Today was the day we'd planned to visit XPlor, a new theme park situated close to our hotel. We were out by 8.30 and Steve even allowed us to take a taxi rather than walk miles in the heat to the collectivo point! I acquiesed that we could take the collectivo on the way back once we knew where we were going.
So off we headed with our ticket voucher we'd bought last week and were one of the first folk there. We got our wristbands, (all trips seem to be all inclusive here with lunches and drinks provided) and were issued helmets and a locker. We found our way along through tunnels with lots of stalegmites and stalemtights and right in the centre of the park was a big heart and all activites went from that point which did make it a nice and easy way to work around.
We dropped off my bag and dosed up on sun cream and headed straight for the zip lines. There were over 2.2 miles of them and it wasn't until we were up on the towers (8 of them) that we could appreciate what a size this park was! It was mainly over the jungle and trees for the zip lines, through the trees for the jeep driving, and under neath in the caverns for the other activities.
We were harnessed up and then set off. Once up the first tower there were two routes, so we opted for the first and sailed away above the trees, clipped on each one and some we were pushed for a fast journey and others we went at a more pleasurable speed! On one of them, we had to go down a tower and rather than stairs it was a water slide!! I was in shorts and got stuck a couple of times but the water was pretty cold! We were drenched for most of the day. There were also three water landings in the 1.5 miles of zip wires which I wasn't partial to, as you went though a water fall and were then hitting the water at such a speed it fired up in your face and I worried about my contact lenses and the first time I wasn't prepared and took a noseful :( Steve liked the water more than the height of some whereas I liked the high ones!
After the zip lines we then did rafting through underground caverns on little plastic rafts with paddles that strapped to our hands, and then some driving round in a John Deere jeep which Steve loved and there were many corners and bumps and some water pits and caves too.
Then it was time for lunch (time flies here!) so we headed for the restaurant and had buffet (it's all buffet over here!) and Steve was feeling the heat, and I'd suggested doing the second route in the jeep, but he wanted something cooler so suggested the river swim.
We found our way there and this was swimming through caves for about 30 minutes and we had to wear an inflatable thing that hooked between our legs. This came in very useful for me once in the water, and yes, it was cold, but that wasn't an excuse for Steve to stand whimpering on the side for 15 minutes! It was his idea in the first place! Anyway, my life jacket held me up in the water and with the underleg support, it was like I was sitting in a chair, so I was able to bob away to my hearts content and just skull my way around the caves! It was most relaxing indeed and Steve kept teasing me that I was sitting on my throne but I liked it.
After that whilst wet, we did hammocking, which was a bit like zip lines although we were in a sitting hammock going down a line with a water landing which was lots of fun and then we opted for the second jeep driving to dry off and I had a go too at an underground bit.
We'd done everything by about 3 so headed out after returning our helmets to find a collectivo stop and a taxi pulled up. 'Collectivo' we informed him, and he offered to drive us to Puerto Aventuras for the same! '20 pesos each' we queried, 'si' he replied, so bonus! Taxi back for 40 pesos!! Admittedly there was a bit of walk to the hotel, but we spotted a capy bara on the way so Steve had to acknowledge I wasn't making it up when I'd seen one outside the hotel last Sunday!
Then it was to the pool, and a rum and coke all round and here I am, typing i up to remember what a wonderfully fun day we had with some excellent and new experiences!
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