Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

Here is my first ever trip report: January 21st to February 4th: Mexico City, San Cristobal, Palenque, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Tulum, Valladolid.

A bit about me: 30 year old gay guy from New York, fairly well-travelled: one year in Israel, two months in Morocco, two months in Western Europe, shorter trips to Costa Rica, Japan, Singapore and Thailand. Not really a budget traveller any more, but some habits are hard to shake.

GUIDEBOOK:
The Moon Guide for the Yucatan. Their hotel descriptions are perfect and they list bus schedules for every city. Their restaurant choices are a bit off.

ACCOMODATIONS:
Mexico City - Hotel Marco Polo in Zona Rosa, about 900 pesos per night. Normally, I would never pay so much, but my Mexican relatives chose it for me. Huge room with A/C, free breakfast, cable (no English), free internet.

San Cristobal: Casa Margarita, 250 pesos per night. A nice, though chilly room, with hot water and cable and free internet. Great location, 3 blocks from the Parque Central.

Palenque: Hotel Avenida, slighty run down, but a friendly family-run place with a pool, 200 pesos with TV and A/C.

Isla Mujeres: Hotel Carmelina, 250 pesos I think. Another friendly family run place even if it looks a lot like a cheap motel.

Puerto Morelos: Posada El Moro, a step up at 500 per night for a huge, colorful room with plenty of windows to make up for no A/C and great views of the whole town and free breakfast.

Tulum: Los Arrecifes - $80 for a room with bath, which is not really worth it, $40 for a cabin with sand floor, which is much better. Bathrooms could be cleaner and showers had no locks on the doors, but so what.

Valladolid: 1) Meson de Marques - 500 with A/C and cable. My first bad hotel in about 5 years. My key didn't work, the bathroom flooded and for each shower its a 15 minute wait for hot water. I asked for a different room and they demanded another 100 pesos. I took the bigger room, in which the light didn't work and it was still a 15 minute wait for hot water, and they are still waiting for their 100 pesos.
2) Maria de la Luz - Much better for about 380, with A/C, cable, pool, and hot water.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Mexico City - Much better than I expected. I was only there for a day and a half, since I didn't have a guidebook and everything is closed on Mondays. I loved the markets of Centro Historico and Alameda Park was nice.
The bus ride from San Cristobal to Palenque - Its a beautiful ride along a long, winding, foggy road, from the pine forests to the jungles, passing through little villages with roosters and turkeys in the streets.
Palenque - My favorite of all the ruins. I got there at 8:00 and was the first one in, so I had it mostly to myself. You can marvel at the ruins while listening to the monkeys howling. It would have been even better had it not been pouring all day.
Waiting for a collectivo in the middle of nowhere - On top of a mist shrouded mountain, with Mexican music blasting in the background, some local kids getting a kick out of calling me "gringo" and not a tourist around for miles.
Puerto Morelos - Half the town was heavily damaged in the hurricane, but otherwise its a very relaxed friendly place, especially on Sunday afternoon when the beach is filled with Mexican families enjoying their Tostitos and Coronas.
Tulum - With the jungle and the beautiful beach, you just can't beat the scenery. Watch the sunrise over the sea, then climb the dunes and watch it set over the jungle. And Tulum pueblo felt surprisingly authentic, a great place to stroll around, shop and eat after a day at the beach.

DISAPPOINTMENTS:
Isla Mujeres - Its pretty, and Playa Norte is nice. But it is so touristy, so crowded and the least friendly place I went to in Mexico. A "gracias" or "buenos dias" often got no response. The first disappointing place I have been to in many years.
San Cristobal - Not exactly a disappointment, but I didn't see what the big deal was.

RUINS:
Palenque was the best (see above)
Tulum is nice only for the setting. I got there at 9 AM, which was still OK, but by 10 it was overwhelmed with huge tour groups. With the huge shopping center and multicolored tram, all that's missing is the chance to have your picture taken with Goofy.
Coba - The pyramid was impressive, if only there weren't a hundred people climbing it at any given time.
Chichen Itza was the second best (but 95 pesos!). I got there about 3:30 as the tour buses were starting to leave and by 4:30 or so, it was fairly empty.
The moral of the story is: Get there when they open at 8 or late in the afternoon.

FOOD:
The best food, by far, is at the taco stands and little torta shops. They're cheap and friendly, and most of them you won't find in any guidebooks. The tourist places mentioned in the books were usually overpriced and not great. And I'm proud too say that this is the first trip I've taken where I did not eat in McDonalds even once.

WEATHER: Beautiful in Mexico City, cloudy and drizzly in San Cristobal. It poured the whole time I was in Palenque and there were even some landslides on the road to San Cristobal. It was windy and a little cool in Isla and Puerto Morelos, but perfect in Tulum.

SAFETY:
I was really worried about Mexico City. For the first time ever, I locked my backpack, used a money-belt and kept all my stuff in the safe. I made sure to look alert and watch what was going on around me, which is sometimes takes a lot of effort. In reality, I think the whole safety issue is exaggerated. I don't doubt that bad things happen there, but I did not feel unsafe. There are more police and soldiers in Mexico City than anywhere I've seen outside the Middle East. A few times, I felt like I was being watched so I turned and walked the other way, but that was probably just paranoia. Some books warn of robberies in San Cristobal, Palenque and Agua Azul, but I didn't see anything suspicious there. At the Palenque bus station, there are signs warning to guard your valuables and not accept food or drinks from strangers, but I felt perfectly safe. I had to lie down after having a margarita in Tulum and I thought I might have been drugged, but other posters on here convinced me it was just a really strong tequilla.

SCAMS:
Only one. I got a cab from Palenque to Agua Azul. The driver said 200 pesos, which seemed surprisingly low, but I confirmed it with him and he said yes. I went to get my stuff and told him I'd be back in 10 minutes. When I got out of the hotel, there was a different driver waiting there, which should have been a warning sign. When we got there, he demanded 600 and claimed that was what the first driver told me. When I argued, it dropped to 500 and then 400. I refused and walked away. But I knew he was waiting for me, so to avoid later troubles, I just gave him 400. On the way back I took a collectivo for 30 pesos.

TOURIST CROWDS:
This was the most pleasant surprise. There was barely a tourist in sight in MEX. San Cristobal there were some, but they are always greatly outnumbered by Mexicans. Same for Palenque town. Isla - see above. Tulum is popular, but the hotels are spread out, so you barely see them, and in the town (and in any other town) you can just walk a few blocks from the tourist spots and see only locals.

GAY LIFE:
It just so happened that my hotel in the Zona Rosa was on the same street as a bunch of gay bars. The first night as I walked by I got some smiles. The next night (Sunday) there was not much happening. Other than that, I saw little in the way of a gay scene. I did meet a nice guy named Leo in an internet place in Valladolid and there were a couple of fine looking Italians at my hotel in Tulum, though unfortunately they were straight.

LESSON LEARNED:
Don't let the guidebooks, websites and the US State Dept convince you that a place is too dangerous to visit. If I still believe that a year from now, maybe I will get up the courage to go to Brazil....