Sarah_C, jan. 2024
- Wear: bathing suit (anything you feel comfortable getting completely wet), Tevas/Keen-type sandals or water shoes, water shorts/swim top
- What to bring: towel, change of dry clothes, bug spray (lots of it), sunscreen - you can leave all of this in the locked van while you tube
- Vendor: Mayawalk Tours based in the walkable area of San Ignacio
This tour was a lot of fun with a few things to keep in mind:
- Our tour group was combined with people were also signed up for ziplining, which was our first stop. We didn’t sign up for zip lining, but had to wait for that group to finish for an hour. Our guide, Alex, was very kind and waited with us, showing us some local plants and a bridge nearby, but I felt that it was odd for us to wait for people doing a different activity. Just be aware of this, as it wasn’t in the description of the tour.
- We then headed to the tubing area (10 min away from ziplining). There are changing rooms and bathrooms to get suited up.
- You’ll receive a helmet with a headlight, lifejacket, and a pretty large tube. Be prepared to walk in the forest with this tube for 30 minutes, across some slippery rocks, up and down stairs, and through a shallow river. If you have kids on this tour, you may end up carrying their tube as it’s surprisingly heavy - or you can pay $5 USD for one of the park workers to carry it for you. There are two stops on the way to the cave to look at stalagmites and a couple bats.
- Once we got to the cave, Alex and another guide tied our tubes together and we were on our way. They explained the Mayan history behind the caves, and pointed out different natural fixtures with lights.
- In the cave, you’ll make one stop where you need to get out of the tubes to check out a grotto. It’s a bit slippery, so make sure you’re wearing shoes with good traction. We saw the 9 demon faces carved into a stalagmite and had a chance to jump 8 ft into a deeper part of the grotto!
- The rest of the tubing experience is just floating out of the cave and down the river. You’ll jump out of the tubes at the same area where you cross the river initially.
- We had time to get changed into dry clothes and stopped by a restaurant owned by the tubing company. The food was… ok - the portions were small (one chicken wing, rice, 1/2 cup of coleslaw). This restaurant is also where I got almost all of my mosquito bites from the trip, so spray yourself with bug spray before lunch.
- After lunch, we got back into the van and returned on time.
- Overall, a great experience, but I’d recommend eating a large breakfast beforehand, being prepared to loiter a bit if you’re not signed up for the ziplining, and setting expectations to hike with a large tube for 30 minutes (this could have been communicated better in the tour’s advertising).