One thing we realized after visiting Playa del Carmen and Cozumel and a little Tulum is that this tourist area is one big money sucking hole! We spent a little more than our budget allowed, but we figured we could make up for it later (at least that's what most travelers say about Guatemala and Nicaragua, cheap).
Tulum represented the laid back atmosphere of Cancun and Playa. Yes, a lot of tourists and yes the same beach, white sand bright clear turquoise blue water glistened by sun every day. Though, the “hey man you want a tattoo? Or some crack”? Every five seconds from venders was not there to speak of. So if the east side of the Yucatan becomes a destination to travel in the future, hit up Tulum( if you’re not looking to party). Many friends we’re met in Tulum, some notable Bart Van Beek a crazy long haired singing Dutchmen. He has three weeks left in his Journey so he has decided to tag along with us to Belize and then Guatemala. To add, oddly enough we continually meet Dutch, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Israeli and Canadian travelers… Literally in that order, we haven’t made too many American contacts strangely enough, but we’ll see in that what the next four months brings…