Cancun, Mexico
Contributed by Elina Rokhkind | Last Date of Travel: February 2010
Kosher Info: Your choice of eating kosher in Cancun (unless you are staying in one of the kosher resorts over Passover) is either ordering catered meals from Chabad or bringing your own food (though no beef or fresh produce allowed into Mexico), which you can supplement by a variety of kosher products found in local stores. 
Chabad lists what you can spot in Walmart, Sam’s Club and Costco. In addition to the familiar US hashgachos, there are two Mexican ones – KMD and VK Alef Alef – to look out for. For example, LALA milk (not Chalav Israel) with VK Alef Alef is easily found everywhere. On our trip to Walmart we also discovered yummy LALA yogurts and another brand with KMD hechsher (very cheap too, they were at about $0.25!), as well as cream cheese, lox, tofu, canned goods, cereals, ice cream, and lots of snacks.
Tourist Info: Cancun is a perfect sunny destination if you want to combine beach and poolside activities with sightseeing and other experiences. Cancun offers an abundance of the latter, with trips and activities sold everywhere from your hotel lobby to a mall or a street kiosk. You can choose from a variety of theme/eco-parks (Xcaret, Xplor, Xel-Ha), ancient Mayan ruins (most famous being Chichen Itza), dolphin swim programs, all-terrain vehicles jungle tours, and a number of sports and aquatic activities from zip-lining to parasailing to scuba diving, and more. If you are not an adventurous type you may choose to see the colorful marine life from the glass-bottom boat or in the aquarium. You have to travel 1-2 hours to some sites, while others are local.
Or… you may skip all of it and simply enjoy the turquoise waters, white sand and the luxuries offered by your resort. Be aware, however, that many beach areas in Cancun are notorious for rough seas – during our weeklong visit in February the waves were pretty high and the red flag was raised most of the time.
On our visit we selected 2 day trips. One – to the beautiful island of Isla Mujeres (a 40-minute ferry ride from Cancun), where we participated in the Dolphin Encounter program at Dolphin Discovery, and later took a golf cart tour from the downtown across the island and back. Meeting and touching a dolphin was the highlight of the whole trip for our 3-year-old son.
The second trip was to the eco-park Xcaret (1.5-hour bus drive away) where you fill your day with various water activities, nature encounters, and cultural explorations, all culminating in a 2-hour-long spectacular night show, which unveils Mexican history and culture through dance and music. We also visited a small aquarium in the La Isla Shopping Village (short walk from the hotel we stayed at), which had an evening dolphin show; browsed through the pleasant La Isla mall itself, and undertook a disappointing trip to the flea market (Market 28) in the mainland Cancun. We did not explore the downtown area, but some tourists were heading there.
Cancun is composed of the city itself, where locals live, and the long strip of land (island, in fact) between the coastline and the Nichupte lagoon, called the Hotel Zone. Compared to the shiny tourist zone, the authentic Cancun was a rather unattractive sight to our taste. Buses run regularly along the Boulevard Kukulcan in the Hotel Zone and to the downtown area, making it very convenient and inexpensive to get around, while taxis are quite pricey. If you are traveling with a small child, pick him up when entering the bus – if the child walks in by himself, you pay the fare for him due to the funny automated system counting the number of feet. Also, sometimes you have to flag the bus in order for it to stop, especially in the evening. There is a number of shopping plazas and convenience stores along the Hotel Zone, where you can exchange money, and buy various necessities, as well as engage in more serious shopping. You can buy Mexican souvenirs and apparel in many places along the Hotel Zone, but you can supposedly bargain at Market 28. Beware of the timeshare sales presentations pushed everywhere – we were dragged into one right in the airport upon arrival. (To tell the truth, we were ready to sign up to one in exchange for huge sightseeing discounts, but it was surprising anyway that such presentations were offered at an airport booth, and unsuspecting visitors were somehow channeled to those booths which seemed to provide only tourist info).
Cancun is all about luring tourists into spending more money, be it a sightseeing tour offered by your airport transfer company rep, or a sunblock sold on the tour bus, so make wise choices and don’t hold a grudge, as many locals depend on the tourist industry to make their living.
Jewish Info: When we came for the timeshare presentation, they changed our salesperson at the last moment. Perhaps, a manager saw us, who knew what a kippah on my husband’s head means. The first thing the new (very Mexican-looking) salesperson did was taking a kippah out of his pocket and confiding to us that his last name is Cohen, but they don’t let him wear kippah at work, and later producing his ID as a proof. According to him, there are lots of Jews in Cancun, which we understood to be mostly unaffiliated or traditional, and some organized Jewish community in downtown Cancun with no rabbi of their own. As nice as our salesperson was, we did not buy the timeshare.
The Orthodox community is represented by Chabad of Cancun with its enthusiastic Rabbi Mendel Druk and his lovely wife Rachel. They run a number of programs, hold services and host Shabbat at their Chabad House in downtown. Twice per month they hold Shabbat services and Kiddish dinner and lunch at Avalon Grand Hotel in the Hotel Zone. They also organize Jewish holiday celebrations and cater to various other Jewish needs both of locals and tourists. We tremendously enjoyed meeting this couple so dedicated to bringing Yidishkeit to as many Jews as possible. Please contact Rabbi Druk directly for any questions.
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Tags: cancun, chabad, jewish cancun, jewish mexico, jewish travel, kosher cancun, kosher mexico, kosher travel, Mexico
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Students also have the option of ordering custom specialties from the grill, which include omelettes, quesadillas, and pad thai. 104West! provides catering services, allowing students to buy Kosher food for outside events—Pizza, deli, and even Shabbat meals!
Another great place to visit and explore is 
Once you’re at Grouse Mountain, you have a bunch of options, depending on the season. During the summertime, you’ll enjoy the SkyRide to the top of the mountain, giving you amazing views of the entire city of Vancouver. When we arrived to the top, we were greeted by thick morning fog which did not allow us to see more than a few feet ahead of us (that eventually cleared around 12pm). Every hour or so there is a hokie but cute lumberjack show, which the kids will definitely find enjoyable. There are 2 grizzly bears that live at the mountain’s wildlife refuge. A tour guide gives you some background as to how they got there. For extra fees, they offer ziplining between mountains, paragliding, and other outdoor activities. Word of advice to those visiting Grouse (especially in the summer): no matter the time of year, dress warm. It is at least 10-20 degrees colder at the top than the bottom.
In the wintertime, Grouse Mountain is a ski resort. Enjoy the beautiful scenery and skiing / snowboarding the slopes. Grouse is probably the closest ski resort to any major city I can think of. Grouse Mountain is hosting some events for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
We didn’t know much about it, except that it’s a kosher supermarket. We decided to use our google maps to walk there and get a taste of Barcelona while we were at it. Great idea! It was easy to get to, a pleasant walk from our hotel in the city center, and ended up being a great experience. When we first walked in, we saw a small gourmet-ish kosher supermarket with particularly good meat and cheeses. We were really craving hot food, so we asked if they have a place to maybe warm up something we buy there. Next thing you know, they open up a door and we see that they have a small restaurant that they have created on the side. They had very fresh and tasty meat options that were ready to go on the grill. We chose the burgers (though the kababs looked very good as well) and the cook prepared our food with real pleasure. The few people who walked in and out were very friendly and welcoming as well. What really stuck out in my mind was that a man walked in with his children at one point and we got to talking with him. He told us that there are only 5-6 families in all of Barcelona that actually keep kosher. Very few people know about this establishment, which is truly a shame. The food is good, and if there are only a few kosher families in Barcelona, the only way for these guys to stay open is with the visits of kosher tourists. Anyway, I highly recommend this place. 
I would check to see if they are open on evenings and weekends as I know for a fact that the EU area is deserted at night. I can not vouch for them as I did not eat at either one. Unfortunately, it seems that the one kosher place in Brussels I actually visited (Pilpel) is now closed, which is a shame as it was a nice little restaurant with an adjacent kosher shop that was open in the evenings. We bought our food for Shabbos there.
Another option is to head over to Antwerp where kosher food abounds. It’s only 45 minutes or so from Brussels by train, and many kosher shops and restaurants are right near the Antwerp train station. If you’re staying in Brussels for more than a day or two, Antwerp is a must-visit whether you need the food or not.
