View of Xcaret park and Occidental Grand hotel
from 1,500 feet (457 meters).
RESEARCH:
It all begins with a mapping process made up of two parts. First is the GPS work (Global Positioning Satellite) taking latitude and longtitude readings for every
road, driveway, and building.
Next we take to the air and shoot photographs to get accurate building shapes.
MapChick's
Yucatan area
maps & travel guides
Once we've created a base map, it's time to find all the hotels, restaurants, attractions, tours, and
points of interest that will go on it. Of course, this means visiting all of them; a process that takes thousands of hours, and costs thousands
Laura "MapChick" and
Perry testingone of our favorite
dishes, fish prepared "Tik-n-Xic" style.
of dollars. We go through this process each year to make sure our guides are the most current products available.
In fact, one of the
reasons you won't find our guides in major bookstores is that their buying schedule doesn't match our update schedule.
We delay our update trips until after the low-season (when many businesses close and new ones work to open for the winter season).
By the time we begin
updates, most other guidebooks are printed, and on the shelves. It costs us a lot of sales, but provides our customers with the best product we can possible
create.
After our research trips, it's back to the office where we begin organizing thousands of pages of notes, hundreds of brochures, and thousands of photographs. This is the most time consuming part of our job, and not nearly as much fun as exploring the Yucatan. Our goal is to create the best travel guides available, with all the information that will help you feel comfortable exploring whatever areas you visit.
We actually visit each business as if
we were on our vacation and pay for everything we consume.
This way you can be assured you
are getting our honest opinion.
• Our restaurant recommendations
are mainly geared to the middle-class
travelers' budget. Recommendations are even indexed by the approximate price for a meal, drink, and tip.
• We prefer casual places with a beautiful view, special atmosphere, great service, and great food. But, for those special evenings, we also recommend the elegant places and even share menu items you could enjoy on a budget.
• One of our goals is that you'll enjoy real Mexico and try something adventurous. It may be that thatched-roof little seafood restaurant run by fishermen, an interesting fruit from
the local markets, or a cenote
(natural pool of water fed by an underground river) that lies at the
end of a jungle trail.
• Most of all, we want you to study our maps and get to know the area before you even step foot in Mexico.
they have obviously been used for a vacation (yes, people have tried that before).
to view a detail of what's inside.
Your information source for
Cancun & the Riviera Maya