While Cancun and Playa del Carmen may have the prettiest blue water beaches on the Yucutan Peninsula, there is still loads of fun to be had and interesting things to see at many of the Yucutan's other beaches. I spent this weekend exploring two of my favorites! Saturday, I went on a day-trip tour with a group of friends from work out to Celestun on the West Coast (gulf side) of the peninsula. This wasn't my first time visiting this beach, as I went with my friend Tony when I first visited Merida for my first assignment last year. We'd taken a local bus and figured out everything on our own once we got there, which made it a real adventure that first time around. But since I hadn't been in a year, and the tour was free (hurray for the small perks of working for a travel company), I am never one to pass up a free travel opportunity! Celestun, like Dzilam de Bravo(my last vlog post), is another "eco-tourism" locale famous for its wildlife. Celestun is particularly well-known for the number of flamingos that can be viewed there. Sunday, I was then invited by my friend Grace to go with her family out to Progreso beach to visit her aunt's new house and to try out their waverunner. It was a wonderful beach-filled weekend to say the least!
Saturday: The tour bus/van picked us up from the Holiday Inn in Merida at 9am Mexican Standard Time (so it showed up around 9:30). This was actually lucky for me since we were told to meet at the hotel at 8:30am, and that's the time I woke up since I slept through my alarm clock. I was rushing like a bat out of hell to get over there before 9am, which I knew was the actual pick-up time, but in the end, I made it with time to spare! My friends told me showing up late is actually one of the signs that I'm fully acclimating to life in Merida, so I'll take that as a compliment. We drove west from the city making a short stop in the town of Uman along the way so we could buy water and take a closer look at the picturesque church there. I was psyched because I was able to take a few of my "famous flower-in-the-foreground" photos of the church thanks to a few bright red flowers in bloom right out front. That continued a tradition I started back in Paris a few years ago when I was on tour with a friend from work who taught me the photographic flower trick using Notre Dame as our subject. While Uman's church was not as grand as Notre Dame, it was still quite dramatic with its gothic arches around the main entrance and structure built from the stones of the Mayan pyramid that once stood there. Our guide was a friendly young local guy named Angel who conducted his commentary in Spanish and English since the tour was made up of a group of Mexicans, Americans, and Australians. Once we arrived into the outskirts of the town of Celestun we were taken to get into boats to go down a "brazo del mar" or estuary, I believe is the word in English. The water comes directy from the ocean, so it is saline and not a river, the guide explained. Six of us loaded into one boat and three joined a family on another boat. Our boat driver's name was Omar, and he did a great job of navigating the "brazo del mar" and getting us up close to the flamingos without scaring them away. We asked if we could get out of the boat and walk even closer to the birds, and he said "sure, the water's shallow" in Spanish. I saw the flamingos were all standing well out of the water, so I hopped right out of the boat with all of my clothes on. I failed to take into account that I weigh more than a flamingo, so I immediately sank to my knees in the smelly mud and my shorts and bottom-half of my shirt were soaked! I quickly realized that "walking" towards the flamingos was going to be next to impossible. I tried my darndest, but I got stuck and had to ask Omar to drive the boat over to me so I could hold on to the front and pull my legs out. Somehow I think he knew that was going to happen, a warning sure would have been nice! After snapping loads of photos of the flamingos, both in and out of the water, Omar drove us into a canal cut through a mangrove (or "mangle") where the roots of the trees made impressive cage-like structures at the base of all of the trees. We were also given an opportunity to get out for 15 minutes and check out an "ojo de agua" or water hole with crystal blue water, which we were able to walk to on a wooden boardwalk. I'd swam there last year, so I played photographer for everyone else as they swam and ventured a bit further past the water hole on the guide's advice. Lo and behold, I discovered a small crocodile chilling out in a shallow section of water about 20 meters down from the water hole. After that discovery, I was really happy I'd decided to sit out from swimming! Got some awesome photos of Mr. Croc and possibly saved a limb or two, which in my book is a win-win situation. The only down-side of sitting out was that I had longer to chat with the local vendors who'd set up trays of Mexican candies along the boardwalk, and they talked me into buying some for me and my friends. I purchased a variety of candies that you can't find easily in the US: tamarindo con chile (Liliana's favorite), merengues (Gabriel & Grace's preference), and un dulce de coco (my pick), all for less than $3US. We snacked on these on the way back to the boat's launching site, so I guess is wasn't all bad :) Next, the tour took us to a large restaurant called La Palapa right on the beach where we had a delicious lunch of ceviche mixto (shrimp, crab, and octopus "cooked" in lime and salt and then mixed with tomatoes and onion) and grilled fish with lots of garlic! I also had a local drink called michilada, which I usually explain to people as being beer (tecate light in this case) mixed with ice and all of the spices you find in a bloody mary, and the rim of the glass is coated in salt. It took me a while to get used to all the spices, but now I really enjoy this drink paired with seafood especially. We had an hour to relax on the beach after lunch, which gave us time to digest. We piled back in to the bus/van around 3:30pm and headed back to Merida. I promptly fell asleep on the ride back, which my friends all know happens everytime I'm in in a moving vehicle, and it's become a running joke to see how fast it will happen. I wonder if anyone placed bets. We got back to Merida around 5:30pm, just in time to go back to my house and continue the nap from the bus in the form of a 2 hour siesta in my hammock at home! I have to admit that for the second time, I found Celestun to be a worthy day-trip from Merida and the sight of the bright pink horizon as we approached the flamingo nesting ground still took my breath away!!
Sunday: My friend Grace called me around 10:00am to tell me that her family had decided to go out to her aunt's house at Progreso beach and that I was welcome to join to try out their waverunner. While I've been to Progreso several times, since it is just 30 minutes to the north of Merida, I have never been on a waverunner. I'm not one to pass up a new opportunity, so I quickly agreed and hurried to get ready and over to her house by the time her parents got back from church. I arrived at the exact same time they did, which was impeccable timing! I can't thank Grace's family enough for including me in family gatherings such as this trip to their beach house and even New Year's which I found out most people celebrate with a big meal with family and then meet up with friends LATE in the night...they've been really kind to include me. (Note to self: must find someway to really thank them!) Grace's mom offered me cochinita, slow cooked pork, with tortillas, which is a very common weekend breakfast here in Merida, and since I haven't had any in months, I happily accepted. Its the kind of food that is easier to buy for a family by the kilo, and not something I get for myself on a regular basis, so it was a real treat. After eating, we piled into the car and her dad drove us to her aunt's house at Progreso. We greeted all of the family at the house, and even got to see one of their dogs nursing her day-old litter of puppies (5)! Seriously, the cutest thing I've ever seen. Her aunt's house was a just a few blocks from the beach, but since we were taking the waverunner, Grace, me, her brother, cousin-in-law, and dad got back in the car and drove about 15 minutes to a small beach near the a bridge. They explained to me that this beach was easier to launch the waverunner from because they could back the trailer right into the water. The little beach was pretty littered with trash and had quite a few dead fish, including a blow fish, which I found interesting despite being dead, but they were right about it being the best place to launch and use the waverunner. The water was actually a bay (I think) so it was really calm. The boys handled the heavy lifting of getting the waverunner into the water, and her brother, the mechanical engineer (in about 10 years when he's out of high school and college), took care of tinkering with the motor and getting it gassed up. Everyone took turns going out on the waverunner by themselves or paired up. Grace and I tried to go together, but we couldn't get the darn thing to work no matter if I was sitting in the front or the back. In the end, I went out with her younger brother and got my whirl on the jet ski as a passenger hanging on for dear life to her brother's shirt and praying he wouldn't turn too fast and flip me off (she talked to him beforehand and got him to promise he wouldn't). While it certainly wasn't going the fastest with the too of us on there, I still enjoyed the rush. I just don't know how anyone sees anything on those things, the salt water was splashing all over my face! I'm a bit of whimp so I declined going out again on my own even though they offered. I was too nervous that #1 I couldn't see that well without my glasses or #2 that it was possible that I'd flip off of it far away from shore and not be able to get back on. I promised myself that I'll try a solo-run next time (pep-talk might be needed). I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying watching her brother and father go out, and when her brother took their cousin-in-law a couple of times he'd be trying to throw him off the back with a fast turn. The cousin finally caught on and succeeded in bringing her brother down with him everytime he'd fall. It was really quite amusing to watch; boys being boys! Grace made a really good showing herself and seemed very impressed that she did a couple solo-runs without falling off. We headed back to her aunt's house and they served up conch ceviche for lunch as a wonderful breeze flowed through the house...natural beach airconditioning at its best! I've come to love the fact that a day at the beach here in Yucatan includes some form of ceviche, which is one of my favorite dishes, so I don't mind one bit! I got to nap for a little while in a hammock upstairs while Grace took her shower, and then we were headed back to Merida. Though clouds had been rolling in all day, we left just in time as it started to rain (drizzle) a little bit on the way home. All in all, a relaxing and exhilarating day at the beach!
Check out my photos from the weekend in my facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2513640&id=908832&l=0c0b180a58
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