fun!

 

[bullmama]

As you know we live in Tucson and have made a few trips to Nogales. And we did take a cruise to the Mexican riviera once. I know what you are saying. Negotiate on shop prices if you feel it is too expensive- they always start high, and yes you must just smile politely and say no thank you to the shop owners. I guess I am just used to it. I usually buy from the children selling gum, but it does get annoying when you are on the beach trying to have fun and every 10 minutes someone comes up trying to sell you your name on a grain of rice! Literally, that is one of the items they sell!

Just try to have a good time, and tip only what you think you can afford. Make a 'tip allowance' and try to distribute evenly. A couple pieces of change is a lot to them.

We had a beautiful spanish girl named Claudia come live with us for 6 months when we were running a huge cable project here in Tucson. It was the best contracting job we ever had, but it was a hard job to maintain!!!! I was pregnant with Sedona and working 12 hour days here at my desk, so that is why she came to live with us. She mainly helped with the kids only, making them breakfast and lunch and keeping the toys picked up. She was not allowed to do housework, but she did help anyway sometimes. We paid her about $200 a week and of course she had a nice room/kitchen/bathroom all to herself and she never missed a meal. She was eternally grateful for our generousity and my American cooking- she also taught me how to cook good Mexican food. She told me she made more money a week than her boyfriend, who was a supervisor at a Chevrolet plant in Mexico!!! Can you imagine that? I felt like I was paying her peanuts. But I was not allowed to pay her extra, so I had to make it up in gifts and we took her to many places like Grand Canyon, Disneyland, ect. She is now like family to us, she is my "other" daughter and we keep in touch. Aaaah those were the good old days, before the economy when to ****.

 

[Lucy-licious]

I know exactly where your coming from [MENTION=1665]dozersmama[/MENTION] we holidayed in Egypt last year and had this exact experience....pre warned we took loads of £1 coins with us to use as tips for the hotel staff. The staff within the complex were fine but when you went out on an excursion well all I can say is it was a long 2weeks. At the pyramids there were people selling cheap rubbish everywhere they would not leave you alone, shake hands and not let go, one even tried to remove chris's watch. We had a big burley armed security guard with the coach and he followed along behind us and for the most part got the touts away. Tourist were pre warned of the tricks they would use to get money from tourist....ride my camel 1 american dollar.....ha 10 dollar charge to get off. Stuff like this goes on all around egypt. Those that work for a living on the hotel complex do so for 10 wk periods with no time off working 7am until 11pm daily for less than you would give your kids pocketmoney they ten had 10 days off when they went home to their families in cairo.
I am not sorry i went to egypt the history is amazing but I would never return.

You really need to either totally ignore shop keepers or smile and firmly say no. Dont feel bad cos for every tourist that says no there will be another along that will say yes. And if you want someone to be rude try the kids they get frustrated we were actually told to f*** off by a small child cos i didnt want to go in his daddies shop made my day...someone finally eing real

 

[lexterwayne]

for the tipping we waited till the end of the trip to tip everyone... you do have to admit its nice that everyone is so nice "all they want is your bussiness"
you have to be careful in jamica cause there is people on the streets trying to sell you pot, and alot of those people are under cover cops

 

[LisaMarie]

Please dont be mad at me ,but LMAO when you write Dolleros, dolleros! Just keep walking and dont BUY ANYTHING else. otherwise youll come home with zero dolleros!!!

 

[mammyglicks]

[MENTION=1998]Dozer[/MENTION]smama I found that Mexico in general is like this in the touristy sections. I've been to Cancun and Cabo San Lucas and you get treated like royalty. Have a safe trip home but try to enjoy your time there.