Playa del Carmen II: Tulum Extreme Adventure!

After arriving and settling into the Sandos Playacar Beach Resort and Spa in Mexico,

it was time for Ron and I to go out and explore. So we went for an EXTREME tour of Tulum's Mayan ruins and forests in Cancun --

The ruins "heyday" was in about about 1200 A.D. and housed many Mayan scholars and is located at an important point for trade -- you can read more about them here. What impressed me was the view of the beach -- incredible. The turquoise blue waters of the Carribean just cannot be adequately described.

 Following the Tulum ruins tour, the "extreme" part of the day began -- first, snorkeling in a Cenote - an underground limestone cavern formed over millions of years with stalactites and stalagmites. Incredibly beautiful and many, many of these are found in the Yucatan Peninsula:

The colors are created by the minerals in the water as they drip through, creating sedimentary rock in these awesome formations. The water is crystal clear, and provides a great deal of drinking water to the population in the peninsula. It was totally amazing.

The next part of the day involved rappelling -- yes, rappelling = ropes and jumping off of a platform. I always wondered how this worked, and now, was about to find out. So, we got outfitted with helmets and gear and off through the jungle we walked to the rappelling towers...which were quite high. I mean, VERY high. The view from up there was phenomenal and then, you have to rappel down. It was a BLAST !!!!

Bring it on !!   Ready to GO!

First step down -- "Am I doing okay?"

 Second step down -- totally loving the view!

Third step down and getting ready (giggling the whole time...can't wait to let goooo!)


and DOWN YA GO!!!!!!!!

Next was Ron's turn -- and since I already showed him how it was a piece of cake :)

Like I said -- nothing to it. I was already back on top of the platform by the time he got down --- had to go again!!! Such fun...I see more of this happening in the future. :)

After conquering the rappelling platform it was on to zip-lining. Now, this too was totally new to me and once again required climbing up to great heights on other platforms. Again, the view was awesome. But, zip-lining --- it was hard to imagine what this was gonna feel like...


Diagram and scheme of zip lines:

You get all hooked up into this girdle thingie that makes you feel like you've got a wedgie :) and then you crouch down on the platform, get a handle on the roop, and jump forward....literally zipping across the line in the sky. IT IS AWESOME!!!! You go FAAAAAASSSSTTTT!! I loved it - hands free and all! We went across several lines, each gradually getting longer and longer and faster and faster....

On the last line you go so fast you have to brake in front of the platform and they drag you to the end. Oh my gosh it was such fun!!! Smiles the whole way!

 And Ron totally loved it too :)  I think he started off in a Zen pose:

Yeah...really loved it. We wanted to do some more of this ASAP :) It was an incredible day, followed by an incredible dinner and more plans for Day III of Extreme Adventures!!!