Easter in Mexico day 3

[ali-s]

Today we are off to Xcaret, an eco activity/theme park.There are several eco parks on the Riviera maya, I chose Xcaret as there are lots of land based activites to occupy us - animals, butterflies shows etc if the boys and DH didn't enjoy the snorkelling.They also do an evening show which I've read is 'worth the price of entrance alone'
So after breakfast - pastry, toast, juice, coffee, we walk up 5th to the taxis. Taxis here are mainly unmetered, instead they work on set rates for zones, you ask the rate before you get in the cab, and that is what you pay - many don't expect tips,and they often have to drive through taxi check points on the way to where ever they are taking you. Just what they are checking for we never worked out , maybe that they are taxi drivers or that they are charging the correct rate ? I don't know. Many of the taxis look a bit worse for wear, but we were always driven safely and the drivers were pleasant.
We arrived at Xcaret and paid for 'plus admission' rather expensive at 1300 pesos each ( about £65) child prices go by height, so we paid for 4 adults this price included hire of lockers, towels, snorkel equipment and buffet lunch.We were given a map , and hurried , confusing instructions in broken English.

Xcaret from the viewing tower


Playa Del carmen in the distance, see all the jungle ?

I'd read all the reviews on Xcaret and knew in what order I wanted to do the activities, BUT the staff had other ideas, we were all herded to the underground river area where they were handing out the snorkelling equipment, I'd read that the underground river is no good for snorkelling as there are no fish to see, but it was difficult to see how to move away from the crowd. Everything we wanted to keep with us in the park was placed into lockable duffle bags, and they transport these down to the end of the river for you, so you really have no choice but to jump in and follow



It wasn't particularly enjoyable, it was so crowded you kept getting flippers in your face, DH decided in 2 mins that it wasn't for him and tried to make for the exit, not to be seen again until we got to the end of the river( apparently he'd been caught up in the crowd and had been sort of bobbed and dragged to the end )and they were right, there were no fish to see until the very end. Needless to say, the boys weren't eager to try snorkelling in the other areas of the park, and anyway, the staff took our equipment off us as soon as we exited the river - I was under the impression we could keep it all day. I was ok as I had my own prescription mask and snorkel, I found a nearby inlet with a few small fish and spent 10 mins snorkelling there while the boys chilled in hammocks, but it was all a bit disappointing.





We went to get our lunch and realised I'd locked our locker vouchers in the locker back at the entrance ( no-one had told me I'd need them later ) so we had to carry all our stuff around with us, lunch was very good though, best part of the day even though we were sat by an out of tune percussion band- can percussion instruments be out of tune ? they certainly sounded like they were.

We then went off to find some animals, but they were all asleep out of view in the shade. Right, butterfly house then, we saw some gorgeous butterflies in Mexico, but I was never able to get close enough to take photos, the butterfly house was no different, they were all camera shy.
The boys wanted to go play on the beach area ( yeah, we paid £65 each to play on a beach ! ) they spent an hour or two bobbing around in tubes, then it was time to catch one of the shows, except the clocks had gone forward that morning and my watch hadn't - though I swear I had checked the time on the tv that morning and it matched my watch - maybe they don't put them forward in the early hours, maybe they change them at midday or something daft, anyway, we missed the equestrian show, but luckily realised our mistake in time for the big evening show.


As we entered the stadium we were given candles in little paper holders, these were later lit and looked very pretty, if somewhat dangerous in a thatched roof arena- health and safety would have a field day in Mexico , their attitude is you are responsible for your own safety( thank goodness)




The first part of the show was very good, the Mayan ball game was demonstrated and then something that looked like hockey was played with a flaming ball, it probably had a mayan name , but as the commentary was in Spanish we just had to follow best we could.
There was an interval, then it changed to folk dances and music, I think they were working their way through the centuries- after the 2nd century ( and it certainly felt like we'd been there 2 centuries) we'd had enough and left.

We'd intended to leave early to beat the queue for taxis, but as it was , we got back to Playa about an hour earlier than we intended. As the boys had missed their Easter eggs yesterday, I'd promised them we'd visit Ah! cocoa, a chocolate themed cafe that again got rave reviews. The boys had hot chocolates with pretty designs drawn in the cream, I had a delicious shake and we all had brownies,It was only ok, but then it was mainly Americans who'd written the reviews, so I guess any chocolate is an improvement on theirs.


We had a meal on the way back to the hotel- the restaurant chosen by DH and DS just because it had a large tv screen showing football , the meal was good though,and my mood helped by another margarita or 2.
Tomorrow we leave Playa and head inland.

[Farcry66]

I enjoyed Xcaret when we went although I'd forgetten how expensive it was - mind you, I'm fairly sure the souviners from there we quite cheap - in fact I just put up a bamboo wind chime I got from there in my new pagoda. Did you go to Xel-ha? I enjoyed it 100% more than xcaret

[pepsicube]

Sounds like a nice day, but a bit pricey!

[DIBBadmin]

This thread has been automatically closed as it has not been posted on in 365 days.