I would agree from my recent experience that the majority of the people in Cozumel are very friendly and are willing to help you out. My Spanish is horrible and several times I was helped with translation by somebody who just happened to come along. I will disagree slightly with the idea that English is very wildly spoken. That may be the case in the resorts and shops that cater to tourists but I found situations where it was Spanish only. Not usually a problem. I often walked alone at night in the city and never felt threatened. I kept track of the taxi fares and except for a single case they were all pretty similar and nobody tried to rip me off. Shop keepers would sometimes have you open your wallet and point out what they wanted if they thought you did not understand. I did understand enough to know they where trying to be helpful and not ripping me off. The owner of the place I was staying dropped everything he was doing and personally took me to his dentist when I had a dental emergency (bad story, I would be careful of some of the para sailing outfits). The dentist spoke excellent English, was very professional and my local dentist was very impressed by the quality of the work.
I had a couple experiences with a surly waiter or cashier but nearly everybody was very kind despite the fact that they often get huge loads of cruise ship passengers dumped on them several times a day. Even I tried to tried to avoid that bunch.
I had a couple experiences with a surly waiter or cashier but nearly everybody was very kind despite the fact that they often get huge loads of cruise ship passengers dumped on them several times a day. Even I tried to tried to avoid that bunch.
