Hidden Worlds - Highly Recommended

Ever since I read about Hidden Worlds in December I have wanted to go.    Gerry is claustrophobic and with his pain disorder cannot go in cold water, so cenotes are not for him. 

 Our son Adrian, daughter-in-law Morgan, and grandson Trent all said they wanted to go, so I have been waiting for them to arrive to experience this delightful place. 

They arrived on Friday Feb. 8th, we went on Saturday Feb. 9th.   They picked that day because the visit from our granddaughter Maddy overlapped with theirs and she was interested in this excursion as well.

It was worth every second of the wait.   We had researched different excursions for a physical interaction/adventure with Mayan culture and nature.  Xplore was it's number one contender and seemed like it would be fun, but is not authentic.    We are very happy with our choice.     

http://www.rainforestadventure.com/hidden_worlds_mexico/

We began our exploration with a Mayan limo ride to the perfect cenote  through the jungle. 

Here is  Maddy .....this is what she has to say about Hidden Worlds

"I had an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G time! They were the best zip lining activities I have ever done! The zipcoaster was my favourite by far! They had so many different kinds of zip lining. The cycling was very interesting, also a really good work out. Our guides made the experience ten times better. They were so funny and friendly! Almario was an excellent limo driver & gave the best  massages in the entire world. haha"

Here is Trent, and this is what he has to say about Hidden Worlds

"Everyone had a blast! The staff was sooooo friendly and all of the activities were great! Doing everything is HIGHLY recommended."

That's Adrian.  He had nothing but praise, and will be adding his two cents to this blog later.    

 Morgan has this to say about Hidden Worlds

"This experience will go down as one of the best of our lives I'm sure. The staff of Hidden Worlds were all friendly and helpful every step of the way. Our guide Armilo was hilarious, friendly and knowledgeable. He made us feel safe and comfortable despite the terrifying activities we were undertaking. My favourite part was snorkeling in the cave of the cenote. It was really neat to see the root of the Alamo tree dangling down and drinking the water. I can not speak highly enough of this experience. If you are in the Mayan Rivera it is a must. Skip the big corporation run zip lining parks and head straight to the Mayan run Hidden Worlds. I guarantee you will have an amazing time." 

The first experience was zipling frontwards down and into this beautiful  and dark cenote.   You weren't quite sure when you were going to hit the water.    Next, they sent everyone down backwards into it.   

EEEEEEEEHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!   SPLASH.   So refreshing.

The second experience was repelling down through another hole in the ground, which led to the same cenote. Trent was brave and went first..he's .looking just a little trepidatious.

Armelo was up to his tricks...convincing Morgan there was an equipment problem and he was going to cut her loose!  

 Maddy couldn't be happier. 

Anyone who knows Adrian, knows that he never poses for a picture.   He was having so much fun he not only didn't mind the camera pointed in his direction, he even encouraged it.

Hidden Worlds boasts the worlds only zipcoaster through the jungle, into a water slide, with a splashdown into the depths of cenote.  I would not be surprised if there is nothing like this anywhere.  

The water rushes out of Mayan water slide as the zipcoaster crashes through it. 

You can't help but be humbled looking at the approximately 450 million year old formations.

Snorkeling through the caves which are a part of Dos Ojos cavern system, was the perfect activity for me.   

The Alamo tree roots hang down from the ceiling just barely touching the water.   It is surprising how many little fish are swimming around in the darkness as you navigate around the stalagmites.    Shining the flashlight on the ceiling uncovers stalactites and bats.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_Dos_Ojos

The next adventure has you in a hanging bicycle for 500 meters above the jungle,   

then another 500 meters through the caves.   

They teased Maddy about being "Mayan sized" as they had to put a second cushion in her bicycle so she could reach the peddles.

Adrian is taller than the average Mayan at 6' 3" and had to scrunch up a bit to fit into the cycle, but as you can see from the smile on his face, it didn't take away from the amazing experience one bit. 

We were treated to a delightful meal before they loaded us back into the limo for the final leg of the adventure through the jungle back to the parking lot.    

If you are ever in the Mayan Riviera you must drop in to Hidden Worlds for an adventure you will never forget.    On the 307, north of Tulum, south of Chemuyil you will find yourself a place of wonder and delight.

Last day in Xpu Ha

It's hard to believe we are leaving Xpu Ha in the morning.   We sure are going to miss the people here.

We did a lot of walking today, at least two lengths of the beach and we went south along the rocky shore to see what there was to see.   After walking for an hour, we were almost out of water, so we turned around and came back.    

Maddy found her first deer eye!   She was quite pleased with herself.

She even did a little dance.

We came across a little ruin.   I will have to try to do some research on this to find out more about it.

There was a guard posted, so we couldn't enter the site from the beach.    

   On the way out we walked closer to the jungle and on the way back we stuck closer to the shoreline.  Wecame across this little oasis.   Beautiful resting spot.

A group of us went out for dinner tonight.  It was a great way to spend the last night with our friends.   I have driven past this restaurant many times and keep saying that I wanted to try it.  

It was quite delightful.   It is set back in a garden area.

Left to right we have Elaine, John, Peggy, Helen, Paul, Shirley, Rob, Gerry and Maddy.   I don't know where Reed disappeared to, and of course I am taking the picture.

This is John getting a big kiss from a statue of an Iguana.   I'm not sure what he was trying to accomplish with his tongue hanging out like that....   

Everyone seemed to love the napkin holders.   The guys all think they can cut a conch shell with a tile cutter.  

Dinner was delicious.   Gerry had the mango shrimp, Maddy had the quesadillas and I had the regional dish Yucatan Chicken.

Albert gets his day

Albert has been waiting a very long time to get his door fixed.  Today, I took him in to the Mercedes Dealership in Cancun.   They finally got the part in from Germany. 

I had to go back and find the blog for the day his door latch broke.  It was November 5th...only 6 days into our journey.   We had made such great time until then.  Here is the blog entry. 

http://turtleondowntheroad.blogspot.mx/2012/11/galvaston-ferry-and-bayside-rv.html

    Kinichna, January 29th 2013. 

The total number of days between Monday, November 5th, 2012 and Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 is 93 days.

This is equal to exactly 3 months and 1 day.

This does not include the end date, so it's accurate if you're measuring your age in days, or the total days between the start and end date. But if you want the duration of an event that includes both the starting date and the ending date, then it would actually be 94 days.

93 days is equal to 13 weeks and 2 days.

The total time span from 2012-11-05 to 2013-02-06 is 2,232 hours.

This is equivalent to 133,920 minutes.

You can also convert 93 days to 8,035,200 seconds.

Today is 2/6/2013 and 11/5/2012 is exactly 93 days before today.

Maddy woke up not feeling well today.   Gerry had a migraine.   Albert's appointment is not until tomorrow morning, but I decided why waste a wasted day?    After dropping Albert off in Cancun I took 2 collectivo's (minivan buses) back to Xpu Ha.   It was the first time I had taken public transportation on this coast and it was surprisingly easy.    The first leg took me to Playa del Carmen for 30 pesos, the second leg took me to Xpu Ha for another 30 pesos.  All told that is less than $5.00 to go 100 kilometers.    It is significantly cheaper to ride the collectivo on the west coast and in central Mexico.  

I met a woman from Barcelona on the second collectivo.   She has never done the Camino de Santiago, but said she knows many who have.  Of all the people she knows, not one of them was sorry they did it, not one said they would never do it again, and most of them want to do it again and again.   I have heard that the Camino gets into your system, and it is very hard to let it go.       

Keeping up with Maddy, Day 3 & 4

Last night I was just too darned tired to blog.   Maddy kept us busy with several walks on the beach, a walk through the deserted resort, snorkeling and a trip to Playa Del Carmen.  

Gerry just scared the bejeezus out of Maddy as she was hiding beside the doorway waiting for me to come through so she could jump out and scare me.   I walked out a completely different doorway and foiled her evil plot! 

 They grow their spiders big and very pretty down here.

 

I don't know what kind of bird this is.  It has a beautiful tail.

Yet another beautiful plant that I have no idea what it is called.   

As the waves come crashing in, they fill the air pockets below the rocks and air comes rushing out of the fissures.  The blow holes are loud and Maddy was amazed that she could feel it.  I was hoping water would come spouting out at her (it does when the water is rough).   Oh well, maybe next time.  :)   

On one of the walks along the beach we saw our friend John heading out for one of his many kayak trips. 

 By the time the day came to an end yesterday, I was flat on back.   All I wanted to do today was snorkel because the only time my back feels pretty good is when I am in the water.

We snorkeled from shore at Akumal beach..  The viz wasn't great, but we saw a few turtles and a couple of rays.   Maddy liked Yal Ha better than snorkeling from shore because there was a lot more fish to see.    Afterward we went to Lucy's for lunch. Maddy felt that it is only fair to put a picture of me eating on the blog, since the other day I put a picture of her sleeping on the blog.  I had one shrimp taco and one fish taco.  The shrimp taco was delicious.    The fish taco was good, but I still prefer the ones in Sayulita.      

Akumal is crazy expensive.   Maddy has wanted some Sun Chips since she saw them in Akumal the other day.   I almost had the big one when they rang it up.  75 pesos!!!  I had 20 pesos in my hand, and had to ask her to repeat the cost.  I couldn't believe my ears.   Here it is....a $6.00 bag of chips.    It actually made the 110 peso hamburger seem reasonable.     

        

 When we got back to Myrtle I rested up for a couple of hours, then Maddy and I went out on our beach for another snorkel.   She was enthralled by a little bluehead Thalassoma bifasciatum much like this one.  I didn't take this picture, I found it on the internet.  One day I am going to have to invest in an underwater camera.

Yal Ku

Maddy was up with the birds this morning and took the camera with her for a walk on the beach.

Several people around here have told me that they have seen a one legged bird on the beach.   

Once I finally got my butt in gear I joined Maddy and Gerry for a second walk on the beach.    Maddy is looking at something....what is this?

By golly it is a pipefish, a cousin of the seahorse.  Maddy and Gerry insisted it was some kind of fish.   It was very small.  I thought it was seaweed until I uploaded the picture.    

Yal Ku is a ground level Cenote in Akumal.   The entrance fee is 150 pesos, they give you a wrist band and you can come and go until 5:00 p.m.      Helen, Rob, Shirley, Maddy and I headed over for a snorkel at 10:00 a.m.    The sea life was beautiful.    We saw barracuda, parrot fish, sergeant majors, blue tang, yellow tang, needle fish, and more.    It started to rain and we were all getting cold so we cut the snorkeling a bit short.   By the time we were out of the water, out of our snorkeling gear and in the car, the rain had stopped.

After snorkeling we stayed in Akumal for lunch, a bit of shopping and headed to Lucy's for homemade ice cream.   After we got back to Xpu Ha, Maddy and I decided to go back for another quick snorkel.   

 In the meantime, the winds had come up, causing a current that churned up the bottom of the cenote, the visibility had reduced to about 8 inches.    We snorkeled blind, against the current, out into a little inlet of ocean water where the water was clear.   There were no fish there, so we headed back again.   We didn't see much, but I'm pretty sure we worked off lunch and ice cream.   

We took off our snorkeling gear and took a little walk around the grounds.   It is beautiful.  They have several sculptures set back along pathways through gardens.   If you want to see more pictures of the sculptures, check out my facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151459513402464.538863.587442463&type=1&ref=notif&notif_t=like  

     

On the other side of the gardens the path comes out onto the cenote.   This little fellow looked up at us.   We realized that the current had not churned up the water all the way back here, so we grabbed our snorkels and jumped back in.   By that time, we only had 10 minutes before it closed.  

When we got back to Xpu Ha, Maddy took another walk along the beach.   Xpu Ha is 1 1/2 miles long, so a walk from one end to the other and back again is a 3 mile hike.   Maddy walked the beach 3 times today. I do believe she is already in training to walk the Camino de Santiago.     

Maddy

Our eldest granddaughter Maddy arrived today for a 10 day visit.    Gerry went to Cancun to pick her up for 12:35 p.m., and the two of them turtled  back into Xpu Ha at about 2:30 p.m.  

On the drive back from the airport, Gerry told Maddy all about the Camino de Santiago walk.   An 800 kilometer walk that  begins in France and ends in Spain.    The two of them are talking about taking two months and doing it  together in the summer.   They are both dead serious.  I think it is a wonderful idea, I wonder what Maddy's mom thinks of it.  

Maddy has been up since about 4:30 a.m., so she was dead tired.   We took a walk on the beach, and it was Happy Hour by the time we got back to Mrytle.   Maddy got to meet the Xpu Ha gang.   I do believe she has the traveling bug. 

In an attempt to keep herself awake long enough for dinner, Maddy started tossing her volleyball around. 

It really didn't work very well.

9:15 p.m. and she is out like a light....didn't even change out of her clothes.   :)   

We watched The Way  so Maddy could see the Camino de Santiago, and now she wants to do it even more.   It's a great movie, with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estavez,  I highly recommend it.   Gerry has wanted to do the walk since we first watched the movie.    

http://www.caminoadventures.com/