A few people warned me that XelHa was not much more than a tourist trap but I didn't listen. And I'm glad. Considering that 11 bucks bought me a tiny omelette on two pieces of Bimbo white bread with a flavorless cup of coffee and no refills on the beach where I was staying, I made the admission price back on the all inclusive food and beverage I consumed. High end stuff. Smoked salmon for breakfast. Steak for lunch. It might have lacked rugged backpacker cool but I enjoyed a day of luxury with no shame.
Lots of cenotes to check out. Mostly, it was all about the snorkelling.
I've never had very good luck snorkeling before and I chalked it up to all the years of heavy smoking destroying my lung capacity. I could never get enough air through that straw called a snorkel. Inevitably I'd get a mouthful of water and panic - "Ah! I'm drowning. Get me out of here!"- yanking my head out of the water, ripping the mask out of my way. That all changed after Xhela when an American lady taught me the secret. "Just bite down on the snorkel. I don't know why it works but it does. It sort of focuses your breathing." By golly, it worked. I ended up spending hours out there on the lake. Snorkelling is such a blast and it works up a great appetite for the buffet. I got to keep the snorkel as a souvenir. I think I'll invest in a pair of flippers since I'll be spending a year in Beachland.
I wonder why no one told me this before. Did they have poor communication skills or was I just not listening? This woman changed my life. I returned the favor by warning her about the moray eel I'd seen poking it's snout out from under a rock in the Mayan cave. You can see it for yourself in the video.
It was a park alright but it still had authentic underwater wildlife and the "Don't touch the fish" signs should be the order of the day; not just for the sake of the fish but yourself. For example, I wouldn't have dreamed of touching the stingray on the sandy lake bottom. It's not like these are tamed domestic sea critters.
I still had the waterproof camera bag from Carribean Bay in Korea and put it to good use, snapping pictures of everything. I couldn't see much through the view finder but a lot of pictures turned out very well. I kept seeing so much incredible stuff long after the batteries died.
1 comment:
awesome! I was there, too the one time I was in Mexico. I know it's a total tourist trap, but it had a million hammocks and great snorkeling.
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