Xocomil – the best water park in Latin America

Xocomil – the best water park in Latin America

Attraction Name: Xocomil Water Park

Location:  Retalhuleu, Guatemala

Telephone:  502 7729 4000

email: n/a

Web-site: http://www.irtra.org.gt

Child-friendly: Yes

Review:

 

We have been staying at a hotel, on the same side just before the water park.
One excited boy was up at 5 a.m., but the breakfast only starts at 7:30 a.m. and the park opens at 9 a.m.
The park is open Thursday to Sunday, but if you don’t want long line-ups, I suggest going on a Thursday like we did, or a Friday.
We are the first there.
We are the first people in Xocomil (pronounced Shockomill).

We buy our tickets, and my son is now so tall, even though he is only 8 years old, we had to buy him an adult ticket. This is double the price, but still, only 100 Quetzales – about $14 so not that bad.

At the entrance to the change rooms, it has acceptable and allowable swim-wear.
But seeing this is a park for local Guatemalans, we saw all sorts of outfits.
Bike shorts, leggings, bras and undies, and all sorts of combinations.
I dare say many would come here like Disneyland – a one-off, and might not even own swimwear.

This is the area for little kids.  It is pretty cool.

At the back of the park is another area for the ones up to 8 years old, but the adults love grouping under the big bucket when it downs its load.

This bridge takes you to the splash ball area. It was dead most of the day, as you have to pay, and no one carries money – you use the lockers.

The park is quite ornately decorated in the Mayan theme.

This is another volcano area – for the little kids. On the opposite, there is another pool with a small slide.

But my son goes on, as nothing is working yet.

The water activities only start at 10 a.m.

We are one of the first on the tube slide ride.

My son is nervous at the start, so tough Mamma goes first, to show him it is an easy ride.

We then head down together, and it is a blast!

Next is the “rapids”.  This is a continuous tube ride, that goes in a few directions, and has several on and off points. It is shallow enough in most parts that parents can stay with the tube if they have toddlers.  It is best to sit flat on the tube, and not legs down, as you float more smoothly.

Again the Mayan theme is present throughout the ride. A couple of times I have to paddle like crazy, as my son goes off in one direction, and I am caught in another wave.  But it is no big deal, as they meet up anyway.  We went around 2 times on this, and it took a long time.

Next, we went to the back of the park. Here is a raft ride. We videoed our ride and went 2 times with a father and son team who spoke English.  (One of only 3 families we met or saw who were not locals.

This was a great fun ride!

My son really loved the 2 wave pools. To me, it was a waste of time. I love real waves at the beach, so I had a bit of a Mamma rest. The waves are quite tall, and I notice the lack of attendants watching on several occasions, so it was not that restful, as I walked up and down the side-lines.

He makes friends with 2 ladies who have him dragging them around the pool. Nice one!

One of the scariest rides is one that shoots you down tunnels and then you do a flip and go backward. We loved this one.

This is another ride where you go down a tunnel and then do loops, and get sucked down a water tunnel at the end, mostly backward.

We loved the toboggan rides. By then my camera – which is meant to be waterproof had water in it – darn!

My son finished off with a really steep waterside.

It was so severe it gave him such a bad wedgie he cried for 1 hour. The assistants wanted to take him to get medical assistance and he was in a lot of pain. Silly us – we noticed no-one went on it, and now we know why. They are beige and there are 2 different ones – avoid them!

So the end to our park time was not so good.  We had him rest and watch a few things, and then we noticed all the rises had finished and everyone was going home.

We were one of the last to leave the park.

Locals wait for a little train that picks them up and takes them back to their hostel – which really is a resort, but we go to walk home.

Explorason comments “This was the best day of my life – ever (apart from the wedgie!)”.

Questions and Comments
  • Are you a family that permanently travels around the world?
  • What is your take on families that travel a lot?
  • Have you visited Latin America before?
  • Did you get to visit Xocomil water park?
  • How was the experience?
  • What did you make of their culture?
  • Do share your comments with us below.

9 thoughts on “Xocomil – the best water park in Latin America

    • Suzanne – thanks for reading our blog. Yes it was a brilliant park. Not surprised to hear another family has their own wedgie story!!!

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