Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 54

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 54

Mexico 

2/24/09  - Paamul – Xcaret

We are off on another parque experience.  These are natural lagoons, rivers and in this case, underground rivers, which are utilized with zoo/park techniques to provide tourist attractions that are truly amazing.  Even the ‘purists’ among us like these. Xcaret also has a finale each evening that is held in a huge building that looks like a pyramid/palapa. 

Flamingo

We get there as early as we can.  We know from the other parque that we will need more than our allotted ‘one day’ to see and do everything. This parque is not ‘all inclusive’, but we did not know that beforehand. We did not bring all of our gear, including lunch, towels and my snorkeling equipment.  We upgraded our tickets to include these things and tried to catch up with the rest of the folks.  We got lost.  This is a huge place.  We went around a path on the inside of a fence, homing in on a building with an embedded clock. It looked like a town square-type meeting place.  We came upon some fancy looking, fabulous horses and started to sit down to figure out where we were. Just about the time that our seats met the wooden steps, one of the horses got loose and was doing a big prancing act right in the area we had chosen to sit.  We moved.  Quickly. We followed a path that happened to lead to water.   I put in my nifty new earplugs and we followed some steps down into the river. Floated away.

Town Square Tower

The river goes in and out of underground cenotes, sometimes barely moving, sometimes rushing.  Light, then dark, then light – playing over and over.  Magic! Time slows and sound fades (at least for me) and the most romantic, exotic, and just a little wonder-filled adventure unfolds.  We float, swim and play though this place in time and space.  Float… we meet Jaguar Man and several natives playing drums and seashells. Although it seemed to have ended quickly, Sam and I were in the river for well over an hour.   I wanted to do it again, but we were set to go on a snorkel trip on the coral reefs surrounding Xcaret. 

Jaguar Man And A Friend

We barely made it to the dock. The boat was ready to leave as soon as we were ushered into our seats on board the ‘super panga’.  We travel out of the lagoon and down the coast a ways.  I work at getting the plugs in snug.  We enter the water, and the two divers/guides lead the way in the open ocean to a great reef.  They chum the area, and we are amazed at the response!  Schools of fish touch your feet and legs.  When you reach out to touch them – they are gone.  The colors are vibrant on the main, but even the fish in everyday colors were fun to watch.  Sam has to keep pulling me back to the group – as I am off following whatever I see.  Sam is tickled when I flounder around like a beached … mermaid, when I get stuck on the top of some coral reef – but I did not want to touch it or destroy it in any way – which is hard not to do when you are practically sitting on it.  This experience also went way too fast and I felt like I have just gotten the hang of the thing, when it is time to go on to something else. On the way back to the boat, Sam swam ahead and I am still doing last minute peeks at the ocean bottom. I see a big stingray! I am hollering at Sam to look and get all excited.  Unfortunately, my head was still underwater and he was nowhere nearby.  Poor Sam, he missed seeing the thing that pierced his foot in Baja Mexico.  Lucky me, I did not drown.

We get into street cloths, grab the camera and off we go to see the non-water sights.  We take pictures of the bright parrots, pink flamingos (both the two-legged and one-legged variety), spider monkeys, Brahman Bull, tapirs, big, big, big Puma with regular-sized head, big, big, black Jaguar and the beautiful, high-steppin, side-steppin’, prancin’, regal Spanish horses.  And a whole lot more. (Sam says this Puma is the biggest he has seen anywhere, including pictures in magazines.) 

Big, Big Kitty

We take time to soak up the sun and Sam takes several of his famous 5-minute naps, consecutively. 

Live Tree Carving

 
As the sun begins to set, we join in with the crowd as they make their way to the evening’s entertainment and dinner.  We enter a large gated area, with Mayan natives dressed in traditional gear.  We again meet Jaguar Man and several of his friends, as well as the musicians, who start playing their drums and blowing their shells.  They seem to be announcing the beginning of a special occasion.  We linger as Harold gets his picture taken with one of the native girls. I take pictures of a carving of Christ in a growing, live tree and the carving is way up towards the top. The dark, pyramid is ahead and we are ushered to our seats/tables. The pyramid is gigantic and there is a giant playing field below.  We wonder if it is a night for the game to be played.  The area is so large, you cannot make out any details on the natives below, let alone the throng on the other side of the pyramid.  There are elders sitting a little behind us.  As we are served our food, the most spectacular show is put on for us.  A ‘game’ is played.  The men hitting the hard, rubber ball with their thighs and shoulders, and getting it through the stone rings at the side.  There was no sacrifice, so this must have been played to settle a squabble and not to appease any sun god. The Mayan civilization, Aztec arrival, Spanish arrival, church arrival and different ages of Mexico were depicted in festivals, dress and dance.   I am absolutely sure that I missed a lot.  But I was totally enthralled and entertained Mexico’s diverse and colorful history was introduced to my mind and heart.

Xcaret History Section

The food was great, but the ‘show’ was unique and very worth the cost of entrance to this ‘eco-theme park-zoo-classroom type’ whatever this is.  We had another unbelievable day. We get back to Brutus, drive back to the RV park and fall asleep with the windows open, wondering what could beat this. (Oh, hello Owen, Jaron and One-On-Way.)