Tulum Xtreme (Thursday in Mexico)

It's been a LONG time since a Mexico trip update. Gavin's in the tub, celebrating his birthday, the other boys are outside playing with friends, so I have a few minutes to finish this post. Enjoy!

So, on Thursday, Wayne & LaRean decided to stay at the resort, get a massage, kick back, relax . . . Brandon & I decided to head off for some "Xtreme" fun! We saw a brochure for a zip line that was called Tulum Xtreme. We thought that it was included in the Tulum tour (the ruins), but it wasn't. So, we decided to try that.

Our guide, Carlos, picked us up in a van at 7:30 in the morning. I dozed on and off, and wasn't really awake to see where they were taking us. Apparantely, Brandon was quite concerned, although he didn't let me know, because they got off the main road at one point and were taking us farther and farther away from civilization. As we looked around, we saw more and more rundown houses, mangy dogs running around, and lots of jungle. Finally, though, they got us back on the main road (I guess that way was shorter), and went around to pick up the others who were participating that day.

We drove through the jungle for a while over bumpy roads, and finally arrived. Carlos checked our group in, and we were told that we got to do the zip line first, the rappeling second, and the underwater cave last. So, the workers got us all hooked up with our equipment, Carlos demonstrated the proper way to sit while doing the zip line, and then we climbed!

I don't know how high the towers were, but they were pretty high. I was first in line, and as we all got to the top, Carlos hooked us all up to safety lines so that if, by chance, we went over the edge of the tower, we wouldn't fall far. Then, he hooked me up, showed me how to sit with the line behind one of my shoulders, and shoved me off the tower!

Oh, how exhilerating! There were some in our group that were nervous, or kept saying they couldn't do it (there was actually one girl that decided not to do it and climbed back down the tower), but not me! I've been on zip lines before (thanks Snow College) and I loved it! This was awesome to be zooming through the jungle with the trees on either side of me, and just flying! The ride was over all too soon, but we had two more lines to go. Brandon soon joined me, and then we watched as the rest of our group zipped down.

Once we were done with the zip line, we were instructed to go up one platform and wait for the rest of the group and our guide. Once Carlos was with us again, we hiked up a couple more platforms to the next zip line. Brandon went first this time, but Carlos had a challenge for us. He wanted us to run off the platform instead of having him push us off. This sent the rest of the group into frantic mutterings and titterings (yes that's a real word), but Brandon & I just looked at each other and grinned. Carlos unhooked him from the safety line, and I watched my husband of 9+ years run off the platform into nothingness! He LOVED it!!

Carlos wasn't sure if I wanted to run, and when I replied that I did, his eyes got big, and he clapped for me. Off I ran - it was a BLAST!! How awesome! We again waited for the rest of our group, and then climbed the rest of the way up the tower. This one went all the way to the ground, so it was by far the longest line since it started even higher than the other two. This time, Carlos shoved us off, and then bounced on the line for some extra fun! Some people didn't want that, but man, for me, bring it on!!

As we got to the ground, the workers helped us unhook the couple of hooks that are only used for the zip line, but left the rest of the gear on so that we could rappel. We waited for Carlos, and then off we went. He again gave us a demonstration of how to rappel, "Knees straight, butt out." He told us that we couldn't be all lady-like with our legs together and our knees bent, but we had to stick our butt out. Someone yelled out, "We gotta' be sexy!" From then on, whenever someone forgot to stick their behind out, Carlos told us to "Get your sexy on!" It was really funny, and our group was great!

Brandon & I were the last ones in our group to go, and to be honest, I was more nervous than Brandon was. I've been rock climbing and rappelling before, and I loved it. But, when I went then, I had a rock face to push off of and slide down. This time, other than the first three boards to help us get our bodies straight out, we had nothing. It was kind of unnerving for me, but I did it!

After this, we went back to the base and were able to change into our swimsuits for our underground cave snorkeling. Since it was in the water, and underground, we didn't take our camera, but I'll put some pictures of the cave in the slideshow. It was incredible! It was shorter than what we were expecting and wanting, but all the same . . . Awesome! Stalagtites hanging from the ceiling and dipping into the water; stalagmites jutting up from the ground and just appearing out of nowhere. It wouldn't have been smart to just go swimming there - you couldn't tell where you were going or when you might hit a rock. We had very strict instructions, though, not to touch any of the rock as it would ruin its growth. Kind of hard to do with a bunch of people all clustered together stirring up the water, but we managed, with only a few touches to rock!

Once we were done with our adventure, they served us lunch in one of the huts there. I couldn't stand the thought of sitting for another 2 - 3 hours in my wet swimming suit, so Brandon & I changed clothes before eating. Lunch was yummy - grilled steak strips, rice, tortillas and beans, Sprite! Then we loaded up in our van, and left, not realizing that we had left Brandon's new Skechers shoes on top of our locker. They're long gone by now. *sigh*

When we got back to the hotel, we headed to our room for a quick check-in with Wayne & LaRean, and then on to a nap. When we got to our room, we saw that our housekeeper had seen our new turtle that we bought in Playa, and made a turtle out of one of our towels! It was pretty cool! Just goes to show that it really does pay to tip! We woke up in time to get ready for dinner - this time at El Ranchito (which means the ranch.) You can imagine what they had for dinner here - salad, beef broth, and a type of steak. SO good, and SO much better than the previous nights' liver.

As we left dinner, we noticed that they had a mini-market set up in the plaza area of the hotel. Everything from jewelry, clothing, paintings, hats . . . So, we wandered. We stood and watched one guy paint for about 30 minutes. He was using spray paints, and his paintings were incredible. I don't even know to describe how he was painting, but it was cool!

We thought about getting one of the paintings, and then remembered the hotel's jewelry store. Brandon & I went in and asked about their rings. The woman there started pulling out rings for us to look at. Unfortunately, they didn't have the one that I had fallen in love with at Playa del Carment (and I don't even have a picture of that one), but I didn't find one that I did like. We ended up getting that one, and I'm happy we did. It's still a little big for my ring finger, but as the summer wears on (if it ever stops raining), I imagine that I'll start to swell up more and it'll fit. If not, it's easy to get it sized-down.

After our wanderings, we headed back to our rooms. We had decided to call the boys again that night since internet access was really expensive, and we weren't able to keep in touch with them. So, we called, and talked with Scott for a minute (he was not talkative at all), then with B. B asked Brandon, "Dad, did you get me a . . . well what you said you'd get me?" (A souvenir.) Brandon answered that we had, then B asked, "Well, what is it?" Of course, we had to tell him it was a surprise, to which he responded, "Well, is it a little toy horse?" (No idea where that came from!!)

After we laughed with B for a bit, we got Gavin on the phone. Apparantely, he had wanted to talk to us alone, but B was still on the phone, so he broke down, sobbing. "I wa-a-a-ant-t-t mm-y-y-y-y m-o-o-o-m-m-m-m." He was just sobbing for all he was worth, so of course, I had to cry, too. I missed him so much (even though he's so super-energetic that I can't keep up with him some days.) We told him we loved him, then hung up. I cried for a bit, missing my boys. (Apparantely, after we hung up, Scott stood next to Anne Marie, who was comforting Gavin, and said, "I don't know why I can't cry. I want to, but I can't." He's such a cute kid!)

Then, the hotel hosted a local group that puts on musicals. We thought it would be interesting, so we went and checked it out. They re-did Grease, sort of. They just did the major scenes, and sang the songs. Well, that's an overstatement. They lip-sinked (or tried to) the songs. "Danny" did pretty good. "Sandy" was awful. She was so concerned about doing her dance moves right, that more often than not she forgot to sing. Oh, and they were Mexicans, trying to lip-sink in English. Anyway, Brandon & I ended up leaving early.

After sitting through that painful rendition of Grease, Wayne, Brandon & I decided to head to the beach for a bit, while LaRean headed to bed. Brandon & I played in the water (no swimsuits, so just our feet and legs), got some pictures, and decided to come back first thing in the morning to watch the sunrise. It's still the coolest thing to me that we were swimming and playing in the Caribbean! There's almost nothing better in the world than listening to the sound of the waves on the shore, feeling the warm water on your feet, and enjoying the beauty that God made.

Friday's next! Hopefully sometime soon!