Russian Travel Blogger Compares Cancun to Sochi — and Finds Charm in Both

Marina Ershova, a Russian travel blogger touring Mexico, recently visited the resort city of Cancun and shared her impressions in a personal blog on the Dzen platform. She described the Caribbean Sea as having water so vividly blue it looked like someone had Photoshopped it and forgot to revert the settings. The beach, she said, is a destination in itself — not just a place to spread a towel.

But Sochi? That’s a different story. "The sea there doesn’t have to be turquoise," Ershova joked. "It doesn’t have to look like a Bounty ad or pretend to be the Caribbean. But it’s familiar. You arrive, buy some corn, hear a kid demanding a unicorn-shaped float, sit on the pebbles, burn your backside, and think: okay, vacation’s started." She noted that Sochi offers a promenade, mountains, familiar food, and native Russian speakers — a stress-free getaway where you don’t need to learn a language, worry about long-haul flights, or accidentally order something strange.

Cancun, by contrast, feels like another planet — different faces, food, language, music, fruit, heat, even a different logic of life. From there, travelers can explore islands, coastline, or the Yucatán interior. "Cancun leaves you changed — with sand in your shoes, photos of impossible blue water, a habit of adding lime to everything, and the realization that the world is bigger than your usual home-work-grocery route," she concluded. Earlier, Ershova noted that in Cancun, everyday items like good sunscreen cost more than in Russia.