Entilzha
beachaholic
Registered: Sun Feb 29, 2004
Location: Sherbrooke QC
Posts: 289
|
|
Review Date: Mon Nov 29, 2004
|
Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 9
|
|
Pros:
|
Fantastic cave
|
|
Cons:
|
Mucha mosquitoes
|
|
We decided to spend the morning at Atkun Chen which is very close to Akumal. However, it did take a while to get there since you have to take a 3.5 km pothole-filled road through the jungle. Upon arrival, we found out that we had forgotten our bug spray and that dinner was served. Fortunately, there were enough stupid tourists doing the same mistake that bug spray was on sale. I almost immediatly got adopted by Isidoro, a mischevious little baby monkey who was fascinated by my camelpack…especially the bright blue nozzle that you drink from. The kids were extatic. Our assigned guide was Noah and there was only the four of us with him. This led to a very detailed and extensive tour of the large caves where Noah spoke in english and I translated in french for my wife and kids. Aktun Chen is a very extensive and beautiful cave complex with some of the most stunning stalagmite and stalactites displays I have ever seen. The whole tour took almost an hour as Noah would point out each and every little points of interest. He really seemed to enjoy guiding such a small, and very enthousiastic group. There were some large groups that went passed us but we took our time…such beauty is to be enjoyed not rushed through. Sometimes, tree roots would make their way through the cave. There was also a fair amount of wildlife including bats, some nice blue-tinted birds and lizards. There were some pools where the water was extremely pure. If you put your finger in it, the dust at the surface would spread out as if you had placed a drop of soap. You could also see shrimps and other organisms swimming around. Sometimes, there are eels and catfish although we did not see any.
Afterwards, there was a small tour of the jungle where you could observe a selection of fauna and flora. When he showed us a particularly toxic tree, I recognized it as the chenchen tree (as in a previous post from James) and when I mentionned its name, he was stunned. On our way back Isidoro seemed to be happy to see me as he grabbed my hand and walked with me up to the parking. However, when we got in the car, he jumped on the hood and to roof and wouldn’t get down. It was only when a car pulled in with a family that he jumped down and we made our escape. The way back was even slower than the way in since we constantly had to stop to prevent from running over iguanas sunning themselves on the road.
|
|
;)
;)
;)
