I just went on a trip to Mexico and decided to use some of the time that I was there to ask some native people to the island questions about their culture. I asked them the following 4 questions:
1.) Que es la historia de cozumel? (What is the history of Cozumel?)
2.) Que comidas la personas de Cozumel les gusta comer? (What foods do the people of Cozumel like to eat?)
3.) Que actividades divertido la personas de Cozumel les gusta hacer? (What fun activities do the people of Cozumel like to do?)
4.) Que son las tradiciones culturales de la isla de Cozumel? (What are the traditions of the island of Cozumel?).
The first person that I interviewed was a waiter named Leonardo at a restaurant called Casa Denis. Me and my family know Leonardo because Casa Denis is one of our favorite restraunts in the Cozumel area. Every time we are in Cozumel, Mexico we always go there at least one of the nights and he is always one of the waiters there so we always ask for him, so now he just remembers us since we go every year.
Here's what I learned about Cozumel from Leonardo:
He told me that Cozumel was conquered by the Spaniards, he also told me that almost all of the residents of Cozumel are Mayan and that Mayan's happen to be very friendly. Because it is mostly Mayans who live in Cozumel, the island eats mostly Mayan foods such as: Avocados/guacamole, corn tortillas, tamales, and orchata. Some actividades (activities) that the people of Cozumel like to do in their leisure or free time is scuba diving, snorkeling, and shopping. Some big tradiciones (traditions) they have are Cedral, which is the name of the first city in Cozumel so they have a big celebration every year that takes place on tres de Mayo (3rd of May). Another thing they celebrate is called Samegal which is celebrated on Septiembre de viente y nueve (29th of September). The last major thing that takes place in Cozumel is our lady of Guadalupe, this is celebrated on Diciembre de doce (12th of December).
The next 2 people I talked to were Angel and JJ, two people who work for a company called "Chichi Charters". Chichi Charters is a company that does snorkeling,diving,and fishing trips. When you are on a snorkeling trip you go on a little boat and they take you and your family to a couple of nice snorkeling places that you can only get to by boat. Then once you are there you get all of your gear on and jump off the boat into the water with the guide, the guide will take you around the reef that you are at and show you some really cool stuff. We know these two particular people because every time we come to Mexico we try to go on a snorkeling trip with them, and we've been there a lot so now they just know us kind of as regulars. This time when we went we took a little break on the boat because its like a 3 hour trip (trust me you don't get bored), so I could ask Angel (guide) and JJ (boat driver) a few questions. Here's what I learned from Angel and JJ; A long time ago there were only Mayan people living on this island but some other Mayan people also lived on the main land of Mexico. There was supposedly a queen who lived on the island and when you had a baby you were supposed to come to the island and visit the queen so she could name your baby. She was also known as the Queen Shell. Most people who came to visit her traveled from the main land to the island by canoes that they had made. To this day on the island some residents of the island still find some artifacts that were left behind such as statues of the queen. People of the island believe that if you remove the artifacts from where they are from or where you had found them, then you will be haunted by the spirits that guard the artifact; JJ told me a story of this happening to his grandfather. In 1521 the spanish discovered the island and conquered the Mayan people. JJ and Angel pretty much told me about the same foods, activities, and traditions that Leonardo told me about and added; Septiembre 15 which is when they celebrate Independence Day, and a modern day tradition that they celebrate on the island is a Gran Tomeo de Pesca (huge fishing tournament). The final thing that I learned about the island of Cozumel is that all of the people on the island believe in working together. For example Angel told me a story about one time there was a robbery at one of the diamond stores down town and all of the people worked together to find the people who did it. They pretty much shut down the whole island: roads and harbors, and everyone stopped what they were doing and tried to help find the robbers. Because they did this the robbers had no where to go/hide and so they ended up finding them with in 1 hour. Another time the people of the island worked together was during and after Hurricane Wilma, there were 0 deaths during the hurricane because of everybody's hard work and effort they put in to keep everyone safe. After the hurricane everyone worked together to clean up so the island could be re-opened up to the tourists, because of everyone's hard work the island was all cleaned up and re-opened in record time.
FUN FACT:
When the first cruise ship came in after the clean up of the hurricane, the whole island came and greeted/celebrated the arrival of the first cruise ship.
1.) Que es la historia de cozumel? (What is the history of Cozumel?)
2.) Que comidas la personas de Cozumel les gusta comer? (What foods do the people of Cozumel like to eat?)
3.) Que actividades divertido la personas de Cozumel les gusta hacer? (What fun activities do the people of Cozumel like to do?)
4.) Que son las tradiciones culturales de la isla de Cozumel? (What are the traditions of the island of Cozumel?).
The first person that I interviewed was a waiter named Leonardo at a restaurant called Casa Denis. Me and my family know Leonardo because Casa Denis is one of our favorite restraunts in the Cozumel area. Every time we are in Cozumel, Mexico we always go there at least one of the nights and he is always one of the waiters there so we always ask for him, so now he just remembers us since we go every year.
Here's what I learned about Cozumel from Leonardo:
He told me that Cozumel was conquered by the Spaniards, he also told me that almost all of the residents of Cozumel are Mayan and that Mayan's happen to be very friendly. Because it is mostly Mayans who live in Cozumel, the island eats mostly Mayan foods such as: Avocados/guacamole, corn tortillas, tamales, and orchata. Some actividades (activities) that the people of Cozumel like to do in their leisure or free time is scuba diving, snorkeling, and shopping. Some big tradiciones (traditions) they have are Cedral, which is the name of the first city in Cozumel so they have a big celebration every year that takes place on tres de Mayo (3rd of May). Another thing they celebrate is called Samegal which is celebrated on Septiembre de viente y nueve (29th of September). The last major thing that takes place in Cozumel is our lady of Guadalupe, this is celebrated on Diciembre de doce (12th of December).
The next 2 people I talked to were Angel and JJ, two people who work for a company called "Chichi Charters". Chichi Charters is a company that does snorkeling,diving,and fishing trips. When you are on a snorkeling trip you go on a little boat and they take you and your family to a couple of nice snorkeling places that you can only get to by boat. Then once you are there you get all of your gear on and jump off the boat into the water with the guide, the guide will take you around the reef that you are at and show you some really cool stuff. We know these two particular people because every time we come to Mexico we try to go on a snorkeling trip with them, and we've been there a lot so now they just know us kind of as regulars. This time when we went we took a little break on the boat because its like a 3 hour trip (trust me you don't get bored), so I could ask Angel (guide) and JJ (boat driver) a few questions. Here's what I learned from Angel and JJ; A long time ago there were only Mayan people living on this island but some other Mayan people also lived on the main land of Mexico. There was supposedly a queen who lived on the island and when you had a baby you were supposed to come to the island and visit the queen so she could name your baby. She was also known as the Queen Shell. Most people who came to visit her traveled from the main land to the island by canoes that they had made. To this day on the island some residents of the island still find some artifacts that were left behind such as statues of the queen. People of the island believe that if you remove the artifacts from where they are from or where you had found them, then you will be haunted by the spirits that guard the artifact; JJ told me a story of this happening to his grandfather. In 1521 the spanish discovered the island and conquered the Mayan people. JJ and Angel pretty much told me about the same foods, activities, and traditions that Leonardo told me about and added; Septiembre 15 which is when they celebrate Independence Day, and a modern day tradition that they celebrate on the island is a Gran Tomeo de Pesca (huge fishing tournament). The final thing that I learned about the island of Cozumel is that all of the people on the island believe in working together. For example Angel told me a story about one time there was a robbery at one of the diamond stores down town and all of the people worked together to find the people who did it. They pretty much shut down the whole island: roads and harbors, and everyone stopped what they were doing and tried to help find the robbers. Because they did this the robbers had no where to go/hide and so they ended up finding them with in 1 hour. Another time the people of the island worked together was during and after Hurricane Wilma, there were 0 deaths during the hurricane because of everybody's hard work and effort they put in to keep everyone safe. After the hurricane everyone worked together to clean up so the island could be re-opened up to the tourists, because of everyone's hard work the island was all cleaned up and re-opened in record time.
FUN FACT:
When the first cruise ship came in after the clean up of the hurricane, the whole island came and greeted/celebrated the arrival of the first cruise ship.