Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Xcaret, Cancun, Mexico

Today, we took the shuttle from Barcelo Maya Palace Deluxe Hotel in Riviera Maya to Xcaret eco-park in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

According to Wikipedia:
Xcaret is a Maya civilization archaeological site located on the Caribbean coastline of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the modern-day state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. The site was occupied by thepre-Columbian Maya and functioned as a port for navigation and an important Maya trading center. Some of the site's original structures are contained within a modern-day tourism development, the privately owned Xcaret Eco Park.
Xcaret means "small inlet" in Mayan.[2] Its name comes from its situation next to a small inlet that in the past served as a strategic location for navigation and commerce for the Maya. The original name of the site was p'ole', from the root p'ol that means "merchandise" or "deal of merchants", which gives an idea of the economical relevance of the site. 


According to our guidebook, the Butterfly Pavilion should be viewed early in the morning, so we decided to head there. While on the way there, we got lost and ended up in the Mayan Village. There were many caves, streams, and rocks with few signs of where to go next.


There are a few narrow underground rivers for snorkeling.



We also saw several colorful parrots and underground animals, mostly raccoons. Inna even saw a small snake (but I missed it).





There are some traditional Mayan burial places with skulls and skeletons lying around. Just charming. Not!


And here is a picture of the Mayan Village from the outside.



Is this skeleton's face supposed to frighten me?


A few of the snorkelers were swimming nearby.



From the Mayan Village, we ran right into the Mexican Cemetery. It looked a lot happier than I expected. Mexicans view death as a transition into a more comfortable afterlife.


I can't say I enjoyed going to a cemetery until this one.


Yes, this is still a cemetery and not an art museum.



This Mexican Cemetery features 7 levels (one for each day of the week) and 365 plots (one for each day of the year). It's pretty elaborate.



From the cemetery, we walked to the St. Francis of Assisi Chapel. It's an outdoor chapel made out of wood.


As we neared the Butterfly Pavilion, we ran into Jaguar Island, where large cats roam.


Good little kitty.




Eventually, we made it to the Butterfly Pavilion. It was adorable, we saw many hundreds of butterflies.




There are lots of butterflies flying around.










Here is a short video of various butterflies in the Butterfly Pavilion.



After visiting the Butterfly Pavilion, we walked back to our lockers. On the way there, we ran into the Stained Glass Plaza and some fascinating cenotes.



While we walked to our lockers, we ran into a few fascinating animals, including iguanas, tapirs, pink flamingos, raccoons, and spider monkeys.

We saw so many iguanas that we no longer paid attention to them. They were everywhere.


Here is a hungry Tapir. We saw a few being fed.




The raccoon was excited to see people around. However, he was quickly bored when he saw that we did not bring food.


The spider monkeys were relatively fast climbers and seemed human-like.




There were also ancient Mayan Ruins all around. I don't know what these buildings were supposed to be during Mayan times.





We stowed our bags and picked up our snorkeling gear. There are two branches to the underground river at Xcaret, and we snorkeled both branches.





There were many different cenotes and caverns to explore. There were also some brightly colored fish to see.


There are some exciting mangroves to explore here.



The underground river looks treacherous in places but is really safe and not very deep at all.




With an outlook to the Caribbean Sea, the beach was at the river's end. We decided to take a short break and rest.


Alex and Inna enjoyed the cool shade and swinging in the hammocks.



There is a neat sign with directions to most countries and cities worldwide.


The Beach of Xcaret - overlooking the Caribbean Sea - has some water holes where geysers shoot up. During heavy seas, the spray can be seen going up relatively high.


After swimming on both branches of the underground river, we decided to get lunch at the "La Cocina" Mexican restaurant that was recommended by our bus driver. The food there was the best Mexican we've ever had (despite being a buffet). All of the food was freshly prepared and delicious! It was definitely one of the highlights of Xcaret.







After lunch, we walked back to the Orchid Pavilion. A few flowers were in bloom, so we were a bit disappointed.





Afterward, we decided to see the famous Papantla Flying Men - a Mayan troop flying around a pole to ask the sun god for rain and a good harvest. Their performance started at 3:00 p.m., and we sat on the benches.







Afterward, we went to lounge around the beach. Alex decided to try rafting on a small ocean inlet.


He then climbed all over the canoes.


We spent the rest of our day lounging and resting on the beach.




Our Xcaret Espectacular show was scheduled for 7:00 p.m. We changed our clothes and hurried to dinner. The dinner was not very good, and the service was prolonged. I would not purchase the dinner again.

The building housing the show is quite lovely and has waterfalls.


The show was not bad overall. There were over 300 performers with elaborate costumes.




The first part of the show tells of ancient Mayans, their ball game, and the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors.

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After the intermission, the show's second part illustrates various Mexican federated states.







When the show ended around 9:00 p.m., we returned to our bus for our short ride to Barcelo Maya Palace. We had a great day at Xcaret and hope to be back.

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