YUCATAN PENINSULA, MEXICO - "Avoiding the plague"

Mexico. I had feelings of both child-like excitement and dread, in regards to heading south of the border. I winced at the thought of MTV spring breakers and khaki-short tourists ordering Budweisers and nachos at that bar with the creepy peeping Tom amphibian. I was disgusted by the media’s depiction of Mexico as a lawless place of drug trade beheadings and a source of “foreigners that threaten our way of life.” However, I was obsessed with visions of Mayan ruins gazing eastward over the pastel blue waters of the Gulf. I heard that Chichen Itza had been a recent addition to one of the many versions of the 7 Wonders of the World. Beyond all, I wanted to cut through the bullshit and experience Mexico on my own terms. I wasn’t quite sure what that might entail, but I was certain it didn’t include Senior Mickey Frog’s place. My plan: fly to Cancun, immediately get in a rental car and quickly drive south before I could heed the hotel strip’s evil siren calls of “ all-inclusive.”