It's actually hard to describe our time on the water as I'm not sure words would do it justice. There was one point when we were swimming around at the Canal de Pirates when Lynda and I just looked at one another and said..."Wow! There are no other words!" (yes, there is a place where pirates used to come and sit just out of reach for the cannons from the old Spanish fort in Bacalar but I'll get to more on that location in a minute.)
The view from our hotel balcony is magnificent but being out on this "rainbow of blue" takes magnificent to a whole new level. Here is an overview of the areas we visited by boat this morning.
First stop was the Cenote Negro. We sat atop the place where the shelf of the lake drops down into the cenote. The water is crystal clear and so you can see everything beneath the surface. The depth goes from 2 meters to more than 90 meters instantly so the colour changes from azure to black - hence the name Negro.
It's kind of hard to explain how there are multiple cenotes in this one lake but...there are and you can see where the water coming into one cenote bumps up against the main part of the lake or another cenote.
Right in front of our hotel is Cenote Esmerelda and it is conical in shape. At it's centre it is so deep that they haven't even got a depth on it (assuming I understood Edwin correctly - LOL) At Esmerelda we were able to see water coming into the cenote at its surface. It is coming from an underground source but because the land slopes up from the waters edge you can see it's entry point. Edwin says that the original source is believed to be in the mountains but I am thinking...who really knows since it is being fed from underground and those underground rivers could be fed from some ancient source deep within the earth. Regardless, I'll say it again....this place is the stuff dreams are made of! In face, Edwin who is 20, moved here from Cancun where his family all still live. He came here for the quality of life...smart boy!
Another stop on our tour was a little island that is home to a plethora of birds. Supposedly the pink flamingos also nest here but we didn't see any of them today. Lots of other very large birds though. My guess is that they might have been some kind of heron.
Our favourite stop on the tour was the Canal de Pirates though and as there was just the two of us on the boat we were able to spend extra time there. Edwin ran the boat aground on the sand bars that border the canal. The sand is like powder and pure white. Edwin showed us where there was special sand for exfoliating your skin so we dove right into that task. We waded through the shallow water and reached down to take sand off the bottom of the canal. This special sand is not as white as the rest of it and it doesn't smell very good either! It is filled with sulphur. We asked Edwin how they ever figured out that the sand in this spot was different and he said it is because if you look at the exposed edges the sand on this side is darker and has a tinge of red whereas the sand everywhere else is pure white. He is absolutely right...it is....but I'm still amazed that someone figured this out! Until you pull the sand up off the bottom and start rubbing it on your body there is no smell at all.
Once we had finished our exfoliation we wandered back out to the deeper water to rinse off. No matter how deep we went the water was just as crystalline as it had been in the shallows. In fact, when I was neck deep in water I could still see that the remnants of the polish from my pedicure in Zanzibar so clearly that it was a reminder of just how much I need to spend some time on my toes!
We floated and swam and peered through masks to see the tiny fish that call this place home. We waded and exfoliated and washed and dreamt of ways to make this last forever. We knew without question that neither of us will ever forget the perfection of this place...it truly is the stuff dreams are made of...you know that perfect postcard you've seen or that image you've conjured up for your meditation or in a romance novel...yep...that one...well we were there today and we LOVED it!!!
After we left the Canal de Pirates we toured along the edge of the lake back to our end destination and along the way Edwin pointed out another cute little hotel where there were hammocks under a palapa down at the waters edge. It is called Casa de Corazon (house of the heart) and we knew we needed to go there to check it out as we're pretty sure we're going to be here for at least two more nights that originally planned. Easy to see how someone might come here and forget to leave!
We stopped in at the Casa de Corazon and although we were tempted... the room there was much smaller than the one we're in and the bathroom much too tiny for the giants that we are so we decided to stay where we are instead.
So...it's back to the hotel and the pool where a lounge chair and my book are calling.
Hasta luego.....
Had the pool and adjacent loungers all to ourselves this afternoon...kind of feeling like this is our own private oasis so....we booked ourselves in for a fourth night which means we will stay in Bacalar until the 25th.
Decided we'd better spend some time strategizing on just where we will stay for our final nights in the Yucatan as we don't want to find ourselves too far from the airport on that final day! So....we're booked into a hotel in Cancun on the 31st and will use that day to visit Isle Mujeres and the city before our flight home on the evening of the 1st. We also managed to find a place in Playa del Carmen for the 29th and 30th which will give us an opportunity to check out Cozumel at the same time. We still have our car until the 30th when we return it in Playa and having wheels sure makes it easy to do some exploring! Spent some time online tonight trying to find a place in Tulum for 4 nights (25-29) but...no luck just yet. We're kind of thinking we might just take our chances and go there with the plan that something will "speak" to us when we see it. We don't need anything on the beach but are hoping for a pool. We'll spend a lot of our time in Tulum checking out the neighbouring towns etc so...don't need to pay the big bucks to be right on the beach!
It will be what it is though so we're not gonna sweat it too much. We've got two more nights here which means all day tomorrow will be a poolside kinda day as I think we've about explored all there is to explore in the little town of Bacalar. When we head out on the 25th we'll go with the intention of having our lucky streak continue and trust that we'll stumble upon a perfect spot somewhere between here and Playa where we need to be on the 29th. It's kind of hard to think in terms of having to be anywhere as we've been free-wheeling it for so long now! But...the time is drawing near...so need to begin to shift back in the direction of structure. LOL!
Till next time,
L & L
photos are of:
- Lynda and I covered in the exfoliating sand at the Canal de Pirates beside our boat (and holding the P3 cuz it's been travelling around the world with us these past few months)
our hotel...our balcony is the one past the umbrella that is closed.
a look across the water (from the boat) at our hotel (the white one).
the front of Casa de la Corazon from the boat...the view that caught my attention and called us to check it out for availability and prices.
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