The headlines out of Mexico have been jarring. Two women were killed in the crossfire when rival gangs started shooting at a popular sidewalk restaurant in Tulum. Gunmen battled on a beach near Puerto Morelos as tourists scrambled into a Hyatt hotel for cover. A killer-for-hire bought a day pass to an all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen to carry out a hit in a poolside snack bar.
But the spate of violent incidents along the country’s Riviera Maya, the strand of Caribbean beaches stretching 80 miles south of Cancún to the Mayan ruins of Tulum, over the past few months hasn’t seemed to scare off the vacationers who arrived by the millions last year to spend a pandemic holiday on the beach, dive the coral reefs or dance in boho bars.
“It’s all like drug-related violence so it doesn’t affect us,” said Elizabeth Sedgemore, 50, of Seattle, who was walking in Puerto Morelos one recent noon looking for a restaurant with her husband, Gregory, 59. He added: “We just don’t put ourselves in situations where we’re going to be in trouble. We don’t do drugs, we don’t deal drugs, we don’t stay out late — so we feel very safe.”
