After being in Playa del Carmen so long we get a chance to go on a little side vacation with some visiting good friends from back home. We were going to be staying at a nice little all inclusive hotel named Gran Bahia Principe for a few days. Now when I say little, I mean only in comparison to a city. The place is huge!
Years ago, when we first visited Mexico, we often heard the term mañana spoken by the locals. It was simple to figure out that mañana translates to tomorrow however it took us a few days to fully realize the importance of that word. For most Mexicans, and to be honest most warm latin countries, mañana has a whole other meaning.
When the locals say mañana more often than not they're saying, yeah, it needs to be done and there's a good chance it will however that time isn't now and maybe that day will be tomorrow. It's a way of pushing things off for another day. More than just procrastination, it's an understanding that life happens and in the tropics it often happens at a slower pace. Maybe it's the people or maybe it's the fact that at midday things slow down to a crawl and a lot of people laze around to escape the afternoon heat. I think it's a little of both but mostly it's just the way things are out here. More of a realization that life is to be enjoyed and lived and tomorrow will be similar enough to today that it can get done then.
I sometimes wonder if the colder countries lost that sense of relaxation. We tend to spend our lives rushing around as fast as we can. I truly believe it's because of the weather and in particular, the seasons...