weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Xplor was AWESOME!!!  The morning started a bit frustrating because we had to get up early to go talk to a bank official for Marcos's missing ATM card.  The reason it was frustrating was because the bank opened at 9 am, we were there at 8:50 am, but no one showed up to unlock the doors until 9:20am.  ONLY IN MEXICO!  How unprofessional.  One of the office workers was there on time waiting to start work.  Geez...if I spoke fluent Spanish you all know I would have given them some words.

Moving along...Once we got to Xplor we were so excited I had to pee... not kidding.  I ran across the parking lot in a panic, and was greeted by a kind Xplor employee who pointed out where the toilets were.  Our first excursion was the jeep ride.  This is funny.  At least I thought it was funny.  So Marcos doesn't have a drivers license.  He never really needs one in Cadiz as he lives close to everything and doesn't own a car.  Plus it's a pain in the ass to get one there as you have to take a class, and its spendy!  Knowing he didn't have a license, I offered to let him drive the jeep.  I figured the jeep only goes like 15 mph and he drove the scooter all over Cozumel....I figured it would be fine.  We hopped into the jeep and listened to the nice lady tell us the rules.  "This is forward, neutral and reverse.  Do not get out of the vehicle." blah blah blah.  I could sense this would be an adventure when I saw Marcos with his foot on the gas as he started the vehicle.  Before I could tell him to put the break on, not the gas, he had already started the vehicle but kept turning the key.  It made that horrible grinding noise.  Both the woman and I were like "no no no stop turning the key!".  She looked worried.  I started to sweat.  Then I saw his left foot on the break and his right foot on the gas.  That's when I said "Marcos, I can drive, do you want me to drive?!"  Marcos confessed to the lady in spanish that he didn't have a valid drivers license.  She was like "aaaaaahhhhhh no no no no no you can't drive!!"  It was so funny to see her expression.  So I drove... and we lived!!  Here are some pics:

This actually made me a little nervous.

Next was the zip-lining!  This was the high-lite of the trip!  11 zip-lines, one over alligators, one water slide, and four that zipped into the water!!  Some we got to go on together, but for the most part it was just one of us going solo!! Some went really fast, which was scary when you go to the end.  I thought for sure I was just going to catapult into the open air after the line ended, but those awesome Xplor workers some how stop you!

At the end of this zip-line was a waterfall.  You go so fast that if you get turned around 

your bikini bottoms come off.   Of course this happened to me.  My bum skimmed the water and bam, butt exposed!  Geez, it's embarrassing!

Marcos doing some meditating in the air.

After our zip-lines we treated ourselves to the free lunch they offer.  Um, yeah AMAZING! They had so much food I could have eaten for a year!  It was yummy.  Then off to the next excursion... which was rafting.  This activity wasn't my favorite because it wasn't really rafting.  It was a small boat that you sat in, with paddles attached to your hands and you rowed through the cenotes.  Why they call it rafting?  I don't know.  The only truly entertaining part was about 10 minutes into it, (keep in mind its just Marcos and I in the cave, and it's very quiet, serene, tranquil, etc), when all of the sudden I hear "Helloooo"... almost like in a deep God like voice and it kind of echoed.  I screamed  "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" (it just came out!)... scaring the man more than me...He was a life guard just kind of chilling in the water but I didn't see him, (he was about 2 feet away from me).  

oooooh look at the cenotes!! Did you know that 10cm of Stalactites (the pointy things that hang down from the caves) take over 100 years to form!!??  (No touching Stalactites!)

The last event was the cenotes swim.  It was so nice.  The water was perfect temperature, and it was quiet with awesome lighting all the way through the path.  At the end there was a waterfall that you had to swim through.  

This picture cracks me up.  I think we were trying to look like we were drowning

 but instead we just look crazy!

It was such a fun day!!!  The weather was perfect, sunny but with a nice breeze.  When we left, a storm was coming, rain, thunder and lightening.  I loved it!!

Val left today back home, and we all leave on Monday.  I am excited to get home.  I booked my ticket to Vegas to do research for the book (interview my grandma Sandy) in March, with a night in Salt Lake and a weekend in Boise! YEAH!

Love you all!

xo

Cole