Mariachi Cancun Airport

    Trumpets are not quiet instruments. In the Cancun Airport, Terminal Three, a trumpet and guitars serenade travelers arriving and departing from Mexico. The terminal is full of duty free shops, and, if you didn’t pick up gifts before, this is your last tax free shopping opportunity. Mariachi music belongs to Mexico though Mexican taxi drivers often listen to Willie Nelson and Classic Rock. This knob of Yucatan, Mexico has more in common with the Caribbean than Mexico but this fiery Mariachi group plays their Mexican style music, in tune, with great expression and distinctive costumes. Being a neighbor to the United States is like sleeping next to an elephant. When it rolls over you become sandwich spread. I don’t want Mexico to become the United States and I don’t want the United States to just be a continuation of Mexico.  Maintaining your national identity, in an increasingly homogenized world, is a true work of love and an expression of freedom. This music at the airport seems to capture the extroverted flavor of our southern neighbor in a nutshell and I sing along with the musicians in English, as they croon in Spanish. There is room on the planet for all of us, and our differences.