Yesterday was a pretty intense day in an amazing way I promise! We arranged for a group of us to go to this “Adventure Park” attraction thing near Puerto Morelos. It sounds pretty touristy and yes compared to our other Dawley-funded adventures, but it was still an amazing day of adrenaline.

We started off with an ATV ride through the forest. The road, as expected, was a dusty dirt path full of potholes, rocky hill, and rough patches. I would go so far as to call the entire road one colossal rough patch, which was perfect for ATVing. And when I say, “We started off with an ATV ride,” what I mean is, I drove an ATV through the forest on a rocky, dusty path. Yes, I was the driver of that particular vehicle and it was exhilarating! It didn’t take long to get the hang of it and so sooner than later I was conquering rocky inclines and whizzing through dirt clouds.

The path led to a cenote – a pretty cenote with sparkling water and lily pads (since it was on the surface as opposed to being underground). The unique aspect of this cenote was the jumping platform 35 ft above the water. We all jumped from this ledge several times and had a blast. But then the guide showed us that an adjacent tree gave us an even higher vantage point and a couple of us indulged, myself included.



The next cenote was subterranean, about 20 ft underground. Inside the cavern, which we shared with a bat, there was a small zip line. We used this wire apparatus to fly from a raised platform and drop into the water. It was a great deal of fun. We also enjoyed the 20 ft jump from above ground, through a large hole into the water below.

Finally, we ended our day of adventure by ziplining between two trees. It was probably the most underwhelming experience of the day, but was still incredible amounts of fun. I mean I will never turn down the opportunity to whizz between trees from high heights. Plus, you get to wear these really fashionable harnesses that look something like a handyman’s girdle. Mmmmmm, so good.



There was one aspect of the day that I found less than thrilling and that was my encounter with a small white nosed coati. Look it up on the internet for a picture, but it’s essentially a long-nosed raccoon with a prehensile tail (if you can imagine). They’re actually pretty cute, and one of the guides brought his pet coati out as part of the day’s entertainment. We posed with the coati and a couple of boa constrictors having a grand old time until the owner’s let go of their fuzzy coati’s leash and it attacked my camera. Now, I have a certain reputation with cameras; they tend to disappear or break while within my possession so I was not terribly thrilled to see my camera turned into a raccoon’s chew toy. So once it had stopped “examining” my camera and curled up rather calmly next to it, I reached down to retrieve my camera before any more danger could befall it. Sure enough, the coati had taken a liking to my camera and lashed out at my hand biting furiously. Little bugger. Animals just seem to like biting me. Should I reconsider my future as a biologist? It could be a sign, but I’ll choose to ignore it.

DISCLAIMER: Since I know my parents are reading this, let me assure you that yes I was bitten by a relatively wild animal which means there was a chance of contracting rabies. Though however slight this risk was, we have taken all precautions and I have already received the first of two post-treatment shots (the other to be obtained in a few days while in Palenque). So please do not panic, it really isn’t a big deal, and I am on top of my health. Thank God we got the pre-treatment though.