We did a mandatory stop at Cancun, a tourist central, a place filled with concrete hotels, bellboys and taxis. Every sleeping accommodation seemed to be out of our price range so in the evening we drove to Playa del Carmen where our out-of-date Lonely Planet guide informed us there was a camp. We discovered there was none and under a heavy tropical rain we drove to a gas station where they let us park in the back and sleep for the night. The next day we drove to the small town of Tulum where after some asking around we found a local guy Max who owns a narrow strip of land with access to the beach. The place had a toilet, a rudimentary shower, something of a kitchen and a shack where he slept. More importantly, it looked like a paradise. There were no concrete hotels, the beach was clean, with few people and apart from Max we had it all to our selves.

Photo album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.662567203765454.1073741870.392545607434283&type=1