{"id":238,"date":"2015-03-27T22:11:16","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T05:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mexico.robinsutherland.ca\/?p=238"},"modified":"2015-03-29T23:31:23","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T06:31:23","slug":"xcaret-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mexico.robinsutherland.ca\/?p=238","title":{"rendered":"Day 7 – Xcaret experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t mention it here either, save to say that we were all probably feeling it pretty keenly today.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0to know us and their banter is fun. The prep staff has been on their game all week and we\u2019ve enjoyed everything we\u2019ve had so far.<\/p>\n

We all came downstairs with our gear for the day, which mostly consisted of towels and swimsuits, sunscreen (we\u2019ve 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\u00a0descended\u00a0upon 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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Imagine<\/a>

Imagine our city buses like this!<\/p><\/div>\n

Xcaret is a kind of “Mexico-land themed\u201d eco-archeological\u00a0tourist attraction. It\u2019s a large park with many different habitats, recreation areas, and restaurants. We were able to get through\u00a0the admission pretty quickly, and then found a shady spot to read the\u00a0map and see where we thought we\u2019d like to go.<\/p>\n

Among the highlights:<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u00a0and the long sandy beaches, several development projects and a few large ocean liners from our vantage point.<\/p>\n

\"So,<\/a>

So, how’s your day been?<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00a0clearly this is where the free food was being doled out.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s southern extreme.<\/p>\n

A large portion of the park was set aside for the jaguars and pumas who\u00a0were out\u00a0for an afternoon stroll as we went by. In other parts of the park we saw native deer\u00a0and a large tapir.\u00a0A large water\u00a0park 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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0variety 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\u2019s roof, narrowly missing me, and appearing to be completely unfazed by the drop as he carried on his way.<\/p>\n

\"Not<\/a>

Not quite dead?<\/p><\/div>\n

We also saw a large\u00a0cemetary 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\u2019s a link with the Day of the Dead here, but I felt like I was missing the \u201cwink\u201d that the display suggested.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

\"Reflecting<\/a>

Reflecting on the trip so far – zzzzz…<\/p><\/div>\n

Before this, though, we also enjoyed a lunch on the beach. Being yet another warm day, it seemed obvious to find the\u00a0adirondack\u00a0chairs 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s many\u00a0other visitors in the extensive souvenir section\u00a0and 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\u00a0representation of a silver mining operation.<\/p>\n\n\t\t