The eagle looks awesome; the xrails look like a blast and cenote must have been amazing!
Love the video of the crew jumping in.
The eagle was pretty amazing to see up close...and HOLD! The xrails were a lot of fun up to a point.
You were so cracking me up with the having to pee riding the Xrails...
Your SUP excursion looked fun, even with the rain. I love paddleboarding, my HH got me one for my birthday last year and I love it! Its the only water toy we have that I can successfully load on the roof of my truck alone. I take it to the lake with the kids and they ride around on the front while I paddle, sometimes our dog even gets on. I usually have minimal waves though, mostly just the wake from passing motorboats. The ocean looks like it requires a tad more balance. I am totally jealous of that lady from Texas renting paddleboards and selling toe rings...There are many days when a life like that sounds amazing! She is so brave to actually do it!
I understand your desire to explore the Mexican Walmart. When we went to visit my SIL who lives in France the top of my list of things I wanted to do was go to the Super Market. I wanted to see all there household products, and compare the price of peanut butter, check out what flavor of potato chips they had...
I will lay you money not everyone fights to hold it when they have to pee on those xrails. Seriously. Especially the last half of the ride when it's the rock terrain, yeah, I'm betting there's been many an addition to the torrents of mud washing over the riders.
I loved the SUP excursion! If you look at Carolyn's website she actually has
grown-up SUP camps down there. The place where she does them, Laguna Bacalar, looks like it's absolutely incredible. No lie. I've read up on Laguna Bacalar, never even seen it in person, and I've looked for real estate there.
You should check it out. It's a fresh water lake that's described as having 7 shades of blue...it's mind-boggling to look at pictures of it. I want to go there sooooo bad! From Costa Maya/Mahahual it'd be a long enough drive that the short port time makes it not really worth it. By the time you got there you'd need to turn around and go back. I'll see it at some point. I know I will.
I wanted to learn to SUP which is how I even found Carolyn. We already had solid plans for Grand Cayman and Cozumel and figured we'd stay on the ship for Costa Maya. Then I spotted a SUP Groupon for our area because there's a tooooon of water around us. No idea how I connected the dots but I googled SUP + Costa Maya and BAM! I found UnderToe Mexico! I want to check out the SUP rentals in our area and learn more about good locations here. Armand Bayou would be cool but I'd hate to hit the water with all the gators we have. LOL! The intent, tho, was always to learn about SUP'ing so that if I liked it I could buy my own and have something I can do outside that's fun AND get good exercise at the same time. It's REALLY good exercise! Full body!
I agree about Carolyn being an incredible lady. I'm sure she would think I'm insane. In the grand scheme of things I don't know her. I know I've read Jimmy Buffett's books over the years and listened to his songs...people who get fed up with the rat race and chase their dreams to paradise and beyond are reoccuring characters who meander through his tales...and now I've met someone who is DOING that. Carolyn is who I read about and think "Woooooow...." THAT is amazing to me. These people DO exist and they're really great folks! I was happy as a clam just to sit and pick her brain, listen to her talk. We've emailed a lot before and since the trip. Seriously, this is a great lady. I would send anyone her way.
Hey! At least at the Mexican Walmart nobody's trying to guilt you into buying anything.
One can relax and browse in peace.
Loved the video of you guys jumping into the cenote! That looks scary but so much fun! As I was reading your report about your pee issue, I kept saying, "Just go in the bushes!" Obviously, you couldn't while in the xrails, but I would have been disappearing the first chance I got! There aren't many potties around South Jersey when you are out running or trailriding in the boondocks. I guess I have gotten used to using the bushes when necessary. Not my first choice by any means, but when nature calls....
The high pressures sales at these ports really turns me off to them. It makes me uncomfortable and while I might like to occassionally browse or even buy, when they start that crap, I just don't want to deal with it. It makes me not want to get off the boat!
Glad you finally got your Mexican drugs and were starting to feel better!
I love that video, too! I think under normal circumstances I might not have been so hesitant to go squat in the bushes. It's not like I've never done it before. Well, okay, most of the time I was at parties and bonfires out in the woods and rather inebriated. Plus, I was wet and my clothes were all stuck to me. I was just uncomfortable. The scrub was very thick and thorny, too. Where I finally went wasn't exactly entirely obscured from view but everyone was down in the cave so I hurried.
I don't enjoy the "barking" from the store people. I hear Jamaica is much worse, too. For the most part I don't let it bother me. I just smile and say, "No, thank you." They hear no all the time so it's not like you're breaking their hearts. The guilt tactics in the later afternoons were more put-off-ish to me because in our culture saying something untrue about someone is insulting. Also, I was perplexed by it because I apply logic. If that brings out negative feelings in people how successful a tactic can it be? I wouldn't let the "barking" shopkeepers keep me trapped on the ship or the pier. They aren't like the people outside the protected area in Jamaica where they'll physically place things in your hands and tell you you have to buy it. ((I've read about that and my bro-in-law experienced it firsthand!)) They're just talking. Words don't hurt. The port areas have a ton of visible security all around. They depend on the tourist dollars. They're not going to allow people to be in actual danger. Grand Cayman is a very wealthy island and, by virtue of it being a different "country", we didn't see this phenomenon there. To me, it's worth the walk past the "barkers" to get to Mahahual even in the rain. In Cozumel, I'd walk past the "barkers" to get a Starbucks on the ground level at the port, go to the Mega (Mexican Walmart) to browse in peace, and hit up the Margaritaville across the street. The few minutes of "no, thanks" are worth the reward.
The antibiotics helped immensely! When I get sick with that kind of stuff it takes me a long time to fully get over it but at least I was able to put the worst behind me.
Ok...maybe the xrails were not so great. Lol! At least you got a great story to tell.
So let me get this straight; So far you've been boozing it up, hiding from the medical staff, taking drugs somewhat illegally, squatting in the woods, smashing vehicles, jumping off cliffs and rolling in the mud.
Now that sounds like a blast!
I'm prob'ly being unfair on the Xrails. They were fun. There's definitely a better audience for that type of thing than me. You're talking to a girl who wouldn't let her babies play outside before they could walk because of the dirt. The first time we took the boys to a beach when they were little guys they sat horrified in the sand looking at us like, "Oh God. It's ON me." We lasted thru 30 minutes of their crying and left. LOL! Tracey was amazed I even booked it. Even when we were getting in the things he was laughing and saying, "Yeah, we'll see how long THIS lasts with Kelly...." Tis true. I'm not down with the dirt. LOL!
I read your post last night and died laughing. That's hilarious. All I can say is "Yes, that's pretty much it." Looking back, it
was a blast!
I don't know, that Wild Tours looked kinda fun minus the giant snake and iguana. Actually I think I really just want to drive through the mud. Lol! Hey I would've squatted in the woods too. When you gotta go, you gotta go.
I'm probably not giving the xrails a fair shake. They
were fun. We've all agreed about that since. The first part before the cenote swim was fun because the terrain was smoother, like dirt roads with big mud puddles and some rocks. After the cenote it was like riding over a solid rock or like you see Jeep excursions riding down sides of rock hills. It was a very harsh ride. The xrails don't give anything to the body. My left leg kept smacking the rail on the side and I ended up with a deep bruise on the side of my knee. I have enough trouble with my knees. Then, all the mechanical difficulties (which are understandable, really) and all the stopping get frustrating. All of us girls agreed that we would've been happier ending the whole thing after the cenote swim. No doubt, the guys thought it was incredible. Tracey hopped off at the cenote absolutely beside himself with joy. He said it reminded him of when they were kids and used to drive their gocart thru the woods. All the mud and dirt was perfect to him. Chandler had never driven any ATV before so for him it was letting loose like he only wishes he can when dealing with traffic in Houston. Jerry was just as much a kid in a candy store as the other boys. Us girls liked it. It was fun. But the rock terrain beat the crap out of us and it was a little long for our taste. I'm glad I did it. I don't regret it. If it even remotely sounds interesting than absolutely give it a whirl. For me, it's a one-and-done. Next time I'll try something else.
I think I was put-off at the end with the lack of honoring the "special" a good bit. And the unsafe overloading of the taxi back. It ended on a very chintzy note which left a lingering sour taste. KWIM???
