Xcaret X-Factor
An hour's drive from Cancun is Riviera Maya Cancun's Xcaret Ecological Park in--a lush rainforest, wildlife and beach sanctuary that also showcases several Mayan ruins and a breathtaking subterranean river that goes for miles and miles under the ground and inside the caves. Xcaret at once is a merry mish-mash of sunny beaches, hordes of bats, colorful talking birds, friendly dolphins, two-piece babes, Mayan rituals and swimming underground with a friend who's afraid of the dark and the deep, and virtually blind!
I can't believe I've been pronouncing the name wrong for years! Xcaret is actually pronounced SHKAH-ret, not EKS-caret as I've been saying for at least 8 years! My apologies! Xcaret is a Mayan word meaning small inlet.
Backgrounder: Several small Mayan ruins lie through the park's 200 acres. This settlement was at its peak from 1400 to approximately 1517 AD. The Mayas are said to have bathed in the inlet to purify their bodies before traveling to Cozumel to worship Ixchel, Goddess of Fertility. With the idea of a tourism development that would add to the attractions of the region, a group of Mexican entrepreneurs purchased the land surrounding Xcaret. In 1984 architect Miguel Quintana Pali, captivated by the spot’s natural beauty, purchased 5 hectares of this wonderful parcel from the group with the idea of building his dream home. However, when he began to clear the land, he started uncovering cenotes formed by collapsed cave ceilings weakened by 3 million years of erosion from underground rivers running through them and flowing into the sea. He felt that so much beauty should not be accessible only to a privileged few. Quintana began to formulate the idea of a Natural Park open to the public and soon joined forces with Oscar, Marcos and Carlos Constandse to achieve this goal. Thus, the Xcaret Eco-Park was born.
