Xocomil by exotic chicken

What is Xocomil?

Xocomil is a Mayan word for wind.  The Xocomil is a strong wind which blows across Lake Atitlan from the Southeast each day.  It starts with the mid-day heat and creates big waves on the lake.

Xocomil is also the name of a waterpark in Retalhuleu, Guatemala.  It is one of the biggest and best waterparks in Central America.   It even has some rides that we did not see at Canada's Wonderland.

Our family went to Xocomil Waterpark yesterday.  It was long drive over bumpy, winding roads.   We left at 6:00 and made it to Xocomil one minute after it opened, at 9:01.

The park is themed with Mayan culture and art.  There are bright red Mayan temples. The best decorations are on the lush banks of the lazy river.  The rock work lining the canyon walls is designed to look like the pyramids at Tikal. Hidden among the jungle setting there are Mayan carvings, rope bridges, and ceremonial masks.   

With its humps and steep drops, the family belly-racer slide makes you feel like you are going over thrill hills.  Up to 5 people can race at once.

El Regreso (the return) is a unique slide.   After a tunnel, a curve, and a steep drop, instead of splashing into the pool right away, you go high up a "hill" on the other side, before sliding down backwards into the splash pool.

The caracol (snail) - known in some parks as the toilet bowl- sends you swirling around a vortex, before being flushed backwards into the splash pool.

My sister and I enjoyed the wave pool but the waves were not as big as they are on Lake Atitlan.



This was my favorite ride.  I call it the upside-down slide.  You stand in a capsule.  A robotic voice counts 3-2-1.  The floor drops out from under you.  You fall straight down before zinging around a loop.

There are seven slides. at the serpents nest.  Three are body slides.  Four are tube slides.  Five of the slides had tunnels.  My sister and I rode all of them together.








There is a high-tech slide at Xocomil.  It is a bit like a waterslide - and a bit like a rollercoaster.  You sit in a 4 person raft.  You zoom down the slide, splash in a dip, and then magnetic propulsion zips the raft along - up again, down again, zip, zip, zip.

To end off our day, we got a cola flavored sorbet tube at the Sarita ice cream stand.  But we still had three more hours of bumps, curves, and humps in the shuttle before we got back to our house at Lake Atitlan.  My sister and I both fell asleep in the van on the ride home.