The color of the sea, the sand and the sky are characteristic symbols of Cancun, however, our city and its surrounding areas hide secrets, stories and places that often elude visitors or even those of us who live and work here, that’s why at Oasis Hotels & Resorts we have gathered 10 interesting factsabout the most beautiful and glamorous destination in Latin America, which you have probably never heard before.

Cancun is an island

Despite being an internationally renowned tourist destination, this is one of the details that usually escape the tourists who visit us. Cancun’s hotel zone is an island of sorts. The mainland is joined to the mainland at both ends, at Punta Nizuc on the southern end and at the Calinda Bridge on the northern end, located precisely at the side of the hotel Oasis Palm, this channel  serves as a connection between the Nichupte lagoon system and the beautiful Caribbean Sea, so you know, if you come or have come to Cancun, you can say that you are vacationing in a Caribbean island paradise.

2. Cancun is only 45 years old.

45 years of calling ourselves Cancunenses

The history of the city of Cancun is as interesting as it is short, just 45 years ago, the dozens of kilometers of hotels that stretch along Cancun’s hotel zone did not exist, and neither did the city, which is getting closer to one million inhabitants every day. In just a few decades, this incredible and paradisiacal corner of Mexico has been has become not only the number one tourist destination in Latin America, but also a cosmopolitan city with cultural offer and demand, as well as maintaining a constant growth that places it not only as an important place for tourism, but also for business and many other activities typical of a metropolis.

3. Cancun’s first airport was built by Chiclero   businessmen.

Cancun’s first airport.

When entering (or leaving)  Cancun via the road to Playa del Carmen, one comes  upon the traffic circle where Kabah Avenue converges  with Colosio Avenue, with a monument of a control tower made out of  wood What not everyone knows is that this is precisely the place where what can be considered Cancun’s first airport, a somewhat improvised runway that entrepreneurs in the chicle industry built to help transport the sap of the chicozapote tree, abundant in the region for those times. It is also said that this track may have been used for smuggling at a different time.

4. History of chewing gum, history of Quintana Roo.

Chicozapote Gum

The history of chewing gum is intimately linked to the past of our state and the region in general. The Mayans were the first to use the resin of the chicozapote to chew it, although they did it with the natural gum, without added flavors or any type of sweetener. Later history tells that during his exile in New York, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna met an ingenious photographer with the surname of Adams, and that one day they engaged in a discussion on how to produce a more elastic, resistant and cheaper material to produce tires for carriages.  However, the chicozapote sap that Santa Anna proposed to Adams was not hard enough for this enterprise and it soon failed to produce a more elastic, resistant and cheaper material to produce tires for carriages. But like many other famous inventions, chewing gum was born from failure itself, success came when this sap was marketed in the USA as an oral hygiene product, first in its natural form, then adding sugar and finally the distinctive flavors that have made the sap of this beautiful tree one of the most famous products on earth, so now you know, the next time you chew a gum, you will know that this wonderful gum has its origin in your favorite vacation spot.

5. Master Plan

map of Cancun.

For those who have left the Cancun’s hotel zone and has gone deep into the bowels of the city, visiting the market 28 and other sites of interest in the city, is It is evident that there is some kind of design in the construction of it, streets that meet, blades, traffic circles and walkways form an urban landscape that is a delight to walk aimlessly, although sometimes you can lose the north to travel through this urban labyrinth. Architects Enrique and Agustín Landa Verdugo, with the collaboration of architect Javier Solórzano, were the “Urbanists” who imagined what would be the layout of Cancun, dividing it into 3 parts, a tourist zone, a residential zone and the airport. The design and layout of the urban area responded to the concept of superblocks, architecturally known as the broken plate diagram, large blocks separated by large avenues. Thus was born the city that still gives visitors headaches when they try to find any address in the area where these architects carried out their design.

Endless place for those seeking adventure, Cancun is a place that never ends to discover, we hope that these first 5 facts about Cancun have surprised you and that you are already thinking about returning or simply waiting to meet for the first time this magical place in the Mexican Caribbean, very soon. the second part with more incredible facts about Cancun.

Do you want to read the second part of this article? click here HERE!