Tulum

The ferry crossing from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen was very rough because of heavy winds that were strong enough to shut down the harbor for small boats. Luckily, we didn’t get seasick during the short trip. Once on the mainland, we took a public bus to Tulum, just a few hours down the coast.
Tulum wasn’t what we expected and it’s one of the few places we wouldn’t go back to if we had it to do over again. While the beaches and Mayan ruins are beautiful, the main town isn’t and we were shocked to see huge, expensive resorts built near shantytowns that housed migrant workers. Exploitation like this is something you never get used to seeing and it’s infuriating that all the tourist money being brought in isn’t filtering down to those who need it most. Also, the city has grown way too fast and lacks any infrastructure - we read that only ~30% of residential properties are connected to sewage systems – most ends up in the ocean. You can smell it in some parts of the city. Greed is gross.
I’m sure if we’d stayed on the beach in a high-end resort and not ventured into the town, we might not have noticed the other side of this place. We should have heeded JV’s advice and given Tulum a miss.Read more