Day 185 - Highway robbery!

Cancun

We hired a car for the day so we could go to Tulum, which we had missed last time we were in Mexico, and we timed the 24 hour rental so we could use the car to get to the airport the next day.

We collected the car around 10am, then paid another visit to the ATM to withdraw even more cash for our Cuba trip, and convert the withdrawn pesos to Euros. We were on our way back to our hotel when we were pulled over by the police. We were supposedly speeding and liable for a hefty fine (though we were going slower than the buses and other cars), but if we paid (bribed) the police around $50 we could continue on our way, and not have to visit to the police station the next day. As we weren't really sure of our options we paid up, but really felt like we'd been robbed. After looking into it all later, it seems this sort of thing happens a lot, and what we should have done was just called their bluff and opted for the official fine, apparently if you can string the discussion along for long enough they realise they won't get any bribe money and let you off so they can chase down another poor victim.

Subdued by the second bribe of our life (the other was on our trip to Goa), we drove to Tulum to check out the ruins on the edge of the ocean, with beautiful views to the ocean and a nice little (and crowded) beach. The site is quite small and walled on two sides, with the ocean acting as a third wall. The ocean was a brilliant view and very inviting, as it was also very hot.

After Tulum we drove to Playa del Carmen. We had visited the area on our last trip to Mexico but we were still surprised at how happening and different it was to Cancun. The beach in Cancun is beautiful, whereas the Playa del Carmen beach is not so nice, but the town has a very different feel to Cancun, with lots of restaurants and people out and about. In retrospect we should have spent our time here rather than in Cancun, Playa del Carmen is more our style.

Playa del Carmen