riviera maya - Travel With A Butterfly

In my previous post, I talked about the accommodations and restaurants of Tulum which you can read right here. Additionally, if you’re looking for tips on how to avoid scams in Mexico, you can read that right here. But right now in this post, we are going to be talking about the things I did in this trip that you can also add to your itinerary when visiting Tulum.

I personally think that staying in the resorts is of itself an activity you should spend some time enjoying rather than just treating it as a place to stay. Not only are there usually different activities to do, but there’s like spa/massage or yoga that you can participate in as well.

But of course outside of the resorts, for this trip, we went to five(!) different cenotes, swam with turtles in Akumal Bay, visited one of the new seven wonders of the world Chichen Itza, and also checked out Tulum Pueblo and took some photos at some touristy spots. Continue reading Get Up Close and Personal with Turtles and Dive into Cenotes in Tulum

The first time I was pulled over by the cops, I was paranoid. It was literally my first day ever in Mexico. Even though I only had one cocktail in Arca a few hours before driving, which would have been way below the alcohol limit of .08 in Mexico (equivalent to about five drinks), I was still in fear. Would I need to be in jail? Or would I need to bribe them? They stopped our car, looked around the back, asked for my driver’s license (gave them my international one), and after a few minutes, let me go and said it was a “precaution”. Maybe they were just picking on me for looking Asian and touristy, maybe they were attempting to be bribed but realised I might either be too savvy or too stupid to do so. In either case, I was relieved I was let go soon after without any repercussions.

Driving in Mexico is definitely quite an experience. People are driving twice the speed limit at times, the lines indicating the lanes will sometimes just “disappear” or “merge” into the next one, leaving you little time to react to switch to another lane, and police is rampant, especially at night. Most police were holding rifles, reminding me of my experience in South Africa.

This post will give you all the tips and advice I have researched and experienced so that your time in Tulum and Cancun can be even more smooth sailing. I will talk about the scams in rental car agencies and gas stations, police bribing, and of course driving in Mexico and other tips you should be aware of. So if you’re planning to visit the Riviera Maya of Mexico, read the whole post so that I can help you (and at the end I will talk about my 2nd time being stopped). Continue reading I Got Pulled Over By The Cops TWICE Within 15 Minutes in Tulum! (And Other Tips You Should Know)