I Fought The Lawn

Friday March 31st, 2006

We were up at 8am and eating at La Brisa. Early in the week, I admit I was sometimes bored: sitting on a lounger by the pool wasn’t really my thing. By now, I was totally into relaxation mode, and not wanting to go home at all. After breakfast with Ron and Chris, we walked to that marina I mentioned in Puerto Aventuras, just five minutes away. We’d bought a half-day pass to Xcaret and weren’t due to go until 3pm, so we had time to kill. The marina was really nice, and Tania bought a charm bracelet while I picked up a silver ring with the Mayan calendar in it. At the marina here, we watched as people swam with dolphins – I’d definitely save money for that next time – and snapped some pictures of seals and manatees that they had swimming in big, natural-looking tanks. We made it back to the hotel by 12, and spent the next hour or so swimming.

After lunch at the Bamboleo (it served burgers and fries that were somewhat acceptable, and thus was better than the buffets), we caught our cab to Xcaret and made it there by 3pm.

Xcaret is incredible. It’s part eco-park and part zoo, and the animals, while separated from you, are kept not in tanks and cages but big natural areas. Black panthers and leopards were close to us with only a big, deep gap separating us, and we’d often walk over giant turtles or nurse sharks below with only a wooden railing separating us – or nothing at all. Tania commented that Mexican’s must really trust their kids, because brother, one false slip at Xcaret and you’re in the crocodile pit. They’d carved this place out of the landscape, and one could swim the length of it in an underground river or lounge on their rocky beach if one wanted. We walked it all, seeing all the animals we don’t see at home, and came quickly to a real highlight: the butterfly preserve.

The Xcaret butterfly preserve is a huge jungle-like area that’s covered in a massive white sheet to keep the butterflies in. There’s a natural waterfall there, and once you start looking for the butterflies you see them everywhere. At one point I simply held out my arm for around five seconds, and a butterfly landed on it. Unfortunately, I was holding the camera, so the picture wasn’t happening, but lots of other folks took shots before it flew off. It was a wonderful place.

Later we watched a Mayan ritual dance take place in the ruins there before walking into a Catholic cemetery. The cemetery was built on a hill, and there were passages underneath lined with statues of … well, saints or something, I suppose. Directly underneath it was a massive cross with hundreds of candles in a well, and it was quite a sight to see. I almost stepped on a small, jet-black snake inside before it was over.

From there, we watched a Mayan game take place in a re-creation of the arena we saw in Coba. The players don’t seem to use their hands or feet, but rather their hips, as they try to get a ball through one of two hoops on either side of the arena. Later, they employed flaming balls and clubs like hockey sticks as part of the game. It was an interesting sight to see, and when it was over we went to Xcaret’s amphitheatre to watch the rest of the show: a musical and dancing event performed by people from all over Mexico, showing off the various dances of the different cultures. The whole thing was an experience and a half, and I was pretty baked when we took a cab back to the hotel at 8:45. Dinner at El Mercado was actually good, which was surprising, and then it was something of an early night.