Relax, I am not trying to create even more alarmism by suggesting there is a relation between the two diseases; they just happened to be the hot topics of the past 24 hours… quite an eventful day!!

The day started with a number of silly headlines about the potential pandemic of the Gripe Porcino (to call it a la Mexicana) and luckily also some sensible voices (check out Simon Jenkins pointing out we have gone demented… indeed we have!), then went on with the clearing of my inbox of ‘I feel sorry for your business’ and ‘maybe we should cancel our trip’ messages and with a phone call with my mother in which I had to promise I will not be crossing the Atlantic anytime soon. Finally, after checking on a few friends in Mexico, I saw they are far more relaxed about the whole thing than us here, but now we are going into genetics, so that does not count

Cancer, on the other end, is killing far more people than the Swine Flu and it is already a real pandemic to which no one seems to be immune regardless of the age, race, life style and sneezing habits (either in a tissue or to the neighbour’s face). Which is why we should keep ourselves as fit and healthy as possible and grab any chance we have to support the research. And here (finally) comes the link to yesterday’s event;  another exciting London Bloggers Meetup sponsored by Fashion Targets Breast Cancer a charity established in 1990 by Ralph Lauren which has raised over £9m for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

I must admit I am particularly sensible to breast cancer due to my family history; plus, by coincidence I had my first BC screening a few hours before the meetup (I am getting to that venerable age when they start keeping an eye on you…) but I am not particularly into fashion. However, I was very impressed by the web-marketing and social media techniques this charity has been using to communicate with the public and to get young people involved into its cause. Its main campaign - Million Model Catwalk - uses a very fresh and fun approach to both fundraising and raising awareness.

At the event they did not just offer drinks and canapes, but USB keys full of information, website urls, facebook and twitter accounts… and organised raffles with their fashion items as prizes (I won a lovely t-shirt, and I am certainly considering buying some more stuff to support the cause). Today the PR girls sent follow up messages to the meetup members and got an amazing feedback. There were hash tagged twits (#1mmc) like the one I sent last night, blog posts (like this) and comments on their own blog, all techniques charities should learn and take advantage of! Well done!

Six months is just the right period of time for almost everything. A few weeks are not enough. One year is too much. Six months is a proper break from routine, the perfect duration for a trip, the necessary amount of time to get over something or someone.

It’s been six months from my last post (shame on me), and it’s time to go back rocking and rolling. I can’t guarantee I will be persistent, but at least this is a start. However, I am not going to blog about Mexico or ecotourism or sustainable development this time. One of the reasons I have decided to go back writing tonight is that I am just back from the London Bloggers Meetup, and once again I felt like a black sheep in there. Where do these people find the time to blog is still a mystery to me… they all seem to have demanding full time jobs, loads of interests and busy social lives… and still, they write every single day; some of them even publish 3 o 4 posts per day!!! I hate them

This is going to be a little tribute to that zelous bunch of creative individuals who pushed me back into my wp-admin/post-new.php page. There were many known faces tonight, a few new ones and some old ones were missing. The venue was again the Diageo Private Bar in Henrietta Place (new experience for me as I missed the previous meetup there), which I found really sexy. There was an interesting whisky tasting with a variety of cocktails prepared with Bushmills, Irish cwoffees and ‘proper’ Guinness.

I had a chat with a few people around; the ‘old friend’ Epicurienne, blogging about the pleasures of life ‘in London, Paris, Auckland and the places in-between’; Chris, a veteran blogger - photographer and Londonist’s contributor; Heather, who won tonight’s raffle and went home with some rugby tickets; Lolly, French interpreter in love with Italy; Priyanka, polyedric blogger working in advertising; Tim, author of an awesome blog about music and science; Shell, who blogs about fashion and finds it a cheaper therapy than shopping; Annmucc, a happy girl from Malta who was celebrating her 6 months London anniversary; Cristiano, the Dutch geek with an Italian name; Godwyns, who sometimes falls asleep while blogging; and Drew, another young superman who writes several blogs and who’s involved in the sponsorship of the next meetup, which will take place in a fortnight. Such a shame I will not be able to attend, as it sounded really interesting!

Right, apologies for those I have left out, but it’s time to go to bed now after a great and inspiring night. I will try to fill my body and spirit with vital energy and be more dedicated and focused in my blogging, twittering, flickering, facebooking… I hope they won’t come out with something new soon or I am done!! Good night.

Thanks to Ron Mader, currently in Quito for the seminar Mix Turismo y Web 2.0 who posted links to this video. I absolutely loved it and wanted to share it with you all… I am ready for a journey there!

The news about a few Tulum resorts being closed down by Mexico’s Environmental Department, with a few more under investigation, created a local uproar of indignation.

The officials claim the resort owners never had planning and building permissions, while the owners say they do but apparently it will take time to prove that they legally own the land… which frankly sounds a bit odd.

That corruption is a usual practice in Mexico and some businesses start operating by paying to get their papers in orders is no big news, and the resort owners are claiming the police has been paid by someone interested in the repossession of a land ‘that is worth millions of dollars’.

But we are talking about a federal park here. Why should it be so difficult to prove whether these businesses have been build within or outside its boundaries? And why are we talking about someone’s interest in the land repossession if the federals say they want to eventually demolish the buildings to leave the area untouched?

Surely last time I went to Tulum I wondered whether the boundaries of Tulum’s National Park were actually shrinking… The park includes the Mayan ruins and it is supposed to preserve the local flora and fauna, the latter escaping somewhere else after being stressed out by the stress-escaping tourists.

Tulum has been progressively transforming itself from a laid back retreat - a paradise to those attracted by the pristine beach, the lush jungle and the candle lit cabanas - to a ‘bohemian eco-chic beach resort’, with funky beach bars cum cocktail lounges, and gourmet seafood restaurants featuring ‘Asian–inspired touches’ (???)

I have nothing again the ‘Eco-chic’ trend, I think sustainable practices and eco policies can live together with comforts and style (not with luxury, but this is another story…), I am just not convinced that the eco-policies of the most recent developments go beyond some solar powered Ipod docking stations.

After having made sure they have the right to be there in the first place, proper investigations should be conducted on their energy and waste systems, or on their employment conditions to prove their actual sustainability in such an environmentally and socially sensitive area.

Tulum photo album

Here we are again, more news about dolphins waiting in sea pens to be exported to marine amusement parks, some of them even labeled as ‘eco’!!

As reported by Marine Connection - UK based charity - the Solomon Islands issued a Non-Detriment Finding (a document approving the international wildlife trade) without bothering to undertake the scientific surveys required by International legislation.

But does not a commercial offer always follow a market demand? What can be done to educate people not to visit these parks? Maybe it will be a good idea targeting children organising talks in school?

And as per the Travelmole’s article reporting the news, shouldn’t tour operators who are claiming to become ‘greener’ stop promoting excursions to captive dolphins parks?

Amongst the biggest tour operators, TUI are partners of the UN initiative “Year of the Dolphin”, and Virgin Holidays sponsor one of the most important Responsible Tourism Awards..

One of the many TUI holidays promoting Florida’s Seaworld parks
Cancun resorts with Swim with Dolphins programs, promoted by Virgin

We want less greenwashing and more responsible actions!!