This huge park was created to promote love and respect for nature and Mexico's cultural heritage and it is magnificent. Xcaret (ish ca ret) means 'small inlet' in Maya and for over a thousand years it was a very important port and ceremonial center in the Yucatan Peninsula.
We looked at parrots, flamingos, manatees, Jaguar island and walked to the river entrance. Here we donned our bright pink life jackets and walked through a long winding staircase and cave to an open cenote and stepped into the river. We floated along on the current, about a mile, taking an hour or so. There were 7 of us floating together. We went through narrow high walled canyons, small openings to the park and viewers above, under the future insect house which had an amazing 30 x 30' stained glass roof way above us of hundreds of butterflies, made from 102,000 pieces of lead crystal, under waterfalls, through caves, short and long, with and without light, through a mangrove growth and finally into a lagoon by the ocean where it ended. You can see the tunnel where we came out. It was just a blast.
This complex is huge and it would take a week to explore it all. We through a Maya village, with
St. Francis of Assisi Church where mass is celebrated every Sunday overlooking the ocean, and
a Mayan Village Mexican Cemetery . These are very colorful here with ornate gravestones. It has a cave grotto on the walk where there were hundreds of lit votive candles and the shelves were comletely covered with white wax. There was a woman weaving, a man making baskets, a candlemaker in a shop and more. We passed the ball court, swung in hammocks be the sea and had a wonderful day.
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