Tuesday, November 29

Zip Line Day!

Last time Alexander and I were in Mexico we went on two different excursions. The first excursion we went on with our new friend Joseph and did a half day at Tulum and then an afternoon with 3 zip lines, rappelling and swimming in a cenote. We had a blast zip lining! Our second excursion was to Xceret with everybody. For our trip we wanted to combine a group excursion and zip lining together. We left it up to our guests if they wanted to participate or not. We didn’t get many people (only 6 of us all together) but we had an amazing time. We set our alarms to get us up so we could be ready and fed to meet everyone in the lobby at 8:30am. We decided to find our own way to Xplore to save some money and be able to leave when we wanted to. We had the hotel call us a taxi van and a short 30 minutes (or less) we were at Xplore.

Right away it was awesome. We had to check in and pay in a cave! They gave us orange helmets and told us not to take them off all day (to protect our heads) and each helmet had a different number on it and there were random cameras set up around site and at the end of the trip we could use our helmet number to find pictures of us to buy. What was also neat was their locker key system/keeper. Instead of pinning it on you and hoping it doesn’t fall off and get lost, you tucked they key in a little pocket in a Velcro band you tied around your arm.

We decided to do the amphibious vehicles first. Alexander drove and I took pictures. Alexander thought it was awesome and if they would have let us, he would have gone again. It was neat driving through the caves and the water although the caves got pretty gasoline smelly.

After we went back to the lockers to get ready to zip line! We had to wait in line while they explained how we were to go about the zip line course and how to sit in our harness etc. Then we all went over to put on our harnesses. Us 3 girls got called out of line to the other side to try a different harness on, we joked we were taken to the “fat line”. One we got all hooked up and made our way up, up, up to the main tower. At the top there were 2 different routes to take. We took the right route which I think was the tamer loop. It was a little scary waiting in line and knowing you were soon going to be hung on a cable and flying above the trees. I wasn’t nearly as nervous/scared as when Alexander and I did it two years previous but the first line was still pretty nerve wracking! The only sucky thing about zip lining is climbing back up again to go again! It is especially sucky after a water landing and your feet are wet and slippery. Before we knew it the first loop was done!

Climbing up, up, up!

The view from the top

Taking the water slide down to the bottom

The 6 of us after the first leg of zip lining, ready to do round two!

We went back in line to have our harnesses checked to do round two. I ended up taking forever because they couldn’t get my thigh strap undone to tighten it up. While Alexander was waiting for me, the rest of the gang went on ahead. When we got to the tower it was much busier than the previous time and we had to wait a while. The second route, I think, was much higher and faster and had one exceptionally long line. My harness felt comfortable the first round but since they tightened it, it was rubbing on my thigh and hurting me so it made the second loop a little uncomfortable.

Time flies when you are having fun and before we knew it it was time for lunch. Lunch was okay. There were Mexican hotdogs, Mexican hamburgers, and Mexican pizza *grin* After lunch we decided to try our hand at hand paddle rafting. Originally I wasn’t going to go but I changed my mind so I ended up wearing my shorts in the water. Lisa, Russ, Dan and Morna were paddling pros and zoomed ahead of us. I swear I used the paddles more to push away from the cave walls than to actually paddle!

After paddling Morna and I went back to the locker area to grab towels. We didn’t know it was like a 10+ minute walk back to the lockers so were were gone awhile. Alexander and I decided to sit the last activity, swimming in a cenote, because I was chilly so we hung out at the hammocks waiting for the others and we ended up falling asleep (bliss!).

After the gang got back from swimming we got ready to go. We checked out the gift store where I convinced (it wasn’t that hard!) for Dan Destroyer to buy a mini stuffed caveman doll (to hang in his mini truck) and a t-shirt. Morna bought the most, 2 mug and a tote bag. Surprisingly enough I didn’t buy anything! We looked at buying the pictures that were taken around the park of us but they sucked! AND there were random strangers as us too! We got outside and the taxi that we took in the morning was there waiting to take us back to our resort.

After we got back we had a little down time before we had to get ready and meet my parents, Alexanders parents, and Alexanders Uncle Chris and his fiancé Doreen. We met up at the Brazilian restaurant for dinner. I would have to say that this was my least favourite restaurant. I’m not a super big meat person and all I wanted was a second piece of turkey and we had to ask like 2 different waiters multiple times. The dessert wasn’t awesome. They did have the yummy cream cheesey buns the French restaurant had though!

Alexanders Uncle doing a Tequila shot and me playing around with the fun features my new camera has (Alexander is going to kill me for posting this picture!)

After dinner we rushed off to see Mexican Michael Jackson! We only caught the last two songs he performed. He was pretty good. After the show they allowed people up on the stage to take their picture with him. I was surprised Alexander wasn’t the first person up! He was uber excited about this show, especially catching Mexican Michael last time we were in Mexico! Lisa and I went up first for a picture then Alexander and Darcy got up the nerve.

After Mexican Michael we all went up to the lobby bar and hung out for a while until Dan Destroyer and Ryan convinced us all to trek out to the resort next door (I think) to the night club. We got lucky because leaving and coming back to the resort the shuttle bus was right there, no waiting around (although Morna did have to run to catch it leaving the night club). The Jaguar night club totally made me glad not to be 18 again. It was a tad creepy and it took me a few minutes to realize there were like 5 half naked girls dancing on top of tables. I enjoyed people watching. Dan Destroyer, Darcy and Ryan all got up and “danced” to Cotton Eyed Joe and even started like a conga line type thing! Dan Destroyer ended the line suddenly and the looks on the girls faces who were following them was priceless! Like oops I hope no one saw us do that type thing. I ended up dancing for a few songs (gasp!) and then we headed back to the resort. Morna tried to get pictures of the conga line but they are all blurry. It was a fun night!

You can kinda make out Darcy (white shirt) and Dan Destroyer (hands up) in this picture: