Teens (and adults too) ~ ziplining, hiking, and snorkeling in jungle caves are no excuses to look drab.
Any day trip you take in the Yucatan, Mexico, home of the ancient Mayans, whether it’s touring Chichen Itza, hiking through the jungles of Tulum, or driving ATVs along the ancient Mayan sacbes, it’s great to be in style and don’t fill the kitchen sink.
Being a local to the jungles and beaches of the ancient Mayan world all my life and knowing many adventure guides, I have written “What to Prepare and What NOT to Wear” guidelines which are shared in two parts.
My name is Landis Grace and welcome to the jungles and adventures of the ancient Mayans.
1) NOT bring a huge backpack that is ugly and makes you look like Marco Polo. In a style that matches your swimsuit, bring along a small stylish backpack or even a beach bag with long handles that you can use as a backpack. I like the small backpack better because it has pockets, but the beach bag will do as well. As long as it matches your swimsuit.
2) NOT bring your wallet. Wallets are heavy: put the cash you think you’ll need for the day (preferably pesos, but US dollars are mostly accepted everywhere), some identification like your health card, social security card, and a credit card in a sandwich sized ziploc bag to keep it dry from water bottle, wet towel or even in the unlikely event of rain. Please leave your important identification such as your passport and the rest of your cash in the hotel safe. Don’t bring another smaller bag to put in the big bag – it adds unnecessary weight and if you have two bags, your “bag instinct” might allow you to leave one of them somewhere.
3) NO wear hiking boots – they’re ugly, heavy, take too long to dry, and you won’t need them. DO wear nice sandals, of course comfy without high heels so you can walk around in them without socks, yuck, and best would be sandals that can get wet and dry quickly…leather is fine, but leather doesn’t dry quickly. Even though the weather is perfect here in Mexico, there are weird puddles ~ and you want to be able to happily step into them without worrying about the state of your shoes afterwards! The jungle is the place to get back in touch with your inner child, without spending the day in wet leather hiking boots!
4) NOT Get caught with dead batteries or a full chip in your camera or phone! Make sure to load everything the night before you leave, and download any photos you don’t need. You don’t want to fumble for the battery or delete photos to make room while that spider monkey brushes past you on your jungle trek. ! And – ziploc bag the stuff you don’t want to get wet!
5) NOT go without food! We have precious sugar levels to keep up with! There is no reason why we have to starve to death waiting for the lunch stop. When you book your trip, ask if lunch “meal/komeeeedah is/is included/inclueeeeedoh”. Even if it is, it will probably mean a designated stop at a designated time, so until then you might be hungry. Try to bring small snacks from your hotel the morning of your trip so there will be plenty on the bus, or between opportunities to find a snack or lunch stand. Grab some hard snacks like apples, crackers, or oranges from your hotel, and have everything pre-washed with bottled water if you haven’t already. You can do like the Mayans and pre-peel the oranges so that all you do is eat from the bag. Throw some paper towels in the ziploc bag too. Don’t bother with foods like bananas and grapes as they turn soft and fluffy in minutes in the Mexican heat! Once inside the ruins, there may not be time or availability to eat.
6) NOT dehydrated! Grab a lemon or two from your hotel and put some in your water bottles ~ it tastes better. Maybe even add a little sugar. And here’s another tip: A lot of people like to freeze their water bottles the night before, but I don’t recommend this: It will go from frozen to warm very quickly in the first place, and in the meantime, unless it’s in a ziploc bag it will a mess in your beach bag or backpack with condensation. Leave it at room temperature, that’s best for your stomach anyway. (the plastic bag is still a good idea anyway)
7) NOT you have scratchy makeup ~ no no no ~ girls that’s why waterproof mascara was invented – in another small plastic bag bring a small mirror in a compact shockproof waterproof mascara for touch ups , lipstick (to match your bathing suit and backpack), and a couple of paper towels for sneezing, wiping, or wiping. If you are a fashion queen you could bring a hairbrush, but a small one. Bring some extra hair elastics.
8) NOT bring a huge container of sunscreen! Transfer a small amount of sunscreen to a small plastic bag or small bottle. Start the morning with something on, and you won’t have to reapply until halfway through the trip, and probably only once.
9) NOT eat food from vendors that you cannot clean. Some of the local people will sell food such as bags of peeled oranges, pineapple or peanuts outside the entrances of most of the ruins. I have personally eaten them, but first I wash the fruit with my bottled water. Shelled peanuts are better or of course. However, unless you’re hungry, it’s best not to risk anything. It’s not necessarily a cleanliness issue, because I’m fine with all the foods I eat here in Mexico, but when I go back to Canada every summer my stomach feels queasy for a while, so I think it’s just what we got used to. so don’t risk it if you don’t have to.
So now you know what your backpack is full of for your trip. – camera, phone, plastic bag as a wallet, plastic bag with a small amount of sunscreen, bottle of water, compact, tissue, lipstick, mascara, maybe a hairbrush, elastics, and for the first half of the trip anyway, apples, oranges and cookies. . Nothing bad. You are probably thinking of towels, bathing suits, changes of clothes and all that. Well, I’ve got some really cool jungle fashion ideas on that too, which I’ll share with you guys on DRESS FASHIONABLE IN THE JUNGLE! ~ How to prepare and what to wear on your tour of the Mexican jungle PART 2.