Feb 28, 2020
I had planned to go to a nearby place called Adventureland. It had rafting, zip lines over a river, and a sky bike. However, Adventureland cost over 1,000 pesos per person, we would need to drive there and worse of all, many of their adventures had an age restriction of 8 years old. So when I saw that right next door to Casa Carrol was a zip line company I decided to do that instead. Their zip lines actually went over Casa Carrol and Olivia would be able to do everything. As icing on the cake it cost only half as much. It might not be quite as long or scenic as zip lining over a river but I figured it would be a nice introduction for Olivia and we would have more opportunities for really scenic zip lines later.
We got up early and got the Avex Adventures office right after 9 and paid 500 pesos for Olivia and I. Holly was afraid of heights and didn’t want to go so act as our photographer. As the helpful ladies assisted us into our harnesses a really cute tiny puppy came around the desk and we almost got side tracked from zip lines by the adorable pup. We got suited up and a couple guys picked us up in a jeep to take us to our takeoff spot.
Olivia and I got to our first zip line platform high up the side of the hill and our guide asked if Olivia wanted to go with me or by herself. She confidently said she wanted to go by herself. Her first time on a real zip line and she wanted to go by herself, such a brave girl!
So they sent her off and then it was my turn. I had done zip lines before so it was no big deal for me but I did enjoy sailing through the lush jungle treetops. We did another zip line before we got to the sky bike. The sky bike is exactly as it sounds, a bicycle with the rubber tires removed and you ride the bike through the air on one rope with a bar going from the bicycle to another rope above you so the bike cannot tip over. We were also attached by a rope to the top line so we couldn’t fall off the bike. Olivia’s legs were too short to pedal so for this one she rode with me. It was an interesting experience, much slower than a zip line.
After that we went on the sky board. This was a skate board with no wheels that was attached by four bungie ropes to a pair of lines going over a valley. You held onto to the bungie ropes while standing on the skate board and basically zip lined to the next station. I had not done this before and it was an interesting experience standing on a board rather than hanging from a rope.
After a final zip line we were done and we hurried back to Rover for the task of squeezing ourselves through the narrow road out of Xilitla to our next destination. We were going to leave the mountains and go to Bernal, about a 4 hour drive away which was actually quite near Queretaro, only about 45 minutes drive. We had taken the long way around near San Luis Potosi because we were warned about the curvy mountain roads but that route took us over 7 hours to drive and I hate retracing our route. We had talked to Jeremy and Kara who had come up the direct route along Hwy 120 and they told us while the road was curvy it was not bad and in good condition.
The road was indeed curvy but not bad as promised but since we are big and slow it took us a lot longer than Google estimated. Still it was a very scenic drive as it transitioned from jungle rainforest to pine trees. It really started looking just like the Sierra Nevada foothills in California on the way to Lake Tahoe. It was starting to get dark and we still had two hours to go to get to Bernal when we passed the sign for the Cascada El Chuveje a scenic waterfall. We pulled over at a roadside snack stand where Holly enjoyed a grilled corn on the cob Mexican style with mayo and cheese while I checked iOverlander.
It reported that there was space for RV parking at the waterfall so we decided to go to the waterfall instead of continuing to drive after dark along the unfamiliar windy mountain roads. We went down a steep but well maintained dirt road (Again with the dirt roads!) for about a mile before we reached the gate to the parking lot of the waterfall.
They were about to close and charged us 80 pesos per person for Holly and I plus another 40 pesos for Olivia for a total of 200 pesos to camp overnight. This was a pretty good deal since just regular entrance to the waterfall was 40 pesos per person so for an extra US$5 we were able to camp overnight. It was getting dark and too late to go to the waterfall so we just made dinner and turned in for the night.