Excursions

OK…so we did 2 official excursions…

Xel-Ha.

I am a morning person….my friends are not…we finally got to the bus stop and hopped right on a bus to Xel Ha. It was relatively inexpensive. Not as cheap as I had read in US $ but reasonable. I cannot remember though. Sorry. We were dropped right off. Purchased tix and in the door it was 10:30…we hadn’t eaten yet so we strolled over to the buffet.

The food here was quite good! Mmmm. Mmmm. Easy in and easy out of the restaurant too. Corona and many bar drinks. Fabulous. We held off on booze until after snorkeling.

You then go to an area to get snorkels and fins and mask and have to put a deposit down [$20 us per person]. You also put a deposit down for a locker key.

BIG NOTE: It is not BIODEGRADEABLE sunscreen but CHEMICAL-FREE sunscreen. I thought I had read here to get biodegradeable….nope. Burt’s Bees sells a chemical free in the states for like $15. I don’t know if it would be allowed but it does say chemical free…I passed on it because I thought I needed biodegradeable and I couldn’t find biodegradeable…

so I bought some Hawaiin tropic in Mexico that did NOT pass. It was $15 us. Oy. The good news is she stores it and gives you free packets of guess what…..ZINC. So for $5 ish you could get ZINC and have the right lotion!! LOL.

In fact it’s Zinc or Titanium Oxide that you have to look for. So there you go.

OK…so you also need a lifevest to snorkel. I don’t typically wear them because I like to dive down. Oh well. No biggie.

It’s really pretty. And very calm. It’s a little protected cove…..but um….where are the fish? We saw some but it wasn’t terribly exciting. Oh well. It feels good to swim around. I’m spoiled by my past snorkeling experiences I suppose…

So Steph had a ball so Lisa and I floated around and made the most of it…thinking of the Coronas calling our name……several hours later….or maybe an hour….Steph was ready to get out. Woo Hoo.

Beer…..mmmm. Good.

OK…now what. Check out the map and decide to see the grotto. We wander on a path for a while….and find a little cave like area to swim. This was good for them as we were doing Ek Balam and the big cenote cave on Wednesday….needed to ease them into it!

It was small but nice.

OK now we want to cliff dive…we walk and walk and walk….and walk….

finally….

that was fun…not very high but fun.

Then we walk and walk. See lots of big lizards. Cool……

I swear it’s like 1pm by now. Crazy….time for more booze and food. This time a fresh mango margarita. Delicious. And the food has changed. It is really good. Yeah.

I was excited to see the manatees until I saw they were in a tiny gated area. poor guys. I swam with one on accident in Anna Maria last summer. Much cooler experience.

But I took a pic of them for my kiddos who loved the manatee at AMI.

My plan was to get here early and leave 1ish to hit Tulum….it was also Salsa night at La Z….but others were content to get their money’s worth so….we hammocked….

We left around 4ish after some more chillatas….mmm.

Ek Balam Tour with Yucatreks.

There were 5 of us total. My group being 3. And a nice couple on this board from Denver, Scott & Wendy [hello guys!…are you finally back from Playa?]

I was disappointed that Heather wasn’t there…hoping to meet her. Oh well. Another time.

Mitch was our tour guide! Woo Hoo. That was exciting. And our driver was a very charming Jesus.

So we head out in the drizzling weather…..

TIP #1: bring small pesos to use the banos at the little side of the road places…..it’s $5 pesos. And to buy trinkets from little kiddos. We had been drinking a little too much the night before….and only had cash and no time to exchange! :doh2: I knew better. I knew better. Duh.

We get to the ruins and the rain has cleared. WE get a guide Francisco or something like that…he’s nice and speaks English clearly. Between him and Wendy who’s just smart, I learned a ton. It was cool. Climbing the pyramids was a highlight.

Hi Mitch!

We were there a couple hours. It was great.

Then off to the cenote….I don’t know which one it was but it was in Dtiznup. It’s a big cave like cenote with a hole in the ceiling so there was natural light. Plus they had lighting all around. Bats flying overhead. Beautiful crystal clear refreshing [or cold…] water. It felt fantastic to swim around….the pictures are terrible but trust me…COOL.

Now if you just do a cenote and are not afraid of more closed in areas…Dos Ojos rocks as well. We did that last time and really enjoyed it.

OK….so then the town of Valladolid. we finally get to exchange our money. What a charming town. Just got a fresh coat of beautiful pastels. We have time to wander and explore and get pesos while Mitch gathers our lunch…..

we meet in the square and sample all kinds of goodies…we enjoyed it all….and everyone was stuffed…

Also bring pesos for the adorable kids selling little trinkets…they’re not pushy just cute.

Now I was so excited to get a hammock…but I guess I never mentioned my excitement…we never went….I’m still not sure what happened there but no biggie….by now it is POURING….my friends are resting and I’m thanking God that Jesus is our driver! It was a tad scary.

We are home around dinner time. Thanks Mitch. I really enjoyed it. Never felt rushed or waiting on others. It was like hanging out with friends for the day.

I would do a Yucatrek tour again for sure!

Shopping….I hate to shop….but i like grocery shopping….so we went to Mega twice. It was fun!! Go and enjoy seeing the fun foods and buying some if you have a fridge to enjoy…

Tip: don’t overbuy….we left beer rum and wine for the next guests or the cleaning staff….OY. Why didn’t we just have a drink fest the last night? LOL.

I prebought my kids’ souveniers…thanks NERAK!! And of course I bought some fillers while Steph who LOVED shopping dragged us around! LOL. We stuck to 5th for that but did pass a cool looking flea market area and meant to go there…just never did. I was afraid we’d never get Steph out of there. :

OH and this little store up north of 38th on 5th was our fave. The owner is so sweet water and beer is ice cold and prices are good….and she’s learning English and loves to practice so chit chat with her!

We liked this internet cafe…and it was great to print out boarding passes to save LOTS of time at the airport….we walked up to a gigantic line at Delta and said we printed our boarding passes are we in the right line? to which he pointed to another area with NO line….woo hoo. And don’t check in online without printing because you are then stuck in the gigantic line.

on 5th somewhere between 26th and 20th.