Get Real Chronicles

*as you can see we were a tad concerned that we might not be fit enough for this.
We took a ferry from the cruise ship to the dock where we to meet our guide. The ferry made people very sick. Even though the ferry (see picture) was relatively big our cruise ship dropped anchor far out. If memory serves, I believe the day started out overcast and looked like it was going to rain. The wind increased choppiness of the waves.

Without grossing you ALL out, I will give you the reader’s digest version and say all restrooms were occupied, and they had handy bags the attendances handed you as you entered the ferry. I tried not to notice sometimes visual is all that can triggers a sea sickness episode. I thankful had taken Dramamine to insure I would be okay, but have to say I did get queasy…must have been the visual aids or the moaning.

On the dock our guide held up a sign with our big adventure’s name on it and 6 brave souls took off in the excursion van. I wonder if The Howell’s, The Professor, Ginger, or Mary Ann felt this way. Of course, ours was on land.

It took around thirty minutes give/ take to arrive in the DEEP jungle. In fact, I questioned that we did arrive because our van turned down an unmarked dirt road. My wheeby gebbie radar was started to kick up, but after a turn we saw the check in hut. When the van stopped everyone unloaded. Our guide told us they had a special surprise for us. A local Shaman was going to do a ceremony to bless us and they were going to prepare a traditional Mexican meal.

The guy in the check in hut, I didn’t catch his name, gave us instructions of our first leg (Mountain Bike). He pointed the row of standard mountain bikes and helmets. He said we were to ride down this path aka road to the bottom to meet a larger group to do #2 leg of our adventure (zip line).

Now before I continue with the adventure details I have to stop and tell this sideline story and to be honest it is where the story started.

I was in GREAT need to find a restroom. As you will remember on the ferry all bathrooms were busy. To clarify I had not been since early that morning on the ship. The pain from the choppiness on the ferry, bumping road in the van and the bouncy bike ride only increased my discomfort. When we reached the bottom of the hill, where the larger group was gathering in front of a changing area, I asked where the restrooms where. Our #2 guide pointed to the "potty".

You will have to envision this because I cannot locate a picture to help. This was a thatched roof outhouse. You had to walk 3 or 4 steps to enter an oval shape building. I am going to guess on the dimensions since this was some time ago. The building walls were about 5.5 tall before the thatched roof began. I remember some of the taller men would have to duck their heads to enter the men’s side. The walls were made up of tree branches 2-3 inches in diameter wired together with the middle of the "walls" covered in a mud straw mixture. This resembled a banded effect leaving an area at the top and a 6-8 inch gap off the ground. I guess this was for “ventilation”.

I went in and saw a concrete floor with a circle the size of a manhole or a little bigger located on the back side of the structure. Again without go into major details here because that boarders TMI. I started to do my business when I hear running feet. If you are a girl you will understand the squat pose, but understand that the hole was enormous so you couldn’t do a sit squat or you might fall in. I was bracing my arms on my legs for balance so my head was pointing downward when I saw PEEPING PEDRO. I just about died when I heard then saw a figure behind me. I was so surprised, freaked out that I abruptly stopped in mid stream and yanked up my clothes. I came storming out where my poor husband, Thomas was waiting for me. As I explained what happened, and jokingly said he wasn’t protecting me. I pointed the workers where at least a dozen or so were in some sort of building progress some were watching us. Since I didn’t SEE who he was I couldn’t call him out so we walked over where the group was. When we sat down with the group I warned the girls to NOT to go over there. Thomas said, “Well wait till be go snorkeling and go there.” But someone in the group spoke up saying I better not do that since the people in the area drink that water. Great, prefect! I will say that the end result could have been worse I could have fallen in the hole.

Zip line:

They first strapped us into a harness, which is similar to rappelling. It was comical get into this and trying to walk/keep up with the group. I always thought I was a Lucile Ball clone, so with that comment you can use your imagination to envision this act. I don’t know if trying to recreate or describe walking, sitting, trying to insert legs through tiny holes, walking again, being yanked on (off the ground) to finally hear a snap. I guess on the positive side, there was not any middle strap to give someone a wedgie.

While hiking up to the first line our guide gave us a short orientation about the three different lines small, medium and large. He also explained the do’s and don’ts. There was a two man team on each platform (sending/receiving) that hooked you onto the zip line. Each time a new person was hooked they handed them a “break” AKA a tree branch. The guide would say, “If you need to slow down pull the branch down” and pull the branch to show them. Some people would speed through while other would stop short missing the platform and dangle in mid air. I was one of those danglers on the last line. I had to take my “break” off the line and hop several times the receiving team would bounce the line to get me to the end. For someone that suffers from vertigo this wasn’t necessarily fun, but have to say that it was better that climbing up the structure. See photo it was 60 feet from the ground.

The last line as I said was the 60 footer and over the water. We didn’t crash into the lagoon like you see some zip line adventures do. If you see the picture below (tube) then you will notice a big rock. This tends to be BAD for zip lining…you can’t dodge those.

After our last zip line we went down to a cave, which was filled with 30+ feet of crystal clear water. The water was chilly, but after you got in was really refreshing. With the mask on you could see down to the bottom and it was really deceiving on how far down it was to the bottom. I tried to swim down a few times, but the pressure made your ears pop.

We finished up the day with a traditional Mayan meal and the food was great. I didn’t try the Habanera salsa because they said it was really HOT, and since I still had to go to the bathroom I didn’t want to chance it. We talked with some of the locals to find out what the food was called. Someone was saying how hot the salsa was which made them laugh and they said that was mild the hottest was the green salsa. They suggested we try some. Lisa and I refused, but our guys took the “dare” and turned bright red. We all had a big laugh.

When lunch was over our guide loaded us back into the van and dropped us off at the pier. It reminded me of Galveston’s boardwalk shopping area. My first order of business was to find the restroom, which I am happy to say I did after long last. We did some shopping for family and met our ferry. The ferry ride back was as eventful as it was going, bathrooms in constant use and lots of moaning. I was really glad, and glad is an understatement, that I went already. However, Thomas due to the green salsa had to stand in line.