how many times have you heard that someone will scam you while traveling for me it has
happened not several times but it has happened and i have been warned the first time i faced
was when i wasn't in king i arrived to the airport and so many people approached me trying to get me
trying to tell me that my transfer was cancelled that there were no taxes that they were the only
option i got and that was a lie actually i had a transport that i booked in advance with my
hotel but that's a real situation there when you arrive to the cancun's airport people will try to
scam you they will try to charge a lot of money they will like you about your transportation and
they will tell you there are no other options but that is a lie you have some options to move around
without being charged a hundred or thousands of pesos because cancun airport is far away from
playa del carmen or toulouse so you always need to get there to get to those places somehow some way
so here we are gonna tell you in our experience the best option to get to those places first
the ado bus when you first arrive to the cancun airport when you go outside you're going to be
bombarded by all kinds of taxi drivers they're going to try to stop you they're going to tell
you all kinds of crazy stories to get you to pay their higher inflated prices and go with them
it's going to be your job to just keep your head down and go find the ado bus it's the tickets
are cheaper the only thing is you may have to wait a little bit longer to get a ride because
obviously you have to wait on the next bus but the adl bus tickets
they're cheap and you can get all over mexico on the ado bus i was a little bit hesitant in
the beginning to ride the bus but here in mexico everybody rides the bus it's safe it's comfortable
for the most part and you can get anywhere you need to go in a relatively short amount of time
another option is to rent a transport previous year trip in advance you can talk to your hotel
in my experience the only time i did that i was staying at selena i was going to isla mujeres
so i needed a transportation from the cancun's airport to the ferry so i booked it with my hotel
and it's a bit more expensive than a bus well it's way more expensive than of us but it's safe
and you don't have to worry about anything at that time they charge me like 900 pesos which is a lot
but i there was someone waiting for me with a sign with my name in it and i just jump into a van just
for myself and it was very very convenient and the third way you can avoid this household is to rent
a car you can rent it directly at the airport or in advance as well that's my style i rent it on
the internet previews my trip and they will try to offer you a lot of things as well like add-ons
to your package but don't take them you just need your car the basic insurance and that's it don't
pay for anything else so another thing you should be aware of when you rent a car it's going to be
different depending upon which company you go with but make sure that they don't charge you an
extra free fee to return the car in a different town than when you originally rented it in for
example i rented a car in cancun and i returned it in tulum because i didn't want to take the bus
and i didn't want to take the taxi and i didn't know about colectivo yet more on that in a second
but and they're also not going to volunteer that information they're going to let you find out the
hard way so i could have returned the car from in playa at no additional fee but since i drove
to tulum they charged me an extra fee so make sure that to figure out where you're going to
go and make sure that you can return the car at no additional cost and also when you rent the car
it's important that you take a video go around the car the inside the outside make sure there's
you get every little ding and scratch on that car because they're going to nitpick you when
you try and return that vehicle later many cities you can just get to the airport and find an uber
get an uber in cancun you cannot do that there are no ubers in cancun and in quintana roo in general
they are not allowed like the taxi drivers are the ones who rule that world and it's
not something common maybe if you find an uber i think you won't but you will have to pretend that
your friends and sit on the front seat just to avoid any problems with the taxi drivers
so don't count on uber because in some cities you can find them but not in cancun
so the colectivo if i was you i would go ahead and get into the habit of taking collectivos it's the
best way to get around mexico it's the cheapest and they run like clockwork every 15-20 minutes
they look different depending upon which town that you're in sometimes it's an actual bus
sometimes it's a van sometimes it's a truck and everybody's got to get into the bed of the pickup
but it's it's super affordable it's usually like 20 40 pesos a ride i i take the collectivo to
and fro apply to carmen into loom all the time because it's super affordable and it runs like
clockwork i don't have to book it in advance just when i feel like leaving i can just go to the stop
and take off so it's just you just need to do a little bit of research when you
go into town and figure out where all the colectivo spots are going to be and
when you're traveling you need cash it's the best way to moving around because if you need to pay
for a taxi or for food street food whatever you need to have cash i have a mexican bank account so
for me it's not a struggle but if you're not from mexico if you're coming for from somewhere else
you will always need cash and if you're not from here you know what i'm talking about
atms you're going to find good atms or not so good atms if you see a solo atm in some sand
next to some bike rental shop do not use that atm before you use the atm machine you need to check
and see the cash dispenser and make sure that it actually moves because a lot of times what the
popular scam is is they'll put a plastic bar over the cash dispenser so you'll actually get out the
there won't be any problem with going through the process of pulling money out but as soon
as it goes to dispense the cash what happens is it hits that plastic bar and it doesn't come out
and who i don't know if it's the bank that's doing this i don't know who's doing these scams but
the reality is on your banks on the back end of your bank it looks like money went out just fine
but you never actually got the money so the only time i actually use an atm machine if it's a legit
bank let's talk about quintana roo too people feel they can charge you whatever they want to charge
you for a bear for example so in restaurants when you get there first things first ask for the menu
check the prices after eating check the bill and compare it with the menu because sometimes if you
are distracted or if they feel that you i don't know have a lot of money in their minds they will
charge you more than what is fair so whenever you eat out check the menu check the bill compare them
and just pay for the fair price in here there is a lot that protects you as a consumer called profeco
and it implies that you have to know the price before paying for it once i was in tulum
and i ordered a beer that i really like i've been in mexico for a while i know the prices i
know it's fair to charge a bit more if you're in front of the beach okay i get that but not three
times the price it was they wanted to charge me the same amount that i will pay for a full meal
so i called the manager and i talked to him and i told him profeco don doesn't allow this and
he was okay okay okay she knows about profeco so you are protected pay attention because in
some places they will try to charge you more than it's fair so always always always check how much
it says in the menu it can be overpriced but if you see it in the menu and you agree with it
that's your responsibility but if not it's not your fault another common scam that you'll run
into in mexico is when you go out to eat at the restaurants what will happen a lot of times is
they'll say that your card was declined with an actuality it was not so what you need to
do is just make them prove that that is the truth you know uh have them provide a receipt
or the card reader to show that it actually was declined because a lot of times
when you go check your bank statements you're like oh i was charged two or three times for the
same meal that actually happens a lot and they do something a little bit differently here in mexico
they bring the card eater up to the table and they'll take your card and you know they'll run
it for you and sometimes they'll even go as far as to leave a tip for themselves and you're just
one time i was in cancun and the lady just she just did everything so fast i had no
idea what happened until i got back home and i looked at my bank statement i was like oh
yes i guess she left herself so that can happen to you so just be aware of that
that doesn't happen everywhere but yes in mexico it's very common to tip from 10 to 15 to 20
and if the service wasn't good you don't have the responsibility to tip them they have to
earn their tip so the average is 10 if it was a really good service 15 and if if it was like
above the clouds i don't know you can do 20 the other big thing when you come to mexico
and especially tulum is you probably want to go to a cenote party yeah have you heard of
the cenote parties they're a big deal but they're hush hush they're actually illegal
and so they're supposed to do them like under the table and so the way that you purchase and get to
these is a little bit sketchy usually how you do it there's multiple ways i'm i'm not going
to speak for all of them but there's a huge scam going on around this whole thing so i need to
just kind of let you in on the on the secret a lot of times you get into facebook groups
and then you're re you're redeferred to some whatsapp thread and then in that whatsapp thread
you they redirect you to some payment source and then actually you're not they don't disclose the
location of the cenote party because it's illegal so they tell you where the pickup and the drop is
and then you go to that and then they'll take you to the cenote party but a lot of times
they're just these are just straight up ghosted parties they don't exist and they charge you like
a hundred two hundred dollars because people are willing to pay to go the to go to these exclusive
cenote parties and then they'll cancel on you and then when they cancel them like yeah this
dj wasn't able to show up or like because of like lockdown or for whatever whatever the cops found
out where this this party is gonna be canceled and because it's kind of like we'll reschedule it like
four five six months it's never gonna happen and these dudes are these djs are making like
millions of dollars on these cenote parties legit it's happening believe me don't believe me so i
would be a little bit skeptical around the cenote parties make sure you know some people that have
been to one before make sure that it's a reputable place or person that you you're purchasing the
ticket from just be aware like don't don't be dumb don't subject yourself to these scams
that are happening in these hot spots where tourists are just flocking to and they're just
popping you guys left and right another thing are two companies they don't charge the same
for the same tour so a good thing to do is to find at least three compare prices and go with
the best one and always negotiate because they will try to charge you a bit more if they can
also go to the stores if you want to find for example a boat trip go to the boat owner that way
you can arrange your own schedule and you can have a better experience you can find a private
experience if you go with a tour you will go with a bunch of people at the time they say you will
have to leave when they say and you will have to pay more for that sometimes if you go directly to
the service it can be the same price but for sure it will be better so ask negotiate and go with the
best option so this next point is not really so much of a scam i'm just trying to raise awareness
because it's a serious serious issue when you come to mexico especially when you come to tulum the
reality of the situation is a lot of tourists come to tulum mexico to do drugs and have a good time
well i lived in tulum for close to 90 days and when i lived in the time that i lived there i
um there was like eight people that were murdered i saw one person get murdered at a club and uh the
reason to this is from stupidity you can you can do drugs you can purchase drugs because
the cartel has a very strong presence and their presence is to respect it you don't
want a lot of people want to come to tulum and they think that they want to start a business
this is not the mentality to have you need to respect why they're there because if you come and
you try to step on their toes and they they sense that you're a threat in any way they're going to
do away with you all i can say is to use caution when you're dealing with these people maybe people
don't want to talk talk about it but this is a this is reality you you can put yourself in
in the wrong situation at the wrong time and it's a good way to die and nobody ever hears
about you ever again because you think you want to come here and start some sort of business
where you want to make a little bit of money or whatever whatever but all i can say is to use
caution and i don't know maybe just learn to have a good time and you know i don't
this is kind of a tangent but i don't understand why people need to do drugs and drink when you
come on vacation like when you come on vacation and you come to experience a new environment a new
culture it's already at a bit of a natural high so why would you need to supplement that with another
high like you don't it's it's already enough so but for some reason that's not enough for people
they need to have more they need to push it and when you push it that's when bad things happen so
all i can say is be careful when you're dealing with the cartel they're not they're not messing
around and you shouldn't be messing around when you're dealing with these types of people man
this is a problem okay would you order something and you change your order it will never change
it will always be the first thing you ask about even if you say you wanted something different
it's just how it works it has happened to me 100 times or 200 times and it looks like i don't learn
it looks like it's my fault like if i ask for something that's what i'm gonna get
i have to learn that i thought i was asking for a mezcal
but this is good forget about changing your order that won't happen it's just how it works embrace
it even if you tell them two or three times it doesn't matter even if you say i do not
want the first thing i do not want that that will be the thing you will get what if you try
to change your order what if you try to keep one change it would change best case scenario
you will get both the first thing you order and the second thing you ordered that way
you at least get what you want but that's how it works i'm sorry i wish i was i was lying but no no
you always gotta ask for the check here in mexico always
if not you can stay in the table without consuming anything forever no hold you hostage for hours
but it's good i think that it's a positive thing because no one is kicking you out you can just
enjoy we have a concept in latin america that it's called sobremesa like over table so after you eat
you spend some time talking slow down a bit enjoy the little things exactly so having that time
that moment after eating is very important maybe they're thinking about the sobremesa think though
you