We started our winter in Mexico this year with a one week stay in Bacalar. We had a good flight into Cancun but spent two hours in the Customs line with hundreds more people trying to make it through. After a 6 hour bus ride from Cancun we arrived in the small town of Bacalar which is very close to the Belize border…
Bacalar is situated on a large lagoon and this was our first view…
We had a nice little condo in walking distance of the lagoon and the Centro square…
Great pool as well…
The Zocalo was decorated for Christmas with lots of people enjoying the warm evenings. Warm evenings are one of the best things about Mexico…
There were lots of stands with people selling marquesitas, which are waffle cones filled with your favourite flavour. Most people seem to like Nutella.
The town is very small so we walked every day, often to the market to pick up food…
Lots of good fruits and veggies…
- Here Don is checking to see if he has the right amount of pesos, he was short a couple but the seller gave it to him anyway.
Many piñatas for sale…
And poinsettias which are native to Mexico, In Mexico, the poinsettia is known as Flor de Nochebuena, or Christmas Eve Flower.
Walking home from the market…
Many of the houses have Nativity scenes in their front gardens, some very simple and others quite elaborate…
Bacalar also has lots of street art…
For a small place there are also so many amazing places to eat, both Mexican and international. We enjoyed some good food…
I chose quesadillas with three types of filling…chorizo, chicken tinga and chicken mole. I couldn’t eat in all so it was breakfast the next morning.
Lots of upscale places as well…
Here we had blue corn tortillas and fancy quacamole…
And of course there is always the street food, this guy was on the corner each night selling tamales. He set up his chairs and the locals lined up…
One of the main sites to visit in Bacalar is the San Felipe Fort which is right in the Center of town. It was finished in 1773 and was built to protect the town from pirates who roamed the Caribbean coast. It is now a museum.
It overlooks the lagoon which the pirates used to access the town…
Speaking of the lagoon, it is the main reason that people visit this area.
It is approximately 60km long measured from north to south, and 2km at its widest. The lake is renowned for its striking blue color and water clarity, partly the result of having a white limestone bottom.
This is an aerial view of the lagoon, courtesy of Google. It shows the beautiful colors of the many cenotes in the lagoon. No wonder it is called the Lagoon of Seven Colors!
We rented a small boat with a guy called Jonathan and spent most of the day exploring the area.
His boat, aptly named Maniac which describes him to the tee! We had a very interesting day!
One of the most interesting parts of the lagoon are the stromolites which are mineral structures that look like rocks. However they are living beings that have existed 3500 million years and are one of the oldest living beings on the planet. Some say they were the beginning of life as we know it. They are found only in a few places in the world.
We toured the lake from North to South and it was such a beautiful day on the water…
I got a chance to snorkel and swim in the lake, it was so refreshing…
Here I was at the end of a canal of rapids which carried me down at a leisurely pace.
A couple of more pictures of the sky and water…
It was a wonderful experience to spend time in this special place, another magical place in Mexico!
Our last day there was Christmas Eve so we went to church which had wonderful singing and a beautifully decorated altar…
They also have a tradition that on Christmas Eve families bring their babies to be blessed so there were lots of babies. They also bring their Baby Jesus dolls to be blessed and then bring them home to put them in the manager in their Nativity scenes. As we walked home from church the families were gathering for their traditional Christmas Eve meal, so many lovely traditions.
We really enjoyed our week here as we found Bacalar to be a very laid back, chill place. It was a great place to relax before moving on.
The next morning saw us on the side of the road waiting for our next ADO bus ride. We travel light!
Love your boat tour! Would certainly do that one!
ReplyDeleteWe enjoyed your blog, thanks for sharing. We are so looking forward to visiting Mexico soon.
ReplyDeleteHi there! We met you two in Portugal many years ago (couple from Toronto). We were thinking of this blog today as we finally made it to Newfoundland. Hope you are well!
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