Our time at Hostel Quetzal in Cancun was very short. We got only about four hours of sleep, and that wasn't very sound as music was once again blaring from the "beach bar" down the block. Apparently they were open all night long, because the music was still playing when we got up and left before it was light out on Saturday morning (7/21). We had hoped to see Monica Moray, the hostel's owner and "International Performance Artist" again, but our stay there was so short this time we missed her.
While we were checking out a taxi pulled up in front and a rather intoxicated young man got out and came inside. He announced that the cab driver had taken 20 minutes to get there, as he was driving around looking for prostitutes. "But I don't want to have sex with ugly prostitutes", he announced to us. "I want to have sex with pretty girls!" And I am sure the pretty girls are longing for him as well . . . As we were loading up the car, he came out and asked if we knew where there were any good strip clubs. I told The Doctor later we should have sent him to the Adonis resort in Tulum . . .
In the process of getting our things in the car I discovered I had lost my shoes somewhere along the way. I remembered carrying them in my hands when we left our room at Adonis the day before, but apparently I set them down somewhere between the room and the car, as they were now no where to be found. I just had my sandals.
We found the airport without too much trouble and stopped to return the car at the Budget rental office. The man came out and looked the car over and asked where the hub caps were. Both The Doctor and I were pretty certain there had been no hub caps on the car when we rented it, but the man showed us that the box had been checked off on the rental agreement stating that there were hub caps on the car when we took it. We both looked through the photos on our cameras, and The Doctor found one that he had taken shortly after we arrived at Hostel Quetzal on our very first day showing the car with no hub caps. Granted, this was a few hours and a stop at Walmart after we had rented the car, but at least it was something.
The man - who was simply doing his job - kept insisting he had to go by what was checked off on the agreement. I think it would have cost us about $75.00 to pay for the hub caps, and if it were me I would have just paid it and left. But The Doctor was holding firm, and the Budget guy wasn't going to back down either. He said he knew some cars on their lot didn't have hub caps, but he didn't know which ones, and he had to go by what was checked off on the agreement. He said his manager did know which cars were missing the hub caps, and she would be able to clear it up, but she wouldn't be in for another couple hours, which would be cutting it dangerously close to our flight. The Doctor asked him to call her at home. He was hesitant at first, but he finally called her. She told him he would have to check past agreements on our car to see what they said. These were kept in another office just across the lot, so he had to go there to look at them. When he came back he was beaming, and said we were all set. I am sure he was just as glad to resolve the situation as we where. I made sure to thank him for checking out the other forms, and The Doctor did also.
He drove us and two other people to the terminal. We checked in and went through security without any problems. The weight limit for checked bags was 50 lbs, and my steamer trunk came in at 48.5, just barely under the limit.
After we went through security, I went to the bathroom, and shortly discovered that I had managed to get Montezuma's revenge. It hit very suddenly, and once in the bathroom I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the toilet in time. Once everything was out of my system, I seemed to feel better, and I went out and ate a little breakfast with The Doctor. We stopped at the gift shop where The Doctor picked up a few more things and then we found our gate.
Our flight to Houston was thankfully uneventful. We made it through customs and immigration without any trouble, and then had to go through security again to get to our next gate. There they used one of the full body scanners, and as I came out a large black security guard told me he liked my look - my shaved head and goatee and pierced ears, etc. Then he promptly asked what I had in my pockets. I had taken everything out except for a bandanna in my back pocket, which I took out and showed him. He scanned me again, and then said he was going to have to pat me down. Some nice compliments AND a frisking! Who could ask for more? He didn't find anything and sent me on my way.
The Doctor was having his own problems with his carry on bag. Something suspicious had shown up in it, so they had to open it and look through it. He had a couple of wooden type percussion sticks, some kind of musical instrument he had picked up at the gift shop in the Cancun airport, and they had shown up on the x-ray machine. Once the security guard looked them over, he let him pass.
I had another episode of Montezuma's Revenge at the Houston airport. We had a six hour lay over there. The airport is named after the first President Bush, and that was the last place I wanted to spend six hours, but having gone through security already we were pretty much stuck there. After my trip to the bathroom, we went to the food court. I went to a Mexican place and ordered an enchilada plate. The girl at the counter promptly asked me if I was vegetarian, and when I said that I was she went on to explain that the enchiladas were OK, but the rice and beans were both prepared with meat. She said she would give me black beans instead of the re-fried beans. I don't know if she asks everyone the vegetarian question, but I appreciated her asking me.
The Doctor got something at a Chinese place, where he said he had more trouble communicating with the counter people than he had had anywhere in Mexico. There was some sort of confusion over the change that took forever and two people to figure out.
Shortly after I ate, I started feeling very cold. The Doctor is the one who is always cold, and he was fine, so I figured it might have something to do with the Montezuma's Revenge. I couldn't seem to warm up at all. I put my bandanna on my head to help retain a little body heat, and after awhile I took the Juego De Pelota beach towel out of my bag and used it as a throw to try to get warm. A woman from United Airlines walked by and saw me, and came over and asked "What are you wearing?" The towel was mostly a tan color and she thought it was a some kind of deer skin shammy with intricate art work on it. The Doctor was quite amused by this. I still had the chills, and I finally ended up going to the gift shop and buying a red sweat shirt that said HOUSTON on it.
When we got on the plane I was still cold so I dug out a pair of white athletic socks from my bag and put them on under my sandals. Not very fashionable, but it helped warm up my feet. I was in the middle seat, with The Doctor at the window and a woman to my left. It took some maneuvering to get the socks on, and I had to put my feet over on The Doctor's side to complete the task. The woman next to me told me I did a good job, and I told her I figured she would rather I do it on his side and not hers, for which she thanked me.
At the airport I read a little in my guide book about Traveler's Diarrhea, and I told The Doctor on the plane that the book said diarrhea could also be an indicator that I had cholera. He said what I had was hypochondria. I told him he should ask the guy who was in the stall next to me at the airport bathroom if HE thought I had hypochondria, as I was pretty sure he would agree that I most certainly did not.
Luckily I didn't have any Montezuma episodes on the plane, and we made it to Boston without any problems. We got off the plane and I claimed my steamer trunk, and The Doctor walked me to where I had to wait for the Knight's Limo van. We said our good-byes there, and he went off to wait for his ride.
The van came after several minutes. There was another couple on it who had just returned from Europe. They were headed in the opposite direction from my destination, so I was dropped off in Framingham and got on another van that took me home. When I got home and walked in the door, there were the sunglasses that I had bought for my trip sitting right where I had left them . . .
Montezuma's Revenge stayed with me for a few days, and I took my first day back off from work, just as a precaution as I wasn't sure how bad it might get and I didn't want to have to be running in and out of the courtroom every few minutes. Luckily it never got that severe.
A day or two after my return home, I discovered I had lost the USB cable for my new camera, which I needed to charge it and to download pictures to my computer. I was using it on the plane, so I must have lost it there. I was able to get a replacement for it at Staples. But for those who are keeping track, here is a list of What I Lost In Mexico:
4 pairs of sunglasses
1 pair of shoes
1 camera
1 USB cable for the new camera
My ankles
The ability to produce a hard, well formed stool.
Luckily the last two have returned.
And I've gone almost two weeks without having to buy a new pair of sunglasses . . .
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
XCARET
When I awoke on Saturday morning (7/21), I was horrified to discover I no longer had any ankles. Both my legs were swollen due to the severe sunburn to the point that there was no trace at all of either ankle, although it was much worse on my right leg. The Doctor - who was still having his own problems with swimmers' ear - said the swelling was most likely due to sun poisoning. As horrible as the swelling looked, thankfully there was no additional pain other than what would normally accompany a bad burn.
Our plan for the day had been to go to Xcaret Park, one of the local "eco-parks" that was on our way back to Cancun where we would be spending our final night in Mexico. The day before I was feeling so lousy because of the sunburn I had told The Doctor I didn't know if I would be up to going Xcaret or not. On Sat. however, I was feeling better, in spite of the swelling, so we went ahead with our plans.
We had breakfast first at Adonis' poolside cafe. Victoria was again our waitress. We had been a little unclear on the resort's tipping policy; since all meals and drinks were included in the stay, we weren't sure if we were supposed to be tipping the wait staff or not. The Doctor had asked about this the day before at the front desk, and the clerk said the wait staff didn't make a lot, and it was nice to tip if we felt it was appropriate. As this breakfast would be our last meal at Adonis, we planned to just hand both Victoria and Juan a nice tip for the service they had provided during the length of our stay. Juan had waited on us a lot more - both at the pool and at our evening meals in the restaurant - so we both agreed we should give him more than Victoria, but I still felt she should get more than what The Doctor seemed to think she deserved.
We were debating how much to give her when she came over to our table. The day before Victoria had told The Doctor it was one of her "quiet days" so she wouldn't be asking us any questions. Saturday apparently was not a quiet day, as she proceeded to ask us where we were from. She seemed surprised to learn we were from the U.S., and told The Doctor that he didn't have an American accent. She told him he both sounded and looked more European than American. She then went on to say that I DID look and sound like an American. The Doctor of course was flattered at being told he a European flair. I on the other hand was beginning to rethink my generous position on Victoria's tip . . . But of course, we did give both her and Juan what we considered to be a nice tip.
The Doctor told me a little about his night at the Adonis' club. At the pool the day before, Mark - the activities - director, had told me there would be a show at the club that night, and that I should come. I had turned in early, but The Doctor had gone on his own. He said the show was pretty awful. It was an attempt at a drag show put on by members of the staff, with no recognizable choreography and little of anything that could be called talent. Most of the costumes consisted of large feathered hats and g-strings, prompting me to say they must have found a box of costumes left behind by the opera company that had been at the resort when we arrived, giving someone the idea to "HEY! Let's put on a show!!!" Part of the performance had something to do with Snow White eating the poisoned apple, then being found by a dwarf who proceeded to eat the rest of the apple and fall down on top of Snow White. It pretty much ended there, with no "Love's True Kiss" to revive anyone. I was certainly glad I had opted to go to bed, though The Doctor said it was so bad he had almost come and got me to go see it.
After we ate, we went back to where we had seen the Leaf Cutter Ants the night before. I had found a little information about them in my guide book, and it said they consistently follow the same course for months if not years, and can wear down a path through the dirt and undergrowth. Sure enough, we were able to clearly see a well worn path where we had seen them the previous evening.
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The issue of me making the reservation for only one person had never been resolved, but when we checked out they told us it would only be an additional $140.00, which I didn't think was bad. I was expecting it might be close to double the original price, but that amount didn't even come close to that.
Xcaret was about 45 minutes from Adonis, and we found it without any trouble at all. The park is described as giving one a genuine taste of Mexico, both from a cultural and natural perspective - although my guidebook stated their ecological record was a little spotty. I have to say I was not overly impressed with it. I knew enough not to expect a Disney park, but still it didn't really give me much to be excited about, and I think The Doctor would more or less agree.
As soon as we arrived and bought our admission tickets (where I used up most of the balance of my Mexican Pesos), I wanted to go to the gift shop to look for a small bag. I had been using two sling bags which both had holes in them so I was using them one inside of the other so as not to lose the contents, but one of the holes was getting bigger so I decided it was time for a new one. I bought a nice small woven Mexican back pack style bag. Though colorful, The Doctor said it was appropriately masculine enough not to draw ridicule.
One of the first things we saw after we entered the park was a display of some colorful Macaws. A nearby sign said Xcaret held the Guinness world record for the most Macaws born in captivity (105) in a single year (2009).
Not too far from this was a stone marker with changeable numbers counting down the number of days until Dec. 21, 2012 (or 12/21/12), the date that some claim the world will end based on the fact that that is when the Mayan Calender ends. As of the day we were at Xcaret, we had 151 days to go . . .
One of the main attractions at Xcaret are a series of three underground rivers that run through the park, where one can swim or snorkel. This was something The Doctor wanted to do, so it was pretty much our first stop. We first had to find a changing room for The Doctor to put on his skimpy bathing suit (I had worn a more modest pair under my regular shorts), and then put the rest of our belongings in a locked bag which would be waiting for us at the other end of the river. Everyone had to wear a life vest, and snorkel gear and fins were available for an added fee, but we decided not to use those. The life vests were dividing into stacks depending on size. The attendant passing them out took one look at us and told The Doctor he was a medium and told me I was a large. Apparently I not only look and sound like an American, but a fat one at that, whereas the Doctor looks and sounds more like a nice svelte European . . .
The river had three different entrances, and we picked the middle one. I assumed they were all pretty much the same, but later we would see different portions of the other rivers and they all had unique features. Ours apparently was the least interesting of the three as there wasn't much to see. I was a little surprised at how cool the water was, not at all as warm as the ocean water that I had gotten used to. The river was also much longer than I expected; it must have taken us at least 45 minutes to an hour to reach the end. There were other exits along the way for those who didn't think they could make it any further but we stuck it out to the end. The life vest kept me afloat, but making any forward progress did require swimming movement, and I felt I did pretty good making it to the end considering my weak level of swimming experience. The Doctor never had to drag me along behind him, as I saw some other people doing. At three different spots in the river they had photographers taking pictures which you could purchase later. One of these spots was right next to an outdoor "spa" area where they were giving relaxing massages to other park guests. There were signs along the river giving notice of this and asking the swimmers to please be quiet so as not to disturb those receiving the massages. Putting the photographer right there kind of spoiled that, as he was doing quite a bit of yelling to those in the river to look at him and smile. The river was pretty crowded with people, and at some of the narrow sections became almost clogged with swimmers. It would have been far more enjoyable with less people.
Most of the river (and I believe it was natural and not man made) was underground, with a few short sections out in the open, such as the massage area. We became aware at one point that it was raining out. By the time we reached the end the rain had stopped, but it had cooled down quite a bit, which though refreshing, made it almost chilly after getting out of the river. Eventually it did warm up again. The river came out right near an ocean beach area of the park, with a lot of hammocks and beach chairs.
There were many big rocks along one section of the beach, and one of these formed a blow hole where water spouted out like a geyser when the waves came crashing in. That was kind of interesting to watch.
We went to a nearby set of bathrooms where The Doctor could change back out of his swim suit. The sinks here were in a common area between the men's and women's room. The faucet and spigot appeared to be made of wood. There was no sink "bowl", the water just flowed trough a flat surface made of rock and then drained down onto the ground where it apparently flowed back into the environment, sort of natural recycling process.
Next we went in search of the Jaguars, and Cougars, and Pumas (Oh My!!!). Along the way we visited a bat cave, which was very dark and in which we only could make out one or two bats hanging from the ceiling. We also stumbled upon a rather sad, lonely looking Manatee in an enclosure which was much too small for it in my opinion, leaving it only enough room to swim around in a wide circle.
We eventually came to the cat enclosure. There were at least three different cats, all with different coloring, so I wasn't sure which was the Jaguar, the Cougar, or the Puma. To further confuse the issue a nearby sign said that the ancient Mayan believed that every man had a Jaguar inside him, and that sometimes a Jaguar could take on the appearance of a man . . . so then I wasn't even sure about The Doctor . . . There was a large yellowish cat on the far side of the enclosure, and while we were watching a big black cat went over and started having relations with her. We tried to walk around to the other side, but by the time we got there, they had both apparently found a more private location.
We next walked through a butterfly house, which was in the sun and very hot, and near that was a stained glass exhibit. This turned out to be a single but very impressive work of art in the ceiling of a structure built over one of the rivers so that swimmers could look up and see it from the water. Obviously it was not the river we had been in. The stained glass art was inspired by the butterflies of Mexico, and was quite stunning.
We walked through a section of the park that was supposed to be representative of Old Mexico. It had a very quaint and interesting cemetery, an old school house, and various artisans selling their work. There was also a replica of one of the ancient ball courts such as the one we had seen at Chichen Itza that I was quite interested in.
Around mid-afternoon we went to see the "Flying Men" perform. This was in a small plaza with arena seating. There were two empty seats right in the front and in the shade, but when we started to sit there the Mexican woman behind us made us aware that there was some sort of ant colony right next to one of the seats, so we moved on. She was kept quite busy warning people about the ans until the show started, as everyone who came along wanted to sit in those prime seats.
The show itself was fascinating but rather short. Five men in colorful dress climbed a high pole where four of them sat on each side of a square frame with a rope tied to each of their waists. The fifth man played an instrument and performed a rather harrowing hopping dance balanced atop the pole. Then the four men fell backward off the frame which began to spin, letting out the ropes tied to the men so they spun around the pole upside down until they reached the ground.
Next, four of the men mounted an upright four armed cross type structure which spun around clockwise so that each of them was upside down as it rotated. Both performances were impressive, but as I said rather short.
We walked around looking at the various animals, birds, and water creatures. There was small set of ruins that appeared to be authentic, and which we were allowed to climb up.
Both The Doctor and I did this, and after The Doctor had taken my picture, he handed me back my bag and sunglasses. As I went to put the sunglasses on - the ones I had purchased just the day before at the Adonis Emporium, I discovered they had broken in half right in the middle. This was the fourth pair I had bought in Mexico . . .
I was getting quite hungry, so we started looking for someplace to eat. I was hoping to find a table service restaurant, but though there were several restaurants in the park they all appeared to be buffets, so we had to settle on one of those. I was quite cranky by the time we found it. When we put our name in for a table, I was surprised that The Doctor said that he wasn't going to eat. He just sat and watched me stuff my face. He hadn't had any more to eat since breakfast than I had, so I couldn't believe he wasn't hungry. They had some interesting food, but I wasn't quite sure what a lot of it was, and what was vegetarian and what wasn't, so I didn't try much that was new to me. One thing they had was corn on the cob that people were putting mayonnaise on and then rolling in grated cheese. That looked good, but I am not a big fan of mayonnaise, so I tried to do it with just the cheese, but it really didn't stick to the corn without the mayo, so it wasn't very successful. I bet it would be good with butter though.
We stopped at a men's room. The urinals here had a long tiled snake running across the top of them. Both The Doctor and I wanted to take a picture of it as was quite artistic, but we had to wait until the bathroom was empty. We thought people might think we were a little weird taking pictures of a urinal (and maybe they would be right . . .)
We went back to the Mexican village again where we both bought some souvenirs from one of the artisans.
We began making our way to the auditorium where the evening show was to take place. I believe it was called the "Espectacular!" The Doctor wanted to swing by the gift shop first, and while this made sense as opposed to fighting the crowds there after the show as the park was closing, there was already a steady stream of people headed toward the auditorium. I was afraid we wouldn't get a good seat, so I strongly suggested we go directly there. The Doctor seemed hesitant but finally agreed.
We did stop at a beautiful Mexican church along the way. We went in, and I waited up in the back while The Doctor went down to take pictures. The rows of seats descended down to the front of the sanctuary, where the pulpit was set in a pool of water which looked like it could have been a natural cenote. Above this, in place of a cross, was a large tree with the roots coming down to toward the pulpit. It was all quite beautiful, and had a genuinely sacred feel to it.
Down closer to the front I could see people sitting in the pews, and I noticed The Doctor was taking pictures of them. Taking a closer look, I realized they weren't real, so I went down to investigate. They were painted wooden cutouts, representing famous Mexicans, the only one I recognized was the female artist Frida.
We continued on to the auditorium, and as we entered the walkway was lined with men in costume and full body paint. They were all quite colorful, and some were pretty hot, so I insisted The Doctor take my picture with a couple of them.
By the time we got inside, the place was almost full, and we ended up about five or six rows from the back on one end. Not the best seats in the house, but they were OK I guess. It was an an open air auditorium, and with no air conditioning it was stifling hot. I'm not sure how I made it through two hours, and even The Doctor said he was surprised that they weren't carry people out on stretchers.
The show was divided into two parts, with an intermission in the middle. Early in the first half they actually played the Juego De Pelota game, and it was truly fascinating to watch. I am not a sports fan by any means, but I was amazed at the skill involved. As depicted in many of the pictures I had seen, the players were not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or feet, but only their hips. They would bounce it back and forth and all around this way, and if the ball went low a player would slide down to the ground and bounce it back up into play with his hip. And of course they were wearing a traditional outfit consisting pretty much of just a long loin cloth, so that made the game even more interesting to watch . . .
I can't say I totally understood the rules, but the first part of the game seemed similar to soccer, but after one team scored a certain number of points they were allowed to move up to the sloped area and attempt to get the ball through the stone hoop. I didn't believe they would be able to do it using just their hips, but after some very close misses, sure enough one of the players managed to do just that. The crowd went wild! And the same feat was performed several more times during the game. I am truly surprised this game hasn't caught on and become more popular, possibly even as a professional sport. And you sure wouldn't be able to beat the team uniforms!
This was followed by another game which I had not seen or heard anything about. It was similar to hockey, in fact a stick very similar to a hockey stick was used. But instead of a puck, the game was played with a ball . . . that was on FIRE! Again the players wore just loin cloths and were barefoot. It was quite a spectacle to watch. Though I certainly enjoyed watching it, I can kind of understand why this game is no longer played professionally. All it would take is one player's loin cloth to go up in flames and that would pretty much be the end of the game . . .
As for as I was concerned the show could have ended there. The rest of the first act was a historical pageant presenting a very sanitized version of Mexico's history. Not a hint of human sacrifice or bloody battles. (I was even disappointed that member from the losing team was not sacrificed at the end of the Juego De Pelota game, as was sometimes the case in Mayan times.) The second act was pretty much just a musical review featuring traditional Mexican song and dance, which seemed to me to get repetitive after awhile, though most of the crowd seemed quite enthusiastic about the numbers. Also, the whole show was in Spanish, with no interpretation, so I know we missed out on a lot because of that. Towards the end, there was another performance of The Flying Men, spinning upside down from the top of a pole, so that livened things up a little. But I was more than ready for the show to end. The crowd, mostly Mexicans, cheered wildly at the conclusion, and it was obvious that the program had appealed to their national pride. A woman in front of us even grabbed her young grandson, and, almost completely overcome with emotion from the experience, proudly kissed him.
As expected, leaving the auditorium was a very slow process and it probably took us at least 15 minutes to get back to the gift shop, and that was completely out of control. We agreed to meet in a half hour and split up. I went in search of the photos that had been taken of us during the river swim.
There was a whole section of racks filled with photos, not only of the river, but of various other photo ops throughout the park. Not only that, but I soon discovered the river photos were separated by each of the three rivers, and I had no idea which river we had been in. It was a mob scene, you could barely move, and it was so crowded people kept bumping into the racks and knocking the pictures down and then walking on them. I tried to pick some of these up at first, mainly because I was afraid one of them might be our picture, but finally just concentrated on trying to figure out which river we had been in. And of course, our pictures were in the very last section I looked through (we were in the River Azul). I knew we had stopped for three photos, so it took me a while to find all three, but I finally did and picked the one I thought was the best. I then went over to the rest of the gift shop and bought a beach towel with an image of a Juego De Pelota player, and two refrigerator magnets with a similar picture - one for myself and one for The Doctor.
Finally, I met up with The Doctor again. By this time the crowds in the gift shop had thinned out a good deal. I wanted to get a t-shirt - not only for a souvenir but because I had no clean shirts for the flight home the next day. I found one with a Juego De Pelota player on it, but it was a small and when The Doctor asked if it came in a larger size the girl said no. I then found one with a picture of a fire ball player, but they only had that in extra-large, but I ended up getting it anyway.
We made our way out to the parking lot and started our drive to Cancun. We got there without any difficulty, and found our hostel without too much trouble using the GPS on my cell phone. We were staying our final night in Mexico at Hostel Quetzal, where we had spend our very first night. It was almost midnight when we arrived and the front gate and door were locked so we had to ring a buzzer to get in. We both had assumed we would be staying in the same room up on the third floor again, but the guy at the desk led us through the common areas and out into the back, than down a very narrow alley to another room in the back. It was on the first floor, and not quite as nice as the other room, but certainly adequate enough for the short amount of time we would be staying there.
Our plan for the day had been to go to Xcaret Park, one of the local "eco-parks" that was on our way back to Cancun where we would be spending our final night in Mexico. The day before I was feeling so lousy because of the sunburn I had told The Doctor I didn't know if I would be up to going Xcaret or not. On Sat. however, I was feeling better, in spite of the swelling, so we went ahead with our plans.
We had breakfast first at Adonis' poolside cafe. Victoria was again our waitress. We had been a little unclear on the resort's tipping policy; since all meals and drinks were included in the stay, we weren't sure if we were supposed to be tipping the wait staff or not. The Doctor had asked about this the day before at the front desk, and the clerk said the wait staff didn't make a lot, and it was nice to tip if we felt it was appropriate. As this breakfast would be our last meal at Adonis, we planned to just hand both Victoria and Juan a nice tip for the service they had provided during the length of our stay. Juan had waited on us a lot more - both at the pool and at our evening meals in the restaurant - so we both agreed we should give him more than Victoria, but I still felt she should get more than what The Doctor seemed to think she deserved.
We were debating how much to give her when she came over to our table. The day before Victoria had told The Doctor it was one of her "quiet days" so she wouldn't be asking us any questions. Saturday apparently was not a quiet day, as she proceeded to ask us where we were from. She seemed surprised to learn we were from the U.S., and told The Doctor that he didn't have an American accent. She told him he both sounded and looked more European than American. She then went on to say that I DID look and sound like an American. The Doctor of course was flattered at being told he a European flair. I on the other hand was beginning to rethink my generous position on Victoria's tip . . . But of course, we did give both her and Juan what we considered to be a nice tip.
The Doctor told me a little about his night at the Adonis' club. At the pool the day before, Mark - the activities - director, had told me there would be a show at the club that night, and that I should come. I had turned in early, but The Doctor had gone on his own. He said the show was pretty awful. It was an attempt at a drag show put on by members of the staff, with no recognizable choreography and little of anything that could be called talent. Most of the costumes consisted of large feathered hats and g-strings, prompting me to say they must have found a box of costumes left behind by the opera company that had been at the resort when we arrived, giving someone the idea to "HEY! Let's put on a show!!!" Part of the performance had something to do with Snow White eating the poisoned apple, then being found by a dwarf who proceeded to eat the rest of the apple and fall down on top of Snow White. It pretty much ended there, with no "Love's True Kiss" to revive anyone. I was certainly glad I had opted to go to bed, though The Doctor said it was so bad he had almost come and got me to go see it.
After we ate, we went back to where we had seen the Leaf Cutter Ants the night before. I had found a little information about them in my guide book, and it said they consistently follow the same course for months if not years, and can wear down a path through the dirt and undergrowth. Sure enough, we were able to clearly see a well worn path where we had seen them the previous evening.
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The issue of me making the reservation for only one person had never been resolved, but when we checked out they told us it would only be an additional $140.00, which I didn't think was bad. I was expecting it might be close to double the original price, but that amount didn't even come close to that.
Xcaret was about 45 minutes from Adonis, and we found it without any trouble at all. The park is described as giving one a genuine taste of Mexico, both from a cultural and natural perspective - although my guidebook stated their ecological record was a little spotty. I have to say I was not overly impressed with it. I knew enough not to expect a Disney park, but still it didn't really give me much to be excited about, and I think The Doctor would more or less agree.
As soon as we arrived and bought our admission tickets (where I used up most of the balance of my Mexican Pesos), I wanted to go to the gift shop to look for a small bag. I had been using two sling bags which both had holes in them so I was using them one inside of the other so as not to lose the contents, but one of the holes was getting bigger so I decided it was time for a new one. I bought a nice small woven Mexican back pack style bag. Though colorful, The Doctor said it was appropriately masculine enough not to draw ridicule.
One of the first things we saw after we entered the park was a display of some colorful Macaws. A nearby sign said Xcaret held the Guinness world record for the most Macaws born in captivity (105) in a single year (2009).
Not too far from this was a stone marker with changeable numbers counting down the number of days until Dec. 21, 2012 (or 12/21/12), the date that some claim the world will end based on the fact that that is when the Mayan Calender ends. As of the day we were at Xcaret, we had 151 days to go . . .
One of the main attractions at Xcaret are a series of three underground rivers that run through the park, where one can swim or snorkel. This was something The Doctor wanted to do, so it was pretty much our first stop. We first had to find a changing room for The Doctor to put on his skimpy bathing suit (I had worn a more modest pair under my regular shorts), and then put the rest of our belongings in a locked bag which would be waiting for us at the other end of the river. Everyone had to wear a life vest, and snorkel gear and fins were available for an added fee, but we decided not to use those. The life vests were dividing into stacks depending on size. The attendant passing them out took one look at us and told The Doctor he was a medium and told me I was a large. Apparently I not only look and sound like an American, but a fat one at that, whereas the Doctor looks and sounds more like a nice svelte European . . .
The river had three different entrances, and we picked the middle one. I assumed they were all pretty much the same, but later we would see different portions of the other rivers and they all had unique features. Ours apparently was the least interesting of the three as there wasn't much to see. I was a little surprised at how cool the water was, not at all as warm as the ocean water that I had gotten used to. The river was also much longer than I expected; it must have taken us at least 45 minutes to an hour to reach the end. There were other exits along the way for those who didn't think they could make it any further but we stuck it out to the end. The life vest kept me afloat, but making any forward progress did require swimming movement, and I felt I did pretty good making it to the end considering my weak level of swimming experience. The Doctor never had to drag me along behind him, as I saw some other people doing. At three different spots in the river they had photographers taking pictures which you could purchase later. One of these spots was right next to an outdoor "spa" area where they were giving relaxing massages to other park guests. There were signs along the river giving notice of this and asking the swimmers to please be quiet so as not to disturb those receiving the massages. Putting the photographer right there kind of spoiled that, as he was doing quite a bit of yelling to those in the river to look at him and smile. The river was pretty crowded with people, and at some of the narrow sections became almost clogged with swimmers. It would have been far more enjoyable with less people.
Most of the river (and I believe it was natural and not man made) was underground, with a few short sections out in the open, such as the massage area. We became aware at one point that it was raining out. By the time we reached the end the rain had stopped, but it had cooled down quite a bit, which though refreshing, made it almost chilly after getting out of the river. Eventually it did warm up again. The river came out right near an ocean beach area of the park, with a lot of hammocks and beach chairs.
There were many big rocks along one section of the beach, and one of these formed a blow hole where water spouted out like a geyser when the waves came crashing in. That was kind of interesting to watch.
We went to a nearby set of bathrooms where The Doctor could change back out of his swim suit. The sinks here were in a common area between the men's and women's room. The faucet and spigot appeared to be made of wood. There was no sink "bowl", the water just flowed trough a flat surface made of rock and then drained down onto the ground where it apparently flowed back into the environment, sort of natural recycling process.
Next we went in search of the Jaguars, and Cougars, and Pumas (Oh My!!!). Along the way we visited a bat cave, which was very dark and in which we only could make out one or two bats hanging from the ceiling. We also stumbled upon a rather sad, lonely looking Manatee in an enclosure which was much too small for it in my opinion, leaving it only enough room to swim around in a wide circle.
We eventually came to the cat enclosure. There were at least three different cats, all with different coloring, so I wasn't sure which was the Jaguar, the Cougar, or the Puma. To further confuse the issue a nearby sign said that the ancient Mayan believed that every man had a Jaguar inside him, and that sometimes a Jaguar could take on the appearance of a man . . . so then I wasn't even sure about The Doctor . . . There was a large yellowish cat on the far side of the enclosure, and while we were watching a big black cat went over and started having relations with her. We tried to walk around to the other side, but by the time we got there, they had both apparently found a more private location.
(The Doctor consulting a map of Xcaret)
We next walked through a butterfly house, which was in the sun and very hot, and near that was a stained glass exhibit. This turned out to be a single but very impressive work of art in the ceiling of a structure built over one of the rivers so that swimmers could look up and see it from the water. Obviously it was not the river we had been in. The stained glass art was inspired by the butterflies of Mexico, and was quite stunning.
We walked through a section of the park that was supposed to be representative of Old Mexico. It had a very quaint and interesting cemetery, an old school house, and various artisans selling their work. There was also a replica of one of the ancient ball courts such as the one we had seen at Chichen Itza that I was quite interested in.
(The Old Cemetery)
Around mid-afternoon we went to see the "Flying Men" perform. This was in a small plaza with arena seating. There were two empty seats right in the front and in the shade, but when we started to sit there the Mexican woman behind us made us aware that there was some sort of ant colony right next to one of the seats, so we moved on. She was kept quite busy warning people about the ans until the show started, as everyone who came along wanted to sit in those prime seats.
The show itself was fascinating but rather short. Five men in colorful dress climbed a high pole where four of them sat on each side of a square frame with a rope tied to each of their waists. The fifth man played an instrument and performed a rather harrowing hopping dance balanced atop the pole. Then the four men fell backward off the frame which began to spin, letting out the ropes tied to the men so they spun around the pole upside down until they reached the ground.
Next, four of the men mounted an upright four armed cross type structure which spun around clockwise so that each of them was upside down as it rotated. Both performances were impressive, but as I said rather short.
(Me with the flying men)
We walked around looking at the various animals, birds, and water creatures. There was small set of ruins that appeared to be authentic, and which we were allowed to climb up.
There was a turtle exhibit, that included large replicas of turtle shells that you could climb inside and pose for a picture.
(If I were a turtle, I might look like this . . .)
Both The Doctor and I did this, and after The Doctor had taken my picture, he handed me back my bag and sunglasses. As I went to put the sunglasses on - the ones I had purchased just the day before at the Adonis Emporium, I discovered they had broken in half right in the middle. This was the fourth pair I had bought in Mexico . . .
I was getting quite hungry, so we started looking for someplace to eat. I was hoping to find a table service restaurant, but though there were several restaurants in the park they all appeared to be buffets, so we had to settle on one of those. I was quite cranky by the time we found it. When we put our name in for a table, I was surprised that The Doctor said that he wasn't going to eat. He just sat and watched me stuff my face. He hadn't had any more to eat since breakfast than I had, so I couldn't believe he wasn't hungry. They had some interesting food, but I wasn't quite sure what a lot of it was, and what was vegetarian and what wasn't, so I didn't try much that was new to me. One thing they had was corn on the cob that people were putting mayonnaise on and then rolling in grated cheese. That looked good, but I am not a big fan of mayonnaise, so I tried to do it with just the cheese, but it really didn't stick to the corn without the mayo, so it wasn't very successful. I bet it would be good with butter though.
We stopped at a men's room. The urinals here had a long tiled snake running across the top of them. Both The Doctor and I wanted to take a picture of it as was quite artistic, but we had to wait until the bathroom was empty. We thought people might think we were a little weird taking pictures of a urinal (and maybe they would be right . . .)
We went back to the Mexican village again where we both bought some souvenirs from one of the artisans.
We walked around the little cemetery again, and then went back to the ball court, where The Doctor took some pictures for me as the battery in my camera had died. This replica of the ball court made the game (known as Juego de Pelota) a little easier to understand. There was a level playing field, but a sloping stone playing area led up to the hoops on either wall. Getting the ball through the small hoops seemed a little more possible here, as opposed to the ball court we had seen at Chichen Itza where the hoops were about the height of a basketball hoop with no incline beneath it.
We began making our way to the auditorium where the evening show was to take place. I believe it was called the "Espectacular!" The Doctor wanted to swing by the gift shop first, and while this made sense as opposed to fighting the crowds there after the show as the park was closing, there was already a steady stream of people headed toward the auditorium. I was afraid we wouldn't get a good seat, so I strongly suggested we go directly there. The Doctor seemed hesitant but finally agreed.
We did stop at a beautiful Mexican church along the way. We went in, and I waited up in the back while The Doctor went down to take pictures. The rows of seats descended down to the front of the sanctuary, where the pulpit was set in a pool of water which looked like it could have been a natural cenote. Above this, in place of a cross, was a large tree with the roots coming down to toward the pulpit. It was all quite beautiful, and had a genuinely sacred feel to it.
Down closer to the front I could see people sitting in the pews, and I noticed The Doctor was taking pictures of them. Taking a closer look, I realized they weren't real, so I went down to investigate. They were painted wooden cutouts, representing famous Mexicans, the only one I recognized was the female artist Frida.
We continued on to the auditorium, and as we entered the walkway was lined with men in costume and full body paint. They were all quite colorful, and some were pretty hot, so I insisted The Doctor take my picture with a couple of them.
By the time we got inside, the place was almost full, and we ended up about five or six rows from the back on one end. Not the best seats in the house, but they were OK I guess. It was an an open air auditorium, and with no air conditioning it was stifling hot. I'm not sure how I made it through two hours, and even The Doctor said he was surprised that they weren't carry people out on stretchers.
I can't say I totally understood the rules, but the first part of the game seemed similar to soccer, but after one team scored a certain number of points they were allowed to move up to the sloped area and attempt to get the ball through the stone hoop. I didn't believe they would be able to do it using just their hips, but after some very close misses, sure enough one of the players managed to do just that. The crowd went wild! And the same feat was performed several more times during the game. I am truly surprised this game hasn't caught on and become more popular, possibly even as a professional sport. And you sure wouldn't be able to beat the team uniforms!
This was followed by another game which I had not seen or heard anything about. It was similar to hockey, in fact a stick very similar to a hockey stick was used. But instead of a puck, the game was played with a ball . . . that was on FIRE! Again the players wore just loin cloths and were barefoot. It was quite a spectacle to watch. Though I certainly enjoyed watching it, I can kind of understand why this game is no longer played professionally. All it would take is one player's loin cloth to go up in flames and that would pretty much be the end of the game . . .
As for as I was concerned the show could have ended there. The rest of the first act was a historical pageant presenting a very sanitized version of Mexico's history. Not a hint of human sacrifice or bloody battles. (I was even disappointed that member from the losing team was not sacrificed at the end of the Juego De Pelota game, as was sometimes the case in Mayan times.) The second act was pretty much just a musical review featuring traditional Mexican song and dance, which seemed to me to get repetitive after awhile, though most of the crowd seemed quite enthusiastic about the numbers. Also, the whole show was in Spanish, with no interpretation, so I know we missed out on a lot because of that. Towards the end, there was another performance of The Flying Men, spinning upside down from the top of a pole, so that livened things up a little. But I was more than ready for the show to end. The crowd, mostly Mexicans, cheered wildly at the conclusion, and it was obvious that the program had appealed to their national pride. A woman in front of us even grabbed her young grandson, and, almost completely overcome with emotion from the experience, proudly kissed him.
As expected, leaving the auditorium was a very slow process and it probably took us at least 15 minutes to get back to the gift shop, and that was completely out of control. We agreed to meet in a half hour and split up. I went in search of the photos that had been taken of us during the river swim.
There was a whole section of racks filled with photos, not only of the river, but of various other photo ops throughout the park. Not only that, but I soon discovered the river photos were separated by each of the three rivers, and I had no idea which river we had been in. It was a mob scene, you could barely move, and it was so crowded people kept bumping into the racks and knocking the pictures down and then walking on them. I tried to pick some of these up at first, mainly because I was afraid one of them might be our picture, but finally just concentrated on trying to figure out which river we had been in. And of course, our pictures were in the very last section I looked through (we were in the River Azul). I knew we had stopped for three photos, so it took me a while to find all three, but I finally did and picked the one I thought was the best. I then went over to the rest of the gift shop and bought a beach towel with an image of a Juego De Pelota player, and two refrigerator magnets with a similar picture - one for myself and one for The Doctor.
Finally, I met up with The Doctor again. By this time the crowds in the gift shop had thinned out a good deal. I wanted to get a t-shirt - not only for a souvenir but because I had no clean shirts for the flight home the next day. I found one with a Juego De Pelota player on it, but it was a small and when The Doctor asked if it came in a larger size the girl said no. I then found one with a picture of a fire ball player, but they only had that in extra-large, but I ended up getting it anyway.
We made our way out to the parking lot and started our drive to Cancun. We got there without any difficulty, and found our hostel without too much trouble using the GPS on my cell phone. We were staying our final night in Mexico at Hostel Quetzal, where we had spend our very first night. It was almost midnight when we arrived and the front gate and door were locked so we had to ring a buzzer to get in. We both had assumed we would be staying in the same room up on the third floor again, but the guy at the desk led us through the common areas and out into the back, than down a very narrow alley to another room in the back. It was on the first floor, and not quite as nice as the other room, but certainly adequate enough for the short amount of time we would be staying there.
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