If you have ever visited Mexico you know about the red-light/green-light "Pase" at airport customs. When crossing the border from Belize into Mexico, you go through the same thing. I knew you could bring in 3 bottles of liquor into the country, but I found out the hard way, that if you have an address here in Quintana Roo, you can't bring in any liquor. I was coming through the border from the Belizean Free zone with 3 bottles of liquor for Mayan Beach Garden's Bar when I hit the red light. No Problem, I thought - I never go over the 3 bottles anyway. When they looked at the three bottles, they told me that I couldn't take any because I was a Quintana Roo citizen. No problem. . .I figured I'd just pay the duty and be done with it. That was until I was given the amount of the duty - it was 153% of the original cost of the liquor plus a fee. That means that the $32 USD worth of Bombay Gin and Flor de Cana would have cost me close to $700 pesos! Now I chose to just leave the liquor there. After all, I can buy Flor de Cana in Chedraui's for about 120 pesos, so why would I pay double? But I couldn't just leave, I had to fill out an "Acta de Abandono" stating that I was leaving the 3 bottles there. Was I being taken because it was 3 days before Christmas and they wanted the liquor? What other things are lurking out there that I can't cross over the border with? If anyone has any similar experiences, I'd sure like to know!

Apparently Quintana Roo is in a special duty free category of its own.  IVA, or the value added tax that you pay on goods in Mexico is 11% in Quintana Roo and 16% in the rest of Mexico.  So citizens of Quintana Roo have a benefit that other states do not.  Had my FM3 said I was from another state, OR had I entered the free zone with just my Passport I would not have had to pay the duty.