MEXICO TRIP JUNE 24th

THURSDAY, JUNE 24TH

XCARET/DISNEYLAND OF MEXICO

This is the map of the whole Excaret park/we tried to get in as much as possible Excaret had performers throughout the park, (check out the men on the pole). One of the adventures was snorkeling in the parks Lagoon. I think Yal-Ku Lagoon beat Excaret with the colorful fish, still it was lots of fun snorkelingThe park had huge turtles, the baby turtles were in several different tanks. We also saw a butterfly pavilion, we saw leopards only surround by a mote, Sydney's favorite was the dolphins and Collin's favorite was the sharks. We snorkeled through a centote, it was a very-very long cave, but lots of fun and there were many other things to see and do if only we had the time. Right in the middle of the park were real Mayan ruins Grandpa sitting on a ruin waiting for someone to decide where to go next. This was a very beautiful church, inside they had a tree(representing Christ) carved in a very different way, but very impressive. I'm taking a picture of Natalie taking a picture of the kidsThe grounds were full of beautiful flowers, plants and waterfalls

At the end of the day the park had a 3 hour program, representing the changes that occurred as the the Spanish people came from the old world and established themselves here. The Mayans dwindled along with their culture as the Spaniards settled in. This picture I took was at the beginning of the program these Mayan men are blowing horns signaling the start of the big game......side note it was the winners of the game who would be sacrificed, as they felt it an honor.

The warriors are trying to get the ball into the rings(see on both sides of the stage). Every ruin we went to had one of these ball parks. The warriors can only use their hips head and trunk of their body to hit the ball. The crowd cheered on as the ball went into the rings several times. Good thing they are only actors so winners won't have to be sacrificed The program was long, but well worth it. Seeing all the beautiful costumes and learning more about the culture of the Mayan people to the people of today was moving.It was a wonderful night and happily the program kept the kids spell bound EXCARET WAS A GREAT ADVENTURE