My fiancé and I were visiting Cancun for our 2 years anniversary and we're looking for some fun excursions to do while we were out there. We were looking at the brochures in our hotel lobby and stumbled upon Aktun Chen. One of the staff highly recommended Tulum and the cenotes (subterranean rivers) on our first day of arrival, so we took that into consideration and booked it. After visiting Chichen Itza the day before and one of my fiancé's friend informing us that Tulum was pretty similar to it, we decided that we didn't want to go there anymore. We spoke to our hotel representative that helped us. Surprisingly, the company was willing to change part of the excursion to zip lining instead, which was super cool. We were told to be ready at the hotel lobby by 7:10AM.
The next morning, we are in the lobby on time and the tour company scooped us up in a van. We proceed to pick up other people and got dropped off at a big souvenir shop in the hotel zone, where we are hurdled like cattle into long lines within the shop, according to our destinations. My fiancé and I were looking at each other and wondering what is going on, as are other guests because we ended up standing there idle for a good 30 minutes. Finally the line started to move and we are loaded onto a bus and off we go.
My fiancé and I were the only ones that opted for the zip lining tour, so we got dropped off by ourselves on a dirt road. The bus guide said, wait here and someone will pick you up. At first we were skeptical because the whole thing started off as very unorganized, but low and behold; a van comes and picks us up. We drove about 3 miles down this dirt road and ended up at Aktun Chen Parque Natural Park.
We were greeted by a group of nice staffs and they lead us to our journey. They introduced us to Javier and Daryclio, who helped us get prepared with equipments and gave us thorough instructions of what to do. The zip lining was pretty fun and consisted of 8 lines and 2 bridges. They were both was very nice and funny as they led us through the jungle. The best part? There wasn't any hiking involved to get to each zip line. It was pretty much going up some stairs by starting point and zipping from line to line from there. After we were done, we cleaned up and went on to the underground dry caves. On a side note, remember to bring plenty of mosquito repellent. You will get eaten alive, maybe even if you have repellent on. These mofos are persistent and are starving!
As we were waiting to go to the underground caves, we were dodging mosquitoes left and right to the point of hopelessness. Finally our next host, Diego, came and saved us by taking us underground were there weren't many bloodsuckers. He went on and gave us a very informative tour of caves and how the stalactites were formed. My fiancé and I were pretty impressed of how elaborate and deep the cave system went. In my honest opinion, it was all that was expected to be, because it was recommended as one of the top 10 National Geographic underground walks. To top it off, Diego showed us a awesome surprise at the end.
After the cave tour, we were taken to a restaurant within the park, where we were greeted by a friendly server who seated us and brought us unlimited salsa as fiancée was so in love with it. We picked the chicken fajitas and tacos, since those seemed to be the most appealing at the time. To be honest, the food wasn't that great, but it did the job. We finished up and strolled out the restaurant through somewhat of a zoo. There were a lot of deers walking around freely, as well as some caged monkeys and crocodiles. As we made our way out we ran into a wild boar that seemed to have escaped its cage, but it didn't pose any harm to us; as it quickly ran away as we approached it.
The last activity of the tour was the cenote (underground river). This was my favorite part by far, maybe because we had sweated so much all day and it was a nice way to finally cool off. Our guide, Jorge, was very informative and didn't rush us as we swam through the cave. After he was done, he let us remain in the water to explore on our own. The water was cold at first, but we got used to it quickly. It wasn't until I started to notice my hands were turning numb, that it was time to get out! We actually had about 90 minutes to kill before the bus was coming for us so we just sat around and laid in the hammocks until then. Again, repellent is a must when doing such thing!
All in all, we would recommend this tour to those that are looking for adventure and to experience something different than just the beach. read more