Bartender at Senor Frogs.

Ernesto is the bartender at Senor Frogs in Cancun. He pours thousands of beers a night for the crowds of American students intent on making the most of their open bar wristbands. To me, it seems a thankless job. Ernesto receives what he calls a “normal wage” but he is at the mercy of a bar full of drunken kids, all shouting at him, waving dollar bills in his face, demanding more alcohol. To Ernesto, this is a fine living — he likes his job.

It’s all about the tips, you see. Tips are the unwritten rule of the Cancun nightlife. When 500 people are lined up at the bar, the only way to decide who to serve is who’s the most generous. Slip Ernesto $5. You’ll be first every time.

“Tips” he shouts at the army of alcoholics, banging his fist on the small brown tips box on the bar. Not everyone obliges — a significant number just wait around until there’s an opening. But those who add weight to the box provide Ernesto with his major source of income. A few guys pull out 50 peso notes ($5) and drop them in the box. They instantly have more beers than they can carry. You Ernesto’s back, he’ll scratch yours.

But it’s not just the bartenders who benefit from Spring Break. Many hotels charge a ‘convenience fee’ for bringing a “guests” upstairs after a night out. These fees range from 100-500 pesos ($10-$50) depending on how accommodating the hotel security guards are feeling. Haggling can normally bring about an amicable conclusion to the evening.

My security guy didn’t want to give his real name but agreed to being called George (he liked the name). George loves his job because of all the “boom-boom” and the “nice ladies” (which led me to wonder how much of the “ladies” he saw and whether he might be secretly watching any amorous adventures taking place in the hotel). George gets good tips, sees some funny sights, and he goes home with stories to tell his friends. “Spring Break is fun” George repeated, “lots of people, lots of boom-boom”. He liked his boom-boom.

Spring Break is, as I commented in Part I, a messy, alcohol-fuelled week of hedonism. And many see it as an unnecessary invasion of Latin-America by the cash-flashing collegiate population of the US. But Ernesto and George both see it differently. For them it’s an opportunity. Like vultures, they swoop down on the rich pickings that come, fresh from the airport, bearing bulging wallets and a hunger for the outrageous.

Even a female dancer in the Bulldog Club seemed content with the setup when I spoke to her outside on the street. “Do I like being a dancer during Spring Break? Yes, of course. I make people happy.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 17th, 2007 at 3:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.