Storm-Swept Yucatán Hotels Fixing Up as Season Nears
James McKinley reports for The New York Times (republished in El Universal) about how fishermen, hoteliers, restaurant owners, divers, nightclub impresarios and the thousands who work for them are still picking up the pieces after Hurricane Wilma.
Hurricane [Wilma] swept about eight miles of pristine white beach out to sea along the barrier island where many of the lavish, five-star resorts are built. "No hotel in Cancún has a beach," said Jorge Hernández, the operations manager at the Gran Real Caribe. "We have nothing. No beach at all."
The federal government has devoted $20 million to a project that will pump the sand from its current location offshore near Isla Mujeres back to the stripped strand of rocks where the fancy hotels are. But the work has yet to begin, officials said.
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