Yucatán on a dime

Could I spend a week in the Yucatán without busting my budget? That was what I asked myself a few weeks ago when I was making plans to go to a friend's wedding on the beach in Tulum. It seemed silly to spend the money to fly all the way there and not see a little of the country beyond the beach. But times being what they are, I had to do it on the cheap if I was going to do it at all.

As I did a little research online, I found it's cheap to travel in the Yucatán: Airline ticket prices are down (round trip tickets from Miami to Cancún are now starting around $250). The peso is almost 50 percent weaker to the dollar than it was just a year ago, simple hotels outside the resort areas can be had for $10 a person and rental cars are nearly being given away -- as long as you're willing to take the risk of staying away from the big-name companies.