Trip Advisor says Tulum, Mexico is one of the most Instagrammed (since when is THAT a verb?) spots in Mexico. There are stunning beaches, luxury accommodations and restaurants, incredible flora and fauna with ecological adventures, and ancient Mayan ruins. Supposedly, it has become the “Go To” place in Mexico over the past decade.
If you’re looking at the pictures and reviews on the internet, it’s easy to see how someone might decide Tulum is the perfect place for a destination wedding. It’s a Rivera Maya location, south of Cancun and Cozumel. Looks like my kind of place with those white sand beaches and the pyramid and city wall of a Mayan coastal seaport, said to be at its peak in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Since we’ve never been to Mexico, let along the Riviera Maya, I never heard of Tulum until this week.
Randy and I are having the floors in our house redone. My friend Michele recommended a flooring company. I mentioned to the technician who came out to measure the house for an estimate that Michele and I are both writers. He asked if I was interested in a true story about Tulum. He thought I might like to write about it.
Sure, I said. I’m always interested in the stories people have to tell. This is a good one.
The technician, whose name is also Randy, said that his son got married in Tampa, but then had a destination celebration in Tulum. He didn’t want to go, but his wife convinced him it was the right “dad thing” to do.
The son and his bride researched and rented an AirBnB that slept 17. Three miles from the beach, the group thought they’d get a more authentic experience than is afforded by going to one of the many all-inclusive resorts in the area. They checked into the house, rented scooters and golf carts, and settled in for a once in a lifetime experience.
They got that once in a lifetime experience, all right. Not only is Tulum incredibly unique, it is incredibly expensive, incredibly eye-opening, and incredibly scary.
What they don’t tell you on the internet is that Tulum is a hotbed of gangs and corruption that prey on tourists who don’t know any better than to venture into the town itself. His son and several of his friends experienced first-hand, not in just one incident, the same sequence of being set up, shaken down, and fleeced by local law enforcement in the town.
Randy (the floor guy) described how two of his son’s friends, riding scooters, passed two “policia’ who were just lying in wait for them to make even the smallest infraction so they could be pulled over. While the policia were intimidating the American scooter riders, a menacing looking third uniformed man with an AR-15 (or something similar) stood watch over them from the back of a pick-up truck. The two friends were told they hadn’t signaled their turn far enough in advance. They were threatened with a ticket, a long legal process and jail time. However, the policia explained, they could make all that go away with a $600 fine paid on the spot. The Americans paid the fine in cash and were released.
There was a discussion, and presumably some research done, that evening at the Air BnB. On one of the following days Randy’s son, a big guy, was also stopped for some minor infraction. He quickly hid most of his money in his backpack, leaving under $100 in his wallet. As the cops tried to shake him down for the $600 fine, he insisted he only had $80. He stood his ground, asked their names, and told them he was fine with them taking him to the police station to get the situation straightened out. The cops demanded $600 but seemed reluctant to “arrest” him. They gave him a few minutes to think about whether or not he really wanted to go to a Mexican jail.
When they came back for his answer, he again insisted he only had $80. He told them that if that wouldn’t settle the situation, he was willing to go with them to the police station and have the ticket officially written. The cops settled for the $80.
Randy (the floor technician) told us how, after the incidents, one of their party, a pilot, recommended they carry fake wallets with only a small amount of money in them. They learned from their internet research that if they were stopped, they should video the cops and persist in wanting to be taken to the police station to file the ticketing paperwork. Because these cops are crooks and are making their living shaking down tourists, they will always back down.
It seems to be (floor tech) Randy’s mission these days to get the word out that no matter how appealing a location looks on the internet, and how safe the major websites claim it is…get some recent, first-hand experience if you want truth. He said if my post alerted just one person to the danger in Mexico, he’d be happy.
I poked around the internet for information on police corruption in Tulum, but it wasn’t until I typed in Tulum Mexico police shakedown that I actually found plenty of similar stories. The Mexican government says they’re addressing the issue, but I imagine it’s like our government addressing the southern border issue. Don’t expect a lot of progress no matter what they’re saying.
What’s really sad about this story is the most overarching memory of the destination wedding trip for Randy’s son. He didn’t mention the beaches, the nightlife, the food, the tourist attractions, the fun the 17 of them had on the trip to celebrate the marriage, or any of the other good things Tulum is touted for and why they went in the first place. He just talked about being fleeced by the policia.
Randy the floor tech and Randy my husband both agreed that if we ever go to Mexico, it’s going to be for an all-inclusive resort experience with prepaid transfers to and from the airport. No local excursions on our own for us! Who needs the excitement? Or the stories to tell.
P.S. The pool is fabulous every single day as the temperature starts creeping up here in Florida. I’m happy at Grathen’s Last Resort. The only shakedowns here are taxes, insurance, groceries, gas, and hurricane supplies. 😉
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