FILE--Villa Paloma on Tankha Bay, just north of Cancun, shwon in this Dec., 2009 photo, has a private swimming pool that faces the Caribbean and leads right to the beach. Taxi drivers, waiters and others in the service industry in Mexico's Playa del Carmen, not far from Cancun, were honest and non-threatening, making it feel like a safe place to visit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Wendy McCann