Cancun - Day 3
On Thursday we headed to Xcaret for the day. We climbed aboard another tour bus for the hour and a half drive south of Cancun. Xcaret (the x is pronounced like a combination of ch and ish) is sort of a hard place to explain, but basically it is like a zoo, aquarium, water park, theme park type thing that also happens to be built on an archaeological site.
We decided to spend the morning doing the dry activities, then change and do the water stuff in the afternoon. We walked around the aquarium first, then headed on to see all the sea turtles they are breeding for reintroduction. They had a ton of little turtles and then a huge enclosure where some really big turtles were. After the turtles, we moved on to the animals. They had some big cats, macaws, pink flamingos, and spider monkeys.
We also checked out the Xcaret Mayan ruins which were really fairly small and, after Chichen-Itza, not that impressive. We also wandered around their butterfly enclosure which was really impressive, and checked our their orchid and mushroom breeding centers. After that, we took a little boat trip down one of the rivers that flows through the park which was really relaxing (and a nice rest for our feet).
After the boat trip, we ate some lunch, changed our clothes and headed for the water fun. We started with snorkeling in the underground river. It was a big cave with a small river running through it from one end of the park to the other. For the most part there wasn't too much in the way of fish in there. In some of the more open and well lit parts (they had holes dug above to let light in now and then) there were some more fish. We were required to wear life vests and for the most part we sort of just floated along with the current.
After the underground river, we went over to a little inlet of the ocean they had in the park that was good for snorkeling. In that section we saw tons and tons of fish. The coolest fish was an incredibly bright colored parrot fish I saw munching some coral. The sound of it eating the coral was really crazy. It sounded like someone crunching ice cubes. Way cool!
After all that we were totally exhausted and hung out in some beach chairs watching the pelicans and seagulls before we had to change for dinner and the night show.
The night show consisted of a re-enactment of a Mayan ball game which was sort of cool. They also played a floor hockey type game with a flaming ball. They played it barefoot which was impressive! The first half with a bunch of Mayan stuff was really interesting. The second half of the show went on a little long with Mexican music and dancing. It was really good, to a point, but it got a little old after a bit.
When the show was over, we climbed aboard the bus and slept all the way back to Cancun.
Click here for Day 4.
We decided to spend the morning doing the dry activities, then change and do the water stuff in the afternoon. We walked around the aquarium first, then headed on to see all the sea turtles they are breeding for reintroduction. They had a ton of little turtles and then a huge enclosure where some really big turtles were. After the turtles, we moved on to the animals. They had some big cats, macaws, pink flamingos, and spider monkeys.
We also checked out the Xcaret Mayan ruins which were really fairly small and, after Chichen-Itza, not that impressive. We also wandered around their butterfly enclosure which was really impressive, and checked our their orchid and mushroom breeding centers. After that, we took a little boat trip down one of the rivers that flows through the park which was really relaxing (and a nice rest for our feet).
After the boat trip, we ate some lunch, changed our clothes and headed for the water fun. We started with snorkeling in the underground river. It was a big cave with a small river running through it from one end of the park to the other. For the most part there wasn't too much in the way of fish in there. In some of the more open and well lit parts (they had holes dug above to let light in now and then) there were some more fish. We were required to wear life vests and for the most part we sort of just floated along with the current.
After the underground river, we went over to a little inlet of the ocean they had in the park that was good for snorkeling. In that section we saw tons and tons of fish. The coolest fish was an incredibly bright colored parrot fish I saw munching some coral. The sound of it eating the coral was really crazy. It sounded like someone crunching ice cubes. Way cool!
After all that we were totally exhausted and hung out in some beach chairs watching the pelicans and seagulls before we had to change for dinner and the night show.
The night show consisted of a re-enactment of a Mayan ball game which was sort of cool. They also played a floor hockey type game with a flaming ball. They played it barefoot which was impressive! The first half with a bunch of Mayan stuff was really interesting. The second half of the show went on a little long with Mexican music and dancing. It was really good, to a point, but it got a little old after a bit.
When the show was over, we climbed aboard the bus and slept all the way back to Cancun.
Click here for Day 4.
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