Outdoor Adventures in the Mayan Riviera

I'm very sorry for the delay, but now that the holidays are finally over, i actually have some free time to finish blogging about my vacation; yes, the vacation back in October. I know, i know...

We didn't really do a lot of shopping, nor did we try out any of the famous clubs and bars, so all the fun things we did involved the great outdoors. Laying around on the beach was nice, but you can only lay around for so long. And seeing ruins was, well, you read the post.

Here's Mom and Mary spelunking. Technically speaking this isn't really spelunking because we were just snorkeling, but i just like using that word---spelunking---definitely the coolest thing we did together. I took videos too, but the quality is really too poor to do it any justice. If you want to see more of what this was like, you'll have to watch the IMAX movie, Journey into Amazing Caves. There are a lot of places to go cave diving and snorkeling, but here's the link to the location we went to.

Now you already saw the highlight of my vacation, sailing, but here's something else i like to do---free-diving. Unfortunately, all of the reefs that are close to shore have either been wiped out by recent hurricanes and growing tourism. It's true, there is really beautiful diving and snorkeling available in Cancun and Cozumel, but you have to take a boat to get to any of it. The most i ever saw was a few small fish and a lot of white sand. At least the water's warm. Among all the places i've snorkeled (Hawaii, the Bahamas, French Polynesia, and now the Mayan Riviera), i'll have to say the best so far is still the Bahamas.

The jungle zip-line tour was one of the last things we did. On our last day, which was originally reserved for personal free-time, we decided to change plans and try this out in the morning. The experience wasn't cheap (we decided to opt out of the subsequent bike ride through the jungle and swimming at a cenote because after swimming in caves, who wants to swim in a sinkhole) but it sure was a lot of fun. The equipment was very basic---very easy to take on and off. And sanitary too (we were even given disposable caps to wear under the helmets). We were given basic instructions, which lasted about five minutes, then it was up a spiral staircase attached to a platform about 30-feet in the trees. We would then zip from treetop to treetop, with a few stairs to climb in the trees between each line. Definitely worth the money if you've never done it before. Maybe i'll try and find a video to upload...

Last, but not least, here's a video i cut of us swimming in the heated, underground rivers at a very popular park, Xcaret---an eco-archeological theme park (think Polynesian Cultural Center meets Sea World). At 1:18 the fun begins as we float by three Mayan's dressed in traditional clothing sitting in a canoe at the end of a tunnel. Next is a photo i took of Mary reacting to the crowds of tourists standing above the authentic Mayan village waiting for the performance to begin. And the rest i'll let you watch. I think the only funnier video i've ever captured of my parents is my Dad singing to the Beatles.