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All is Vanity See other All is Vanity Articles Title: They check for illegals in Quintana Roo - travels in Yucatan Some notes from my last vacation on the Riviera Maya, Mexico. Quintana Roo is the newest Mexican state. It’s very much like their Hawaii, in the sense that it’s inhabited by a distinct people. School kids there and in the neighboring states – Yucatan and Campeche are taught in Mayan and they learn Spanish as their second language. Deplaning and entering Mexico was quick and easy. No need to provide fingerprints, no picture taking. Just a form stating name, US address, Mexico address and length of stay. While on a trip to some pyramids we ran into a military checkpoint. It looked like they were stopping just about every fifth car, checking everyone’s ID’s and searching the vehicle. Our driver told us that they were looking for illegal immigrants and for drugs. Everyone in Yucatan was helpful and friendly but sometimes they were a bit annoying, asking for tips but usually in a nice way – like the guide would say it on the mike that it was good to tip him and the driver. That’s not surprising giving that the room cleaning lady was being paid $8 per day. Also, never buy ‘silver’ because it’s probably ‘alpaca’. But people were really nice. For example, when I wrecked a speedboat (a tree branch clipped the rear spoiler) while on a jungle canal, the manager said it was okay and didn’t ask for one dime from me. The place we stayed at had 95% American guests. It was sometimes embarrassing when we were going on trips because we were getting bilingual guides and there were no Spanish-speaking people in the group. It felt almost like home, with the Anglos having fun and the Chicanos doing the beds, the cooking and the landscaping. On the way back home, we bought 4 bottles of liquor from the duty free. We had to change planes in Charlotte. When you do that, you pass through Immigration, pick up your checked bags pass through customs and then recheck them for your connecting flight. If you bought stuff from duty free and it’s liquid, powdery or jelly, you must put it in your checked bags before you go through Customs because they are ‘liquids’ and can’t be in your carryons. You can have them as carryons on the first plane because you had bought them from duty free but not on the second plane because… I don’t know why. The Customs lady asked what we brought from Mx. When I told her that I had 4 bottles from duty-free, she said that they only allow 1 liter per adult person now. She was a nice lady and she let us pass ‘this time only’.
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