The sun – and sand – are back where they belong, thanks to the Belgians

Roberto Cintron has learned many things as general manager of the bustling Flamingo Cancun Hotel, but few as critical as how to track bad weather from his office computer.

As we speak, he’s got one eye on Hurricane Gordon, the other on tropical storm Lane, but his mind is on Hurricane Wilma.

It’s been almost a year since that Category 4 hurricane swept through Cancun, demolishing dozens of hotels and almost wiping this oceanfront sun and fun spot off the tourism map. For almost 70 hours she whipped up winds reaching 250 km/h and waves big enough to break third-storey windows.

When she finally left town, she took the beach with her. Some twelve kilometres of it.

But in less than a year, Cancun has made a stunning comeback. So has the beach