The Road is Before Us: Maya Luna, Chacchoben, and Laguna Bacalar (Mexico

Friday, 30 December 2011

Our home for 4 nights.

Our first day at Maya Luna was actually the only day that I snorkeled. The beach we’re at is “protected” by a reef that is about ¼ mile out, so although it was a bit windy, we were still able to snorkel in the waters between. It’s not very deep and most of the bottom is covered with sea grass, so it was a bit difficult to see any creatures in the water until we actually got to the reef. In the morning we actually tried to swim out to the reef, but I was feeling a bit tired and wasn’t sure about being able to swim back to shore, so we headed back to have some lunch and pick up some kayaks. With the kayaks we made much better time and tried to actually go to the outside of the reef – until the waves started tossing us around too much. So we came back to the inside and Jeff tied the kayaks to his shorts and we snorkeled around until we started getting chilly. There were lots of sea fans and different types of corals. We saw all sorts of fish, big and small, colorful and shiny. Snorkeling is one of my favorite things to do – especially on a bright sunny day in crystal clear waters. We had a mostly sunny day and mostly clear waters, so not a bad day in paradise! We also saw an octopus! It was about plate-sized (including tentacles). We watched it move from one large piece of coral to another, then disappear beneath it. So cool!

The view from our roof-top terrace. Note the red water (explained below).

The water on this beach is interesting. We’re downwind from a small river that pours out of a mangrove swamp. The water in that river is literally blood red from the mangroves, so that redness/orangeness flows into sea water. Our beach actually looks like there’s been an oil spill, but it’s just from the mangroves. When Jeff and I were snorkeling near shore, we couldn’t even see one another from just a few feet away because the water was so dark from this mangrove water. Kind of cool, kind of creepy. Carolien told us she learned that the mangrove water is actually really good for the skin. Possibly helps reduce skin cancer. So hopefully my time out in the sun this week will be compensated for by this colorful water.

We visited the “town” of Mahahual a few times to get some different meals and to see what the locals were hawking. I say “town” because this area wouldn’t really exist as a tourist center except for the cruise ship port that was recently installed (within the last ten years or so). While we were here there were at least 4 giant (and I mean giant – floating cities bigger than many cities on the Caribbean coast of Mexico) cruise ships docked. So an insta-town sprung up to cater to tourists – trying to feed them, give them massages, sell them anything, and most importantly, get them drunk. There’s a really nice beach walkway (called the Malecon) that runs for about 2 km. We ate at a couple of different restaurants there, enjoying the sea view and the people watching. Seeing people getting massages on the beach was somewhat entertaining. People of different sizes and ages with much of their bodies on display – come to think of it, I guess that’s not much different than seeing people of different sizes and ages in bathing suits.

The beach in Mahahual. In the distance is one of the many very large cruise ships we saw.

On our third afternoon Jeff talked me into going for a late afternoon kayak off the beach at Maya Luna, before the sunset. As we got out to the reef, the sky looked impressively black off to the east. We couldn’t really figure out which way the storms were moving, and thought we’d be safe from that one. Three minutes later, we were getting dumped on. Luckily no lightning, and the rain was warm. Once back to shore, we actually went up to our terrace, stood in the rain holding each other, and watched the rain come down over the sea. It was excellent.

Our last full day in this area was spent checking out some local ruins at Chacchoben – another Mayan archeological site that is really cool and should be on everybody’s must-see list – and swimming in a cenote (see Jeff’s next post) and swimming in a large freshwater lake. Chacchoben is a very small site, and had very few visitors. It’s still covered in jungle with a few structures cleaned up for viewing. It seemed so wild and so much more like finding a site (Indiana Jones-style) than Chichen Itza did. While we were there, for the first time, I tried fresh coconut milk – we watched the guy use a machete to cut off the end so he could stick a straw in it. It was delicious! I don’t usually like coconut (both the flavor and the texture), but I guess that’s because I wasn’t tasting the real/fresh thing.

One of the temples at Chacchoben.

The palm trees were huge!

We only got to climb part way up this ruin.

Man with a machete and a coconut.

Fresh coconut milk is surprisingly refreshing and yummy!

Cenote Azul was interesting, but as Jeff explains in his post, he liked it a lot more than I did. I guess I just couldn’t get over the fact that there was 300 feet of water below me. It was beautiful, though.

We only spent a few minutes at Laguna Bacalar. We walked out on a dilapidated old pier and jumped into about 4 feet of fairly warm freshwater. Turns out it was not nearly as clean as the water at the cenote. The sun was setting by now, so we stayed in long enough to get wet and watch the sun go behind the trees. Then it was time to head back to Maya Luna.

The waters of Laguna Bacalar as the sun sets.

We left Maya Luna this morning and made the long drive back to Cancun. Jeff swam in the Gran Cenote (see his post), while I watched and took pictures. (I especially don’t like the idea of swimming in anything resembling a cave, so I didn’t even go in – what can I say, I’m a wimp who has a few phobias).

It’s been a great babymoon. I’m sad to be leaving, but as always, I’m also looking forward to being home. I don’t think Jeff or I got much sun – I was hoping to get back to Mass with my skin sun-kissed. But we were diligent about sunscreen, and I suspect that the December sun is a bit weaker than the summer sun.