Xcaret Hotel

Jessica really knows how to pick em! The Xcaret (pronounced esh-car-eh) is a unique combination of luxury and eco friendly. As with all of these hotels, it is located on the shores of the Carribean side of the Yucutan Pennesula, part of the "Mayan Rivera". There a many verrry nice hotels here. The thing that makes Xcaret stand-out is that it was allowed to integrate among the Mayan ruins. This is unique, since the government tries to isolate and preserve major ruins. And it is adjacent to Xcaret Eco Park, which we will visit later.


Xcaret means "little inlet" in Mayan. Most Mayan cities built along the coast were port cities - for the purpose of trading with other Central American and South American areas further south. The ruins on the grounds are pretty-well documented, but not emphasized nearly enough in my opinion. One could actually not be aware of them while staying at the hotel. We ran into folks who came to "Just eat, drink, and lie on the beach". New Jersey dock worker types. What a waste. O well, it's fun exploring the grounds while the crowds are at the pool or beach.


The whole design of the hotel is an amplification and iteration of the Mayan temple complex, located overlooking the ocean, next to the beach. This means rectangular buildings of limestone base and walls, with a large thatched roofs. Most are open-air, to take advantage of the constant ocean breezes.

Here is a map of the complex:




Notice that it encompasses both beach and jungle. Very nicely. Learning to get around takes a while. Using the pool complex as a major navigation point helps. Paved pathways lead from one building to another. Limestone pathways connect the ruins and snake through the jungle.

OK, lets have a look around. First, here's the crew arriving in Cancun.
Left to right - Jan, Zetta, Me, Mimi, and Jessica. Boy, was it windy! For the whole trip, it blew night and day. I never could go ultralight flying, as the plane was grounded. On the plus side, it helped moderate the effects of high temperature and high humidity.

Here's Mimi and Jessica "Checking in". This turned-out to be the worst part of the trip. We ended-up moving rooms three times for various reasons. After 12 hours on the road, we were too numb to actually get angry. Just schlepped luggage until we got the best rooms, then fell into a deep sleep. A note about the rooms. Verry nice! Air conditioned, t.v., phones, etc. - on the level of a Hyatt room.

Here's Mimi the next day. I thought her face was going to crack with the big smile she had.

Part of the reason for the big smiles was what she was seeing on the patio. We were above the jungle canopy, and exotic birds would come through in the morning, feeding on the berries in the trees. An example is this Tucan, who as part of a threesome. Their bills are ridiculously large and multicolored. When they fly, they launch themselves, their bills being so big that they start taking a header towards the ground. They then stabilize themselves and fly away. Seems like "natural selection" went awry with these guys!




Back to the main building. These are views of the lobby area, on the second floor.

The first floor is a sitting area, by a fountain and with a river running through. It is an actual river, fed by an underground stream. It runs through out the hotel complex and into the park, next door.

In the sitting area are groups of parrots. One of my favorite non-activities was to relax there, watching the antics of the parrots, the people going by, and ordering free drinks. Doesn't get any better than that !

Here is the parrot keeper collects the birds about 5 p.m. They ride around on sticks, and he can carry as many as eight parrots at a time. I think they look forward to returning to their communal cage, where they catch up on the news, eat, and sleep.

The parrots like to play with things, like little sticks, and even lime stones. Give one a peso, and it will be happy all day. (But be sure to give one to each, as they get jealous)

Traveling around the grounds, we encountered separate buildings for some of the rooms. This one has an extensive putting green near it.

Part of the pool complex. The pools are designed to simulate cenotes, with rivers connecting them.

The beach area is small, but nice - protected from the surf, which can be brutal during storms and winds.

When calm, the rocky coast is nice for snorkeling, as the fish like to hang-out among the rocks.

When walking the grounds, you never know what you may run across. Here is a ring-tailed lemur, scrounging for food tidbits.