In the aftermath of the brutal murder of Playa del Carmen’s Assistant Chief of Police and his bodyguard, we have noticed increased police presence around town. Yesterday, Michael saw around 60 or 70 uniformed officers marching down Juarez, one of our main streets. Pedestrians clapped respectfully and people in their cars honked their horns in support. If I had seen that, it would have really choked me up.

Last night, we also saw a cavalcade of both Federal and Local Police trucks driving around together with their lights flashing, but no sirens.

I initially thought it might be an attempt to show they are here in force to assuage any skittish tourists, but Michael thinks maybe they are trying to say, “Hey, give us some support, here we are, we are out here every single day doing this,” and I think I prefer his interpretation.

Riding my bike around town today, I smiled and waved at every soldier, police officer, tourist police officer, traffic cop, and federale I saw. Most of them looked at me like I was insane, but a good number of them smiled and waved back.