Buccanos History

February 17, 2018 was the last time I wrote about Buccanos.  Since then, I've learned a little more.

Buccanos is a beautiful beach club. It's most notable feature is an amazing entrance/lobby and restaurant.  All with super thick walls made of stone.  It feels like a Mexican version of our Canadian railway era hotels, like the Chateau Montebello, Chateau Laurier, and Banff Springs.    

Connected to the beach club building, is an old hotel.  It looks like it was never finished and like it might be abandoned.  Turns out neither of these is true!!

The hotel looks unfinished on the outside because it was built in 1964 of  stone from the island in the "Old Mexico" style.  And was intended to have a natural look.  At the time it was called Hotel Cozumel Caribe, and was a luxurious 5 star hotel that hosted the rich and famous, including Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968.  

It is, indeed, largely mostly empty though.  Google says that after the hurricanes (Gilbert then Wilma in 2005?) "they began removing the debris, rocks etc that had lodged underneath the hotel...which made the hotel unstable and they had to stop. It is slightly leaning towards the sea"  Debris under the hotel???  I don't quite get that. And I did NOT notice a tilt.  But it is mostly unoccupied, except for about 6 rooms on the first 2 floors.  Where members of the original owners family live.  The Barbachanos family.

Apparently, there are huge lobbies on each floor, wide hallways, and  magnificent archways. 

Pictures 

1) This is the hotel.  This view definitely does not show a tilt! But you can see the stone construction and archway in this photo.

2) It always impresses me when a place puts effort to make their bathrooms interesting.  I love these pig sculptures on the bathroom counter!

3) It rained pretty hard the day I was there.  These clouds make the place feel a little ominous.  It''s not always like that of course!

4) There's a very nice garden area for quiet time. 

5) The is the covered link/passage between the restaurant and hotel. It's shaded and breezy.  Delightful!

6) The restaurant is so grand and cavernous!

7) I snooped a little.  I found this impressive cocktail bar on the second floor.  

8) They were setting up for a wedding. Very pretty!  

This is the link to the article about Jackie Kennedie's visit to Buccanos in 1968.  It's largely about her clothes.  But it's still kinda interesting.  https://historicalmx.org/items/show/156