Mixing a little business with pleasure in Mexico

Barbara and I had planned to be in Cancun, Mexico for the International Mineral Processing Congress, IMEC 2016, but unfortunately the event, scheduled to start today, had to be cancelled due to lack of support.

But what the hell, as BA offered us a pittance on flight refunds, we are here anyway, relaxing for 2 weeks at the impressive conference hotel, the Fiesta Americana Condesa, which will also be the venue for the Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit & Exhibition (SIPS '17) in October next year.

I am not a particularly good tourist, and like to have a purpose to overseas trips, mixing a bit of business with pleasure. So I have been assessing the potential of this hotel as a possible future venue for MEI Conferences supplementing Falmouth, Cape Town and Windhoek. Mexico would be a great venue for many convincing reasons.

Apart from a beautiful long coral sand Caribbean beach, Cancun is close to Mexico's most famous archaeological ruin, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza. Only a 2 hour drive away, the tours from the hotel account for over 12 hours, presumably because the large coaches pick up tourists from several hotels en route and then stop off for the inevitable long lunch at a local craft shop, whereby the tour guide rakes in a little commission.

So to avoid tourist hell we decided to go with a guide, Lemuel, from a highly recommended private tour company, who whisked us to the site and then gave us a highly informative insight into this ancient city. If you are attending SIPS '17 or just holidaying in Cancun, I would strongly suggest that you contact LDS Tours Cancun.

Temple of Kukulcan, Chichen Itza

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