CANCUN, MEXICO — If you think a vacation to Cancun, Mexico, means only lolling on a white-sand beach all day, sipping fancy drinks and nodding off to the lapping waves of the turquoise-blue Caribbean, wake up.
Advertisement
Along with the above, Cancun — a 2½-hour flight from Dallas — offers mucho activities, from swimming with dolphins to holding an alligator to swinging through the jungle. The operative word is "vamanos” or "let's go.”
"This is our fifth time here (to Cancun),” said one California tourist, there with her large extended family. In a seven-day trip, they like to spend five days going and doing, she said.
This day, they did that and more at Selvatica canopy expedition ( www.selvatica.com.mx). On pulleys to which they're double-belted, guests zip down inclined steel cables suspended about 50 feet above the jungle floor. The experience gives a head rush, and even more so when the guides persuade you to ride one leg of the circuit upside down. (Insert Tarzan yell).
"Don't brake until you're there (the next platform),” they'll tell you, before giving you a swift swing to help gravity along.
Your "brake” is a strip of leather sewn inside your glove, with which you can pull down on the cable to slow yourself. The activity, they say, is safe for ages 3 and older. Guides accompany younger children and rescue jittery adults left dangling after they braked too much.
Following the zip line, guests hop on mountain bikes and ride a 1¼-mile path to swim in a "cenote,” or natural spring. After the adrenaline-producing zip line, plunging from a swing rope into the chilly water below is not only a snap, but a welcome, refreshing treat.
The half-day experience, including transportation from your hotel and a tasty chicken fajita and rice lunch, costs $75.
For my daughter Jessica, 6, Cancun's most memorable activity was touching, kissing, dancing and swimming with a dolphin named Picasso. A trainer pointed out his ears (pinholes), belly button and more, while Picasso "talked” to us, jumped about 15 feet in the air and zoomed right by us at about 25 mph.
What does a dolphin feel like?
"An eggplant,” one guest said.
Meeting Picasso was part of a full-day package trip to a 4.3-by-0.6-mile island (Isla Mujeres, or Island of the Woman) 30 minutes by ferry from Cancun. Guests also can ride zip lines, kayak, snorkel (which is awesome, with rays a few feet underneath you) or simply kick back. The trip (www.dolphin discovery.com) costs $89, which includes all food and drink. Try a drink called Miami Vice, which is a cross between a pina colada and daiquiri.
Cancun visitors can touch other creatures at Crococun Park. In the span of a one-hour guided tour, Jessica had a corn snake wrapped around her neck, red tiger lizard in her lap and multicolor macaw on her outstretched finger. Children's cost is $12.50; adult fee is $19.50.
Evening family activities include variety shows at 4:30 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Restaurant. Parents can sip strawberry and other custom-tailored margaritas, while children are treated to an interactive, front-row view of dog tricks, juggling, gymnastics and more.
Consider an evening on board an open-air Captain Hook pirate ship. The three-hour cruise costs $77 for adults and $42 for children, and includes a steak dinner, open bar and '70s tunes to get everyone boogying down.
The highlight is a lifelike sword fight with pirates on a red ship. Caught up in the battle, guests are waving green or red pirate skull flags and cheering for their respective teams.
It's 10:30 p.m. before the ship pulls back to port, which can be a little late for some dead soldiers, er pirates. By the next morning, however, mine was ready for the next Cancun adventure.
Travel and accommodations paid for by the Cancun Conventions and Visitors Bureau, and Marriott CasaMagna.
Leave a comment.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
More Info
About Cancun
•Tourism: Cancun is a travel destination for about 3 million tourists a year, according to the visitors bureau. About 55 percent are Americans, 35 percent Mexican nationals, and the remainder are from Latin America and Europe. The spring break crowd represents only 1 percent of visitors.
•Population: 28,000 in Cancun and 35,000 in Playa del Carmen, which is 80 minutes south.
•Temperature: Ranges from 86 degrees in December and January, the most popular time, to 120 degrees in July and August. Avoid the rainy season of September and October.
•Popular eateries: El Pocito, offering $7 lunch plates of traditional Yucatan pork, beans and purple onions, and Puerto Madero, which serves $20 entrees of steak and seafood.
•Nightlife: Check out Coco Bongo in downtown Cancun, but get there early. For the best seats, people start lining up at 9:40 p.m. for the 10:30 p.m. show (Michael Jackson and Madonna impersonations and more). Cost is $45, which includes unlimited cocktails. Legal drinking age is 18 in Mexico.
•Accomodations: Low-budget lodging is available, but here's a sampling of higher-end hotels:
JW Marriott: Offers butler services and is geared toward world travelers 50 and older. It has 448 rooms, all with ocean views. Rates average $350 a night. Amenities include a spa that spans a whole floor, with ocean views from its gym, showers and indoor pool. Scuba training available on-site with a 14-foot pool that simulates ocean corral.
The Westin Resort and Spa: 379 rooms and 16 pools, all with island-ocean views. Situated between two beaches — an ocean beach and a beach on the lagoon, with about 70 feet of beach in all. Introducing new family activities, including fireside storytelling, stargazing and movie nights. Be sure and dine at the Sea & Stones Restaurant, where guests slowly cook their own meals over hot stones.
Paradisus Riviera Cancun Hotel: Features 496 rooms in 14 bungalows, all named and designed after the Mayan culture. Rates range from $160 per person in the low season to $500 per person at Christmas and include food, drink, nightly shows, nonmotorized water sports, taxes and tips. Children get half price.
Marriott CasaMagna: 452 rooms. Rates range from $169 a night to $250 and $400 during Christmas and New Year's holidays. On-site 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids Club, where young guests, for $35 a day, can make sand castles, pinatas, guacamole and more. Family packages available, including room, continental breakfast, Kids Club and free children's meals, for $260 a night.
Guacamole
4 ripe avocados
1 tomato
½ onion, chopped
cilantro
1 Serrano chilies
lemon juice
salt
•Smash avocado pulp in a bowl and mix with remaining ingredients. Add salt and lemon juice to taste. Serve with corn tortilla chips.
•SOURCE: Chef Antonio Torres of the Marriott CasaMagna in Cancun.
0
