Excitement galore!

Parishi and I had two personal milestones in the past two days! Our predominantly 'chillaxing' vacation was interspersed with a couple of memorable excursions - Swim with the dolphins and the Xcaret. With Kahan crying his lungs out during the former as he was the only one left out with me and Chinmay taking turns to be with him, Parishi was having the time of her life kissing and being kissed by the dolphin and shaking 'hands'! The belly-ride on the dolphin waist highlight of the excursion for all of us and especially Parishi who surprised us by swimming a considerably long distance on her own and succeeding at it on the very first of the two allowed attempts for kids! Later that night we enjoyed our 'dinner with the executive chef' at the sister palace resort- Cancun palace. The company of another nice family from Vancouver on our table was better than the food for our herbivorous family! Xcaret is an ecological paradise with diverse wildlife, birds, flora and fauna, all of which we could not visit due to our decision to start our day later after an extended leisurely breakfast! We did however see about 1/5th of it, the most unique experience being swimming and snorkeling across a 700 meter long underground river through several dark (scary) caves! While Parishi surprised us again by accomplishing this task fearlessly, Kahan's enjoyed his ride with his dad! And I turned out to be the 'chicken' of the family by giving up at the first exit bogged down by extreme claustrophobia trying to catch my breath in the darkness! I had to be rescued by a staff person with a torch light and a board to hold on to, to help me swim upto the exit!! My shame only made Parishi feel more triumphant of her success, voicing it with, "mummy, it was so easy, I saw so many cool fishes in the caves while snorkeling"! I did make it up to myself later that afternoon by my debut at successful snorkeling in the open waters, so what if it was as brief as 5 minutes. But this time I had to quit because of the wind making the water choppy and blurring the view under water! The lunch buffet at the Xcaret 'La Laguna' restaurant was delicious with a wide selection of salads, appetizers, pasta, thin crust margarita pizza and mouth watering desserts! Every show that we saw including the 'flying men' (sorry, can't recollect the Spanish name!), the horses and the spectacular colorful night show in the grand theatre with 100s of performers narrating the history of the Mayan culture, Spanish invasion, Mexican independence and how the fusion of the two cultures enriched the culture. While the kids crashed for the night on the bus ride back after a long day, we were refreshed after our naps and enjoyed dinner under the stars in the balcony on the last night in Cancun! I found the people in Cancun to be warm, honest and kind; everyone from the guys who waited at the resort restaurants, the manager, Juan who sent goodies to our room every night after he found out that our experience at Bocelli  on the second day was not as good as the first, the executive chef, Mauricio who took me on a personal tour behind the scenes in the multiple kitchens, to the half a dozen hotel staff and the shuttle driver who helped us find our camera that we had left in the shuttle one night! The kind staff person at the Xcaret park went out of his way to arrange a car for me and Kahan seeing the tired look on my face to help us avoid the long walk from the entrance of the river to the end! We decided to trade the Mayan ruins for more time at the pool and the beach. Although we would have loved to see the history behind Chichen Itza, Tulum and Coba, it would have been a torture for the kids with 3 hour long bus rides and a lot of walking around the ruins that they would not care much for! After all, we have to justify another visit to Cancun in the future, perhaps with Anu-Varun, our nephew, Lavi and some close friends!