YOU ARE SOMEWHERE ALONG AN 800 METER STRETCH OF A 14 KILOMETER UNDERGROUND RIVER THAT ORIGINATES IN THE INTERIOR OF SEA.

You are someplace along an 800 meter stretch of a 14 kilometer underground river that originates in the interior of the peninsula and empties into the sea. The lights come back on. Look up and see 1000's of jagged-edged stalactites pointing towards your head like the suggestions of poison Mayan arrows. It looks like you are both on yet another planet or on the set of a blockbuster Hollywood film. This is Rio Secreto.

Very good close friends of ours, Jim and Janet, won cost-free passes to Rio Secreto while Jim was volunteering at Mayakoba. We have been talking about us all going for months, but could in no way seem to be to coordinate our schedules. Then sadly due to medical issues Jim and Janet could no longer use the tickets and gifted them to us. Not wanting the passes to go to waste given that they expire this winter, we organized a trip this past Friday.

We truly did not know a lot about Rio Secreto other than it was yet another cave/underground journey, and that the likes of Samantha Brown from the Travel Channel and other famous figures had visited the eco-park. Regardless of our lack of familiarity we were game for yet another wild expertise.

Our day began like any other Friday in latest memory: we packed the automobile with friends, drove to the park and proceeded in excess of very bumpy roads many miles into the jungle to the entrance to the cave. At the park we have been presented with complimentary wetsuits, life jackets, water sneakers and helmets with lights. Then we walked a handful of hundred feet back into the jungle to what looked like any other cave we have witnessed on the peninsula.

We had been soon stunned at how different Rio Secreto is from other caves we’ve been in. Rio Secreto is like stalactites on steroids. I have by no means observed so a lot of in a single spot. Then the cave is fully dark – there is no artificial lighting, other than the light on your head, and no other groups – just you, your guide, and your group of up to 10 or so individuals, wandering through an underground river 80 feet beneath the ground. The path was very treatcherous: up and down, in and out of water sometimes over your head, crouching down to match below lower underpasses. Luckily the terrain was not slippery. It is definitely not for the faint of heart or for any individual with wellness troubles. This is most absolutely for those with an adventurous spirit.