28 Nov - Leaving the Riviera Maya

Lines stretch down the road as we head southward.  We're on the way to Chetumal in Quintana Roo, Mexico.  The 4 hour bus ride provides time to reflect on the last month in the Yucatan Peninsula.   We're all feeling nostalgic now that the time has come.


If we were worrying about the quality of buses here, we need not have.  The bus is as nice as the nicest buses I've ridden anywhere.  Air-conditioning, movie overhead, soft seats and big windows.  And on time to boot.


It was a chore to fill our lives back into 4 backpacks and a pull-along.  How can we have already accumulated so much?!  One bag is so full of pharmaceuticals alone that I'm afraid we'll be stopped at the border.   We're prepared for stomach aches, migraines, diahrreah, flu, sleepless nights, bad water, fungal infections, dehydration, small wounds and all sorts of ailments - any 3rd world hospital would salivate to posses our stock!!


As a very fitting end to our time here, we saw an amazing 2 hour show about Mexico in Xcaret last night.   At the finale, Andy turned to me and said he was feeling teary at the prospect of leaving and so proud to be a 1/4 Mexican.  


The show began with a depiction of ancient mayan life, along with wondrous costumes (hundreds!).    Everyone was fascinated by a  display of the ancient mayan ball game played with only elbows, hips, and necks ... we had never been able to picture how this game was played and watching a re-production was fascinating.  To top that off, lights went out and a hockey-like game with a ball of fire was played.  Majestic horses and costumes of spaniards and mayans whirled out in a frenzy, one after another, telling the history of the Mayan and then Hispanic background of mexico.  This was topped off by traditional dancing and singing from the various regions of the country.  The only downside, if there was one, was the 2 hour length, which was slightly more than a 5 or 6 year old can handle - I had Sam asleep on my lap halfway through the 2nd hour.


This show was the culmination of a full-on week spent visiting the major commercial attractions in the area (which we had avoided like the plague the first few weeks).   During the week we went to Xcaret, Xplor and XelHa twice each.   Yes, they are a little expensive, but they also proved to be good value for the cost.   Each had and impressive acreage of property, unique themes and if you had to pack in 'mexico' and the 'yucatan experience' in a few days, ok, here is an amazing taster of what is on offer, in an abriged format.


XelHa is a tropical lagoon paradise.  There are huge bays and lagoons for snorkelling, swimming, jumping off cliffs and ziplinging along the water.   The assortment of free (open to the ocean) sea life is impressive - there was no other place off the beaches of riviera maya where we saw such an abundance of sea creatures all in one places (rivalled for us only by Akumal).  The XelHa restaurants had the best buffet food choices in the area - featuring mexican dishes such as chilaquiles, pollo con mole and huge selections of salsas.


Xplor is an adventurers dream day.  You can easily spend 2-4 hours on the 20-48 meter high ziplines without exhausting the excitement.  Follow this with a water rafting or swimming excursion through soome of the most beautiful, stalactite filled limestone caves in the world.  Top it all off with a fun drive in a little car along a dirt road that takes you down through caves and over lagoons on  hanging bridges.  The restaurants in Xplor do their best to provide healthy buffet food, which means a lot of steamed vegetable dishes, fish and quiches alongside fruit and dessert options.


Xcaret is the largest of the attractions, spread across jungle and beachfront acres.    There is a wider variety of activities on offer - more generic in nature than xplor or xelha.   Their aquarium has one of the best coral reef display I've seen, sharks, manatees, dolphins, and  a turtle sanctuary.   Walking through the jungle paths you can also see jaguars, a puma, a cougar, spider monekys, howler monkeys and more.  We were captivated by the butterfly conservatory wich is apparetnly one of the largest in the world.  But the best of xcaret is the nightime 'Spectacular' that I mentioned already.  


So this last week has been filled with morning-to-night adventuring in the parks, heading out early with packed bags and lots of energy, returning late with sleeping children and not quite enough energy to unpack everything.


Before that, we had a week with out Justin when he headed back to England on the death of his father.    It was strange being here without Justin - and being sad about the death in a place half the world away.   We all wished we could go back for a few days to our normal life in England and to be at the funeral, but we couldn't.  


The week Justin was gone was a tough week in Playa.  If you've ever read Lord of the Flies, you may have a good appreciation of what life could be like with 3 boys running a wild, just a bit!   
We veered from temper tantrums and frustration to tearfulness (usually me), to energetic antagonising and play fighting (hmmm,  not me).  Meanwhile, I managed to contract a sinus cold and start a period at the same time.  Just lucky.  And to add to all of this, a 24-hour festival took place across 5 of those days in the park outside that consisted of musical instruments trying to bore a hole through our walls and into our heads, loud beats  throbbing rhytmically, shaking our furniture as we tried to sleep at midnight,  eat our breakfast at 8, or learn spanish at 11. It never shut off.   OK, it was only a few days - but it felt like a lifetime!!


As a contrast, the first few weeks in Playa were a fairly quiet period.  We followed a near home-like routine that consisted of spanish classes every Mon-Fri from 9 am - 1 pm, followed in the afternoons by an outing to a nearby beach for snorkelling.  On weekends we made longer excursions to Cozumel, Sian Ka'an and Tulum.


Playa itself we found to be a very commercial town.  Walking onto the famous fifth avenue - La Quinta - all sorts of restaurants and tourist shops are laid out one after another.  There are nearly as many vendor as tourists, calling to you - hey family, would you like a tour?  snorkelling?  scuba?   excursion to Xcaret?  Tulum ruins??   The beaches, on the other hand, are more tranquil.  Once on the beach, you are faced with the amazing crystal clear blue waters and a view of cozumel coastline in the distance.


But mostly, we visited other places, using Playa as a base.  There are many forms of transportation, but we grew to enjoy the collectivos most.  Collectivos are a group mini-buses  that travel up and down the coast of the Riviera Maya.   They are found close to our apartment,  near the beach on Calle 2.  We never had to wait more than a few minutes for one to arrive or depart -one of the most reliable and comfortable forms of transport we've found.   The best part was getting to talk with the locals who all use collectivos for their journeys to work and home.


Riding on a collectivo, our favourite destination was Akumal, a beach 30 minutes from Playa.  Akumal is famous for its turtle reserve.  Swimming just  a few meters from the shore, we would always encounter Green turtles swimming along, eating grass, carrying their entourage of fish.   The usually swim away gracefully when approached too closely, but seemed to enjoy looking at us as well.  They are very photographic and their large, curious eyes follow us as we swim alongside.

In Akumal bay we also encountered numerous rays.  We followed these guys around, but they are much faster than the turtles.   My favourite were small, spotted rays that could be found nestled into the sand, like flounder, and often under rocks or coral.   You can just make out their two eyes peering up at you from their camouflaged hide out.


The reef that runs along the coastline and the Riviera Maya and down along Belize is the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world, second only to its cousin the Australian great barrier reef.   This reef comes so close to the shore along Akumal that you can snorkel out to it in a few minutes.   True to expectation, the reef is home to huge array of corals, sponges, squid, eels and all sorts of tropical fish  which we enjoyed searching around for.  Treasure hunting for the next great find, no two snorkelling excursions are ever the same.


The boys are still learning to snorkel.  Andy has taken to it, well, like a fish.  From the first day he went into the ocean in Florida with his mask and snorkel and saw the wonders of the world under the water, he has never lost the excitement of pulling on the mask and fins to plunge in.   


On the other hand, Ben and Sam have had a more messy affair of it.   Ben struggles to keep his mask clear and, when he finally does clear it, flounders about, legs and fins everwhere.  Justin and I laugh because, when it's our turn with Ben, we often turn around and find his flipper in our mask .. or even stranger, think he's on our left and look to the right to find a pair of huge masked eyes an inch from ours!   


Sam is least likely to choose to snorkel in with us, preferring the wet sand on the edge for building sandcastles.  Not too surprising for a 5, almost 6!, year old.  He sometimes humours us by throwing on all the gear to join us, but then refuses to wear an inflatable vest, or wears it but then deflates it.  So we head into the water towing him.  He gets water in his snorkel and spits it out, declaring his disgust at salty ocean water.  We often snorkel back to shore within 5 minutes of setting out with Sam and usually end up taking turns so that someone can sit out with Sam on the beach. 


We met a family at Akumal who sort of adopted us into their group.  They are the Fishers from Iowa.  We encountered them in the late afternoon stretched out on sun loungers with cocktail hour starting.   Sam took an immediate liking to the sisters Lauren and Sara, who are in their mid-twenties and very fun.  Andy and Ben went out playing frisbee with Grant, Sara's boyfriend.  Justin and I found ourselves offered beer and wine and good conversation, and who are we to shy away?  We returned again and spent time with the Fishers who were there for a week.  The mother and father work in a funeral home, which of course reminded me of the show Six Feet Under and I couldn't help making parallels with their family.  We missed them when they left.


In Akumal, we also found a little library, slightly off the road and easily overlooked.  10 or 12 small local children were running around the playground between the 2 small blue library houses.  They had a tire swing which was made of 6 or so tires in an interesting form that could hold a group of 4 or 5 children swinging at once.  Andy helped to push the swing and then played football with the boys while I went into the little library and read through the spanish books.   Inside, children were drawing pictures around a small table.  They offered us a couple of spanish primary school books which I borrowed to use for the boys back in our apartment.  What a great place for the local children, I would love to run something like this someday!


On high recommendation from our spanish teachers, Ana and Ixchel, we visited XpuHa and Xcacel as well.  Xpu Ha is a gorgeous bay that seems deserted because there are a lot of empty structures and not a lot of people.   There was a scuba shop and we could see instructors and divers playing about with a volleyball.    There was almost the feel of a deserted island.  Aside from this, Xpu Ha was a quiet paradise easily overlooked.  The waters were too rough for snorkelling when we went, but we have heard it is a spectacular location for this.


Xcacel was another place we would never have gone to without recommendation.   That was probably the single most beautiful of all the beaches, and that is some contest here!   While we were there, a bridal couple arrived at the waters edge wtih a photographer.  The took elegant photos and then playful ones, ending with her beautiful wedding gown totally immersed in the ocean.  There were some very romantic shots taken with them lying on the beach kissing - at one  point we began to wonder if they realised we were there and were they going to consumate the marriage before our very eyes - luckily our boys took no notice at all!


Xcacel was actually a nature reserve.  The entrance 'fee' is basically whatever donation you'd like to make to the park.   Along with the gorgeous beach,  covered in white and pink colors of washed up coral, there is also a cenote.  It is an open cenote, not subterranean, and is slightly  hidden down a path of mangrove trees.  The cenote water is very cold but clear.   The boys were excited to see schools of the little fish, garra rufa,  that are used in foot pedicures nowadays.  The fish swarm near any toes or body bits that are not moving around quickly.  They tickle as they nibble the dead skin cells for their food.


From our time in Playa, we have lots of  good memories including cooking classes with Tona (Tonathiu) from XileVerde and spanish classes with Ana (a juggler from Argentina) and Ixchel (whose name represents the Mayan godess of fertility, water, the moon).   We were sad to say goodbye to the lovely apartment which housed us well, but all felt ready to move on to the next part of our adventure.