Yucatan jungle adventure trip is like 'Survivor'
08:50 PM CDT on Thursday, June 19, 2008
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – After steering the manual-shift open-air buggy through 10 miles of bumpy jungle roads, we climbed 18 feet up a tottering rope ladder to reach a thin-planked bridge that we traversed between tree platforms. No television crew followed us around, but we felt as though we were on Survivor.
Adventure travel in the Yucatan is growing, with zip-line and canopy tours advertised widely. We chose Jungle Discovery Park, 10 miles outside Playa del Carmen.
Getting to the park from the tour company office was half the fun. When making a reservation, visitors choose to drive to the park on an ATV, a buggy or a "folk truck." We quickly ruled out the latter as too tame after looking at pictures on the Web.
Though everyone else chose ATVs, we opted for the buggy: a cut-down VW Beetle with no shocks.
"You're gonna get dirty," said Daniel, our guide. With the top half of the buggy sawed off (i.e., no windows or windshield), he was right.
My husband, Mark, hadn't used a stick shift since learning to drive 20 years ago, so we went last, following the cloud of dust trailing from the ATVs. Another guide brought up the rear, making sure we didn't careen into the bushes.
As the driver, Mark got goggles, and, after two minutes on the road, I wished I had them, too. My sunglasses were immediately caked with mud, as Mark aimed the buggy into every mud-filled pothole. Not that I complained. I was too busy laughing and trying to keep dirt from splattering into my mouth.
We pulled into the park a half-hour later, and Daniel led the group to a hut where we were fitted with harnesses.
With a little instruction, we headed to our first challenge. At the top of a rope ladder was a tiny platform surrounding a tree. Between that platform and the next, 30 feet or so away, was a bridge of widely spaced, thin planks. Although there was a rope to hold, I thought, "I can't do that."
I stood below, watching. Then seeing that everyone made it safely across, including a portly older man, I decided to try the transit. I was shaking as I climbed the ladder and made my first step onto the planks. I was 18 feet high, hooked into two cables. If I fell, I wouldn't go far.
I needn't have worried. I made it, and it was on to the next tree.
We crossed several variations of the plank bridge, including the cannon walk, the thin line and the bridge of life, before we came to the Yucatan's version of the Eiffel Tower.
The French connection is strong at the park. The owner is a French expatriate who saw a similar park in France and returned to Mexico to create a Western Hemisphere version. He leased land for the park from a peasant landowner community. (Foreigners can't own land.) The park had more challenges, but several were destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Too bad. It would have been fun to have more. Still, there was the "Eiffel Tower."
We climbed a ladder to a tree platform at least 60 feet above the jungle floor. It helped not to look down when climbing. I checked my safety cable every few steps as well. Terrifying? Yes. But the zip line to the bottom was exhilarating.
Then, grabbing towels we'd brought with us (which the guides wisely put in plastic bags before the dusty drive), we descended 52 feet down yet another ladder into a swimming hole in a cave.
The Yucatan has the world's longest underwater cave system, and this prime specimen was complete with dramatic lighting, stalagmites and stalactites.
The water was clear and cool, giving me a clean feeling that stayed with me. At least until we got back into the buggy.
At our hotel, we needed several showers to remove the dirt from our hair. Our T-shirts were hopelessly stained. But when I make it into the Survivor cast, I'll be ready.
Deborah Abrams Kaplan is a writer in California.
Adventure park
Discovery Jungle Park, 011-52-984-206-24-84; www.discoveryjunglepark.com. Two tours daily. Price: $48 to $80 a person. Picks up in Playa del Carmen and hotels on the Riviera Maya between Tulum and Puerto Morelos.
Lodging options
•Blue Parrot, Calle 12 Norte and Avenida 1 Norte in Playa del Carmen. Boutique hotel on the beach. Rooms: fall, from $99; winter, $180. Contact: 011-52-984-206-3350; www.blueparrot.com.
•Hotel Hacienda del Caribe, Calle 2 Norte, between Avenidas 5 and 10, Playa del Carmen. Colorful hotel a few blocks from the beach. Rooms: from $53. Contact: 011-52-984-873-3132; www.haciendadelcaribe.com.
Where to eat
•Yaxche Maya Cuisine Restaurant, Calle 8, between Avenidas 5 and 10, Playa del Carmen. Award-winning Mayan cuisine. Get a seat outdoors in the ruinlike setting. Contact: www.mayacuisine.com.
Resources
•Riviera Maya Tourism Board, 1-877-746-6292; www.rivieramaya.com.
•Mexico Tourism Board, 1-800-446-3942; www.rivieramaya.com.