You’ve read a lot of crazy stories from travelers all over the world in the Give Me Adventure Section. This time we have somebody from our team telling her most memorable travel experience: follow Katja Jäger on an adventure trip through Cancun, Mexico, and find out how she gets to know the famous party destination from another point of view.

Cancun is known for its crazy nightlife, tourist attractions and melting pot of people meeting from all over the world to have a great time together. But there really is more to it then that. Cancun is surrounded by a beautiful jungle and adventure zoo and historical sites like the Mayan Ruins.
I decided to go on a day tour with my friends to find out more about this ‘other side’ to Cancun.
At the start of our tour we were given a short introduction and handed over the keys to the nice yellow Hummer we would drive for the whole day. Off we went! Managing to survive the Mexican traffic we headed to our first stop- The Mayan Ruins where our guide told us interesting facts about the Mayan culture and we got to feed Iguanas with authentic Mexican Tortillas.
To get to the next stop we had to leave the well beaten path and the real adventure began: we reached the Jungle. At first we sped through the hilly lanes of the jungle, which was a lot fun! At our next stop the tour guide gave us information about plants and animals living in the Jungle. We even got to see a coati. And a chicken. Until today it’s an unsolved mystery what a chicken was doing in the Jungle.

We walked to our next adventure: the Cenote (a sinkhole with exposed rocky edges containing groundwater). The first Cenote was more than 10 meters high and since it was really hot that day we decided to jump right in. I’ll always remember the coolness of the water.
After swimming down there for a while we went to another Cenote: this time it had a Zipline which you could hold on to, swing down, let go and fall in the water. It was like swimming in a cave.
So after this quite different form of refreshment we left the Jungle and headed to a small fishermen’s village. No tourists, only us and native Mexicans. This village was like nowhere I’d ever been before. We sat down in a tiny restaurant where I had the best tortillas of my life.
After relaxing for a while we headed to our last stop of the day: the adventure zoo. At first we were told some rules of conduct since it wasn’t exactly what you call harmless to walk around crocodiles and other wild animals. The sign “Watch Your Child” emphasized this point.

In the zoo we could hold up baby crocodiles (which I assure you, can bite too!), snakes and other small wild animals. But then the most exciting part of the trip began: we reached the cage with fully grown crocodiles and walked right in. Ar this moment I’m pretty sure all of us in the cage were thinking: “Please let those beautiful but huge creatures not be hungry”. But we got used to the situation pretty fast and were soon listening to information about how the crocodiles live and taking some photos with them. Being in that cage was a surreal but amazing experience that I will never forget.
After walking around the adventure zoo a little longer we were at the end of our tour. We drove back to Cancun and all I kept thinking was what an amazing experience we’d just had. We learned about culture, nature and wildlife. What more can you ask for? Nothing that I would call an ordinary vacation!