Tulum

 We departed Paamul this morning, intending to dry camp at Tulum. When we go there we found they wanted 400 pesos to dry camp in the parking lot so we parked out on the road instead. I have not been here in 20 years and it is very different. Back then there was a gravel lot in front of the ruins and hardly anyone there. Not anymore, it's all developed and you have to pay to get in. The line up was about 30 minutes long and when we got in there the place was swarming with tourists. I suppose if you have never seen it, it is nice, but for me it was rather sad to see it when I remembered how it used to be. The beach below which was deserted last time, was swarming with people. We stayed  a couple of hours then decided to drive south to Chetumal. Once we got a few miles south of Tulum, the tourist development started to disappear and it looked more like the road from Cancun to Tulum looked 20 years ago, rather than the strip development you see now along that stretch. That is what cruise ships do to areas.