We had made the decision early in the week not to discuss how much time was left in our vacation at any point, so I won’t mention it here either, save to say that we were all probably feeling it pretty keenly today.

We were all down at the breakfast table by 8:30am this morning and had another great buffet meal. Many of the staff have clearly gotten to know us and their banter is fun. The prep staff has been on their game all week and we’ve enjoyed everything we’ve had so far.

We all came downstairs with our gear for the day, which mostly consisted of towels and swimsuits, sunscreen (we’ve had to purchase, having been through all three bottles of spray we brought with us), cameras, etc. We then hiked out the road and were about to be descended upon by taxi drivers when a collectivo arrived, happily with enough room for all of us. We were whisked down the highway toward Playa del Carment again, stopping as we approached Xcaret park.

Xcaret is a kind of “Mexico-land themed” eco-archeological tourist attraction. It’s a large park with many different habitats, recreation areas, and restaurants. We were able to get through the admission pretty quickly, and then found a shady spot to read the map and see where we thought we’d like to go.

Among the highlights:

We started out at the Scenic Tower at one corner of the park and went 80 meters up and had a good look around the park and much of the surrounding country-side. Not surprisingly, it’s pretty uniform and VERY flat. Back at Chichen Itza our guide told us that most of the landscape featured trees that only grew to about 6-7 meters or so because the Yucatan topsoil is relatively shallow before hitting bedrock. We could see the fantastic variety of blue colours of the Caribbean and the long sandy beaches, several development projects and a few large ocean liners from our vantage point.

The aviary was naturally very impressive with its fantastically coloured variety of macaws, parrots, flamingos, puffins, and other species (one king vulture was particularly imposing). With the exception of a very few birds, most were free to fly wherever they pleased – though clearly this is where the free food was being doled out.

Also spectacular was the butterfly sanctuary where many species of brightly coloured insects flitted about open bowls of fruit, flowers and coloured clothing. Although there were no obvious examples on display it occurred to me that, after living most of my childhood at the northern end of the Monarch butterfly migration path, I was now at it’s southern extreme.

A large portion of the park was set aside for the jaguars and pumas who were out for an afternoon stroll as we went by. In other parts of the park we saw native deer and a large tapir. A large water park featured manatees, rays, and other fish. And running through the bushes we saw any number of coatimundis as they climbed, chased each other, and warily crossed the road in front of us.

And iguanas – these were everywhere in the park and Mimi made a game of counting them, easily passing 30 over the course of the day, in a variety of sizes and colours. Most were quite content to just sit and bask along the paved paths or blend into the trees, but occasionally one would scurry down a route along side us, and one even fell off of a building’s roof, narrowly missing me, and appearing to be completely unfazed by the drop as he carried on his way.

We also saw a large cemetary which I found quite confusing as it was built along a tiered hillside and featured extremely elaborate appointments ranging from madonnas and figurines through wheelbarrows, ceramic Michelin tires, and Coronna bottle caps. The promotional material notes “where ancestors are remembered with respect, but also with hints of humor and the typical Mexican mischief. There’s a link with the Day of the Dead here, but I felt like I was missing the “wink” that the display suggested.

Other parts of the park were made to represent a colonial Mexico between the Spanish conquest and the Revolution, with different areas done up to show how the society stratified, and what some of the traditional roles of different groups would be. Yet other areas were done with a focus on more indigenous groups, including the Maya. In fact, we were about to get a presentation on the Maya late in the afternoon, which was to be highly performative, when the skies suddenly opened up and we found ourselves stranded in the middle of the park in a downpour!

Before this, though, we also enjoyed a lunch on the beach. Being yet another warm day, it seemed obvious to find the adirondack chairs and see what was on the menu. We enjoyed steak on a bun and a round of drinks and soaked up the sun for awhile. A little later in the day we also relaxed in a large section of the park set aside for hammocks and a very large beach chair – all four Sutherlands fit! Ross quite enjoyed the hammock and feeling a bit low in energy, decided to spend a part of the afternoon here to recharge. The rest of us wandered of for about an hour and found him ready to go when we came back.

When the rain hit we walked briskly back to the main entrance to the park for shelter. The weather (and the water!) were warm enough, but it was coming down quickly and we were getting soaked. We joined the park’s many other visitors in the extensive souvenir section and picked up various snacks to tie us over to dinner. We also found a novel mine exhibit in the centre that took you through underground tunnels to see a representation of a silver mining operation.

The rain was letting up by the time we decided to head toward the Grand Tlachico performance pavilion just after 6pm for the evening’s main attraction: the Xcaret Mexico Espectacular! The pavilion is a large venue designed for a highly produced two hour live musical show. There were two main parts:

For the first half the show was structured around a historical interpretation of the Mexican people from indigenous culture through the Spanish conquest, Revolution, and up to modern times. At various points the stage was made up as a Mayan ball court, and then a fire hockey game, and later a re-enactment of the early contact between the Mexicans and the conquistadors, Franciscans and other Spanish arrivals. It was nicely choreographed and very well enacted, and interesting to see how the political interpretation was integrated to avoid painting simple “good” and “evil” sides to the conflicts being represented.

The second half of the show was simply structured and beautifully produced to show the different musical traditions in song, dance and performance from several Mexican states. Everything was meticulously produced and very professionally executed, showing off a rich cultural heritage and a very talented troupe (over 300 performers) for a wonderfully impressive show.

The performance wrapped up near 9pm in a climax of light, dance, and song with many musicians on the floor, and streamers and macaws being released into the air. The crowd responded enthusiastically as it clearly played to national pride and did so with a lot of spectacle.

We left the show quickly, anticipating a crush leaving the park, and were able to secure a taxi-van after a short line in the parking lot. Although considerably more expensive than the collectivo (which had stopped running by this time), we did get back to the resort in under half an hour.

This was just enough time to hit the buffet for dinner! Happily for us, it remains open until 10:30pm so we were still able to get a good meal in at the end of the day. After eating, we moved from the buffet to the Lobby Bar and heard the end of the combo’s set, had a couple of drinks while we reflected on our day and what we might do with the time we have tomorrow, and then headed for bed.