Having Fun With Shannon O´Donnell at Xplor Park.

Back in July we had the opportunity of spending a full day with one of our favorite travel bloggers in one of our favorite places in the Riviera Maya as it is Xplor Park, here is a recap of how was we were having fun with Shannon O´Donnell from A Little Adrift and her two nephews, Victor (10) and Erik (11).

Entering the caves.

9:00 AM Meeting Point: At the park´s entrance we met Shannon, Victor and Erik, talked with the boys about what we were going to do while we were getting our helmets and our locker keys, then we headed to the lockers to change and leave our belongings dry and secured.

9:30 AM - Energy Milkshake Time: We had a quick stop at “El Manantial” one of the park´s energy bars, we had delicious energy milkshakes and smoothies like “The Zipline” and “The Monkey”, oatmeal cookies and bananas so get a shot a energy we needed to kick off the day.

Shannon and Eric ready to fly.

9:45 AM – All Geared Up To Zipline: There are 2 circuits at the park a little bit more than 2 miles of ziplines with 14 towers and bridges from different heights and lenghts, we left the decision of choosing where to start to the boys who – for obvious reasons – chose “The Jaguar” which has the highest ziplines of the park, needless to say they ran up the stairs and the excitement only grew everytime we were getting hooked to a new zipline. Both boys Victor and Erik were pretty excited but we must say Victor takes the cake, he always wanted to go higher and faster.

11:00 – Water Ziplines: “The Deer” zipline circuit has pretty nice views and a few surprises such as water ziplines which were really refreshing after going up stairs, towers and climbing on ladders for more than an hour. Crystal clear and cool cenote waters gave us a boost of energy we needed.

Fun driving the amphibius vehicles

11:15 AM – Amphibius Vehicles: The boys asked if they could drive and Erik very eloquently told us how he drives an ATV back at home in Florida so by that time of the day we already knew these boys are a force of nature to reckoned with. We jumped on the Amphibius Vehicles and just drove around the jungle circuit passing water streams and through cave tunnels. It is always exciting to speed up a little to feel all the bumps on the jungle road and the fresh air on our faces.

12:00 AM – Water Rafts: Xplor Park lays on top of an intricate cavern and underground river system with impressive rock formations and cool turquoish waters. There´s an underground dock where you ge ton a raft and paddle with a very peculiar bamboo like hand paddle through the underground river. This way of “kayaking” is exceptional since we had to be very careful to not hit the stalactites and stalagmites.

12:45 PM – Lunch Time: It is hard to believe that only 3 hours had passed but we were ready to take a break and lunch was just the most logical thing to do, right? We headed to “El Troglodita” which is Xplor´s Buffet Restaurant. One of the many things we love about this park is the fact that they think about your apetite, with a great variety of dishes for all sizes and tastes, so if you are a vegetarian you can have a feist and if you, on the other hand are a BBQ lover you can have amazing burgers as well.

Fun!

1:45 PM – Water Hammocks: Very close from “El Troglodita” we found the ater hammock station. We intended on spending some time relaxing in the regular hammock area but oh well, with a boys this energetic we went to try the more fun water hammock ziplines and we were not disappointed! We could do that all day long!

2:30 PM – Underground River: There are two circuits within the underground river, a short one that lasts about 6-10 minutes and a long circuit of about 35 minutes. We decided to take the short one but it was so much fun that we decided to go through the long circuit as well, this time Erik was our leader in the underground river, making jokes and looking at all the cool rock formations.

4:00 PM – Let´s Meet at The Heart: We reunited with Shannon and Victor at “The Heart” which is a massive heart shape sculpture that beats near the locker area, the eco of the cave makes it sound all over the place, there we went over the photo stations with the number of our helmets to watch the photos that were taken in different areas of the park throughout the day. It´s funny how many weird face expressions we can have. Then back to our dry clothes.

Shannon, Victor and Eric at the heart of the Earth.

4:30 PM – No es un Adiós, es un Hasta Luego: The best way to translate this would be “It is not Good Bye but a See You Later” kind of situation. The boys were happy and exhausted and so were we – the adults – that had to keep up with Victor and Erik the entire day. We huged and high fived and exchanged more tips about places to visit in Yucatan until we said “See You Later”.

It is always fun and rewarding when I get to meet people whom I follow and admire like Shannon and it was extra special because it was Victor and Erik´s first trip out of the United States, so I know they will have the memory of their day at Xplor Park and of having fun with us there. Another thing was very clear to me is that travel and adventure are a family thing there. Also very special thansk to our friend Leonel from Experiencias Xcaret who took us through the shortcuts of the park and make the most out of our day. Hope to have you guys back soon!