It was a pretty relaxing morning. We had scheduled the driver to come at 12:00 noon so we ate brunch to help hold us over. It didn't take long before it was time to pack up and head down to meet our driver.
So today we will be heading to Xcaret, an ecological theme park about an hour south of our condo. Once we arrived and got checked in, we made our way to the locker rooms to change into our swimming suits. The grounds are gorgeous... jungle on all sides, with animal exhibits tucked in for your enjoyment.
After we were changed, we followed the path to the underground swimming. These caves are more man-made than what we did Friday, but required a liability waiver for anyone over 50. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous at what we were getting into. The staff explained that the caves are longer and colder than what we did at Xplor and therefore required the liability waiver... OK, Hmm.
The caves were longer for sure. With stretches of darkness that made you lose sight of your hand in front of your face. But because they were much more crowded, there wasn't much fear involved. We had a great time!
The cave swim ended pretty far from our locker so we just stayed in our swimsuits to air dry. We found a restaurant for lunch and enjoyed a buffet. It was good to refuel after being in the river so long.
After lunch we wandered around to explore the remainder of the park with its amazing ocean views, hammock parks and historical ruins. We were too late to do any of the extra activities like swim with dolphins, boat ride, snuba, etc. but we did find a place to snorkel. We all made our way into the water to see what we could find. A resting pelican provided entertainment when we did come up for bits of time but otherwise we found a quiet little nook in the coral and rocks that seemed to be home to MANY fish.
After snorkeling we enjoyed several more animal exhibits including sea turtles, jelly fish and tons of fish in their aquarium.
We certainly didn't have time to do it all but we got a taste of a great park which we will be sure to visit on our next trip!
Our path led us back to the locker room where we quickly changed. I took a call from Mike to plan out our snorkeling trip for Monday, then we gathered our things and headed toward the front of the park.
As part of our day, we had purchased tickets to a Mexican dinner show at the park. There's way too much to explain and I'm not even sure we fully understood it all... but in essence, the first half shared the history of Mexico including a reenactment of the Spanish explorers and missionaries arriving and an exciting game of Battle... a game similar to hockey but played with a ball on fire. It was pretty impressive to watch!
The evening included a 7-course authentic Mexican meal... we're not talking burritos and tacos folks, it was duck with mole sauce, pulled pork, and so much more. The arena stayed dark so eating new foods was made a little more exciting when you couldn't see what was in front of you.
The second half of the evening showed various traditions from the different geographical areas of Mexico... including folk dance, authentic costumes, and very talented musicians. We even had a presentation from the Flying Men (Voladores de Papantla)
The evening wrapped up with a parade of international flags. The servers lined the aisle ways with hands on heart. It was a very solemn and proud moment for them and we felt lucky to experience it.
The show wrapped up a little after 9:00 pm. We pushed through the crowds to find our driver and were relieved to find rest in the cool van. We spent the hour-long car ride fairly quiet except the occasional interruption from our driver who was a wonderful man, open to sharing the development history and living conditions in Cancun. Fascinating end to our day.
Even though it was late, we took time for showers before bed and everyone quickly found their way to their pillows. We all need a bit of rest and our early morning departure for snorkeling will come very soon!
