Wild Thing, Most of us that live here or travel here on a regular basis are doing all we can to keep San Pedro from becoming Mexico. If cheap is what you want, Cancun is it. They have nice beaches, cheap hotels, cheap flights and Starbucks, McDonalds, Wal Mart, Senor Frogs and all the suburban American idiots who like that kind of stuff. I hope SP never becomes " cheap."
Mike: I cannot see that SP will ever become Cancun. Belize is a third world country, many people still live in third world standards. In fact, many of the locals in AC still live in third world standards, albeit adjacent to luxurious resorts catering to "surburban American idiots" (many of which are owned by Americans). I came to AC because I wanted away from capitalism and American Imperialism.....only to find it has already reached here in many ways!! Okay so there is no Walmart or Domino's pizza........but Western cultural imperialism most definitely is.
Although it is not what I want - I think many local businesses and local traders pray for more "suburban American idiots" as these are the bread and butter of their livelihood.
I found Cancun obnoxious, far too commercialized, and would not have described it as "cheap".......but you can comparatively get value for money. But there are many other parts of Mexico that offer beautiful beaches, affordable accommodation and it IS "cheap" to get there compared to Belize.
As Freezer pointed out - if the Mexican government can subsidize airfares, why can't the Belize government? Why is the government also allowing more Americans here to run businesses, rather than trying to support local businesses?
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