Rio Lagartos, Las Coloradas and the Pink Sea

I came back to Mexico after 4 years, not only to see cenotes, but to see the pink sea of Las Coloradas in the northernmost part of the Yucatan, Rio Lagartos. What I didn’t expect was to see hundreds of pink flamingos!

Rio Lagartos

It was a less monotonous drive up to the northernmost part of the Yucatan. We reached Rio Lagartos after a little less than a couple hours drive. Checked in at Punta Punto Hotel. I booked it via AirBnB. Roger, the host, was fairly easy to talk to, as laid back as any seasider would be. The neighborhood looked forgotten in time. Paints peeled, buildings chipped off, some abandoned. While the town was sleepy, the bay was busy with fishing boats. Our hotel was just right across the bay with the room’s sliding door opening right onto the road by the water. The room could do with a little bit of repainting. I can’t complain about the location though. It’s perfect! Rio Lagartos was as authentic a fishing village can get and not a prosperous looking one. It reminded me of the small fishing villages in the Philippines, except with a little bit more infrastructure invested on it.

We drove along the esplanade looking for Macumba, a restaurant recommended by Roger. Along the way, we saw a group of people and birds hovering around a jetty. Across it was El Perico Marinero. We checked the menu by the door. It wasn’t the restaurant we’re looking for but a group who was just leaving gave us the thumbs up and told us we’ve come to the right place. “We highly recommend it. Try the pulpo ceviche. We tried everything though, and everything’s really good!” We weren’t disappointed. Undecided with the ceviche, we tried mixto –a bit of everything! Turned out to be one of the best ceviches I’ve ever had! It was too generous a serve, we simply shared a main of grilled prawns and that was enough for us to feel satiated and stuffed! A great end to the day!

Leaving Rio Logartos, Stumbling onto Cancunito

We were packed and ready to go by 7:30am. Roger served desayuno right at the terrace facing the bay. It wasn’t the best hotel, but really can’t complain given the location. My breakfast was a simple coffee and toast which I topped with peanut butter, honey and bananas. Roger told us last night that there’s a cenote right at the end of the road by the esplanade. We drove to check it out before leaving town. It was covered by mangroves, didn’t seem like a cenote at all. The Cowboy argued it could be, there was water bubbling from the ground. Cenotes by definition are watering holes formed from subterranean river systems.It is interesting to see one that meets the ocean. The water, like all cenotes I’ve seen so far, was crystal clear, you can see right through the bottom of it. We walked towards the beach, and passed by a hawk. We saw more birds along the esplanade. There were a lot of pelicans, both white and black. Last night I saw one catch a fish, and watched the poor pelican gulp what seemed like a fish too big for its throat — stuck right there for a while. The place was teeming with birds of all sorts! We passed by the square one more time, and finally left this quiet, laid-back fishing village with its delicious seafood dinners!

Along the way, we passed by a ubiquitous beach: Playa Cancunito. It was tucked in, away from the road, we almost missed it. It was a long stretch of beach as far as the eye can see — and with nobody around! A beach all to ourselves!

Las Coloradas – Pink Sea and Pink Flamingos

Las Coloradas was a good 25 or so kilometers to the east of Rio Logartos. It’s the main reason I dragged The Cowboy all the way to this northernmost part of Mexico. When we got there, I was amazed beyond words! The water was purplish-pink. I felt a bit queasy thinking this must be the effect of some ecological disaster because we passed by a plant that seems to dredge minerals from the site. There was a huge mound of white material. The Cowboy said it’s salt. We passed by few small-sized mounds, and dug into it, grabbed a bit of the crystal and I tasted it. It’s indeed salt! On the shore, there were fluffs of seafoam. It looked as though someone had been washing laundry!

The Cowboy calmed my this-must-be-some-ecological-disaster anxieties by explaining that it was a natural phenomenon especially with mineral rich water. He said he’d seen it a lot in Australia. I haven’t! I have seen seafoam, but not this much seafoam! While still debating in my head whether the seafoam, the pink-purple water were natural phenomena, The Cowboy pointed to me on the horizon peculiar pink looking birds.

Flamingos!

There were around a dozen of them scattered! It eased me a bit, at least knowing this place was not killing birds. We were about to leave when a couple of locals on their motor-bikes chatted us up. In Spanish! At first we thought they were asking us if we’ve seen flamingos. I said “dose”, a dozen of them. One of the guys shook his head. The other one said “siete kilometros… hay siento flamingos.” I told The Cowboy, “Let’s drive further to the west of the coast, he said 7kms from here, there would be a hundred more or so flamingos hanging out.” So we continued driving by the coast… and along the way, we saw more and more flamingos by the bay. We finally veered off the road onto side roads deeper into the bay — and there they were! Of course the locals were fairly accurate — there were easily a hundred of them scattered all over with little islands off the bay. We walked closer to approach a cluster of them. Within 50 meters or so, they sensed us and flew away. Photos and videos didn’t do justice. We saw pink, orange feathers on the sand. We at least have souvenirs now, we thought, provided we don’t get in trouble across customs!

I just love independent travel! I love discovering something off the beaten path with a tip from locals, something Lonely Planet guides don’t really write about.

Just as well… we were the only ones in that whole place together with the flamingos. I can’t imagine a cooler experience that!

Flamingo Feather