Quintana Roo - Mexico : Adventure Travel News

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Quintana Roo - Mexico

After scaling the very steep, almost ladder-like steps of the three-story tower, I was granted 360-degree views of lush jungle laying across the flat peninsula, stretching to the horizons in every direction. After taking in the view, our guide hooked me into the zip line, I unhooked the carabineer that clipped me into the safety line for the climb up the tower, and I ran off the platform into open air. I flew across the zip line for almost 200 meters, flying high over the lipid blue waters of a cenote, hollering the entire (exhilarating) way down.

Adventures abound in Quintana Roo, the Mexican state on the eastern shore of the Yucatan peninsula, where cenotes (sink holes created by underground river systems), zip lines, ocean and flat-water kayaking, rappelling, hiking, and cultural encounters with the Mayan people abound.

Cenotes:

The Yucatan peninsula is a flat limestone slab that allows surface water to seep through the stone to carve subterranean caverns below the earth. (Because of this, there are no visible rivers in the Yucatan, as all the water flows underground.) When the ceilings of these caverns are breached, their crystal blue, fresh waters are revealed to adventurers for swimming, snorkeling, and SCUBA diving.

Thousands of cenotes lie throughout the Yucatan, many of which are linked via the world’s three longest underground cave systems. Others access the ocean itself, allowing cave divers to submerge into a freshwater cenote and later emerge into the ocean.

While considered sacred grounds by the Mayans, some cenotes now are built up (both with physical improvements but some also in hype) as tourist attractions. Others though, like the Cristalino, Xunaan, and Cenote Escondido are still relatively unknown, except to locals. Many cenotes, both well known and hidden away are all are accessible ...

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