MEXICO – YUCATAN 2/3 – Looking for the pink flamingos

by | 30 Apr 2017 | Mexico, On the Panamerican road | 0 comments

Date de dernière mise à jour : le 30 July 2018

Here we are, trying to find the pink flamingos. We heard that it is the good season. So we go to Cestun, well-known for the amount of pink flamingos that come there between january and april. Perfect timing as we are in february!

We arrive by the end of the day and meet again a swiss family we met a few times before. We decide to go discover the city center for diner. After a stop to look at a small carnaval parade, we find a restaurant and then we go on the zocalo. It is full of people, a small fair and many street vendors.

The restaurant left on of us hungry, let’s have a dessert then, and a culinary discovery!

Local specialty (not sure it would work somewhere else):

A king of crepe preparation, rounded as an ice cream cone, hot, full of nutella (so far so good!) and filled with a lot of… gruyere cheese.

Yes, written it’s strange.

In picture it’s strange.

In mouth it’s strange.

And what about the flavour!

It is so suprising that we do not know if we liked it or hated it!

Anyway, the day after, recovering from our culinary experiences, we decide to go to the lagoon. The owner of the hotel on the parking lot of which we sleep drive us in his motorbike-taxi.

We arrive and after some discussion, the guides tell us that it is not really the good period for the flamingos, that they are currently around Progreso and Rio Lagartos and that there are not so much around Celestun. Strange, we heard that one week before we arrive, Celestun was full of thousands of pink birds. Anyway, we want to discover the lagoon so we take a lancha and with our guide, enter into the deep mangrove forest. Once at the lagoon, we can see around 2 dozens of flamings… At least we see some!

Nice couple of pink flamingos saying secrets to each other. Celestun Lagoon.

Cormorants et Frigates share promontory in Celestun Lagoon.

But we would like to see a lot more… So the day after, we decide to drive to Progreso. We arrive by noon and discover some nice colorfull salines. The water is pink but there is no pink flamingo. No one. Or maybe 2 far away from us…

Back in the car, let’s go to Rio Lagartos. At the end of the day we finally arrive and find a good spot to spend the night between the lagoon and the ocean. The sky is pink but not the birds. We meet other strange animals but not flamingos. After a short walk, we go to sleep with the nice sound of the waves, hoping that the flamingos will arrive tomorrow.

The morning after, we drive Tikal all the way south, next to the lagoon, with the hope to meet some flamingos. And after a few kilometers, we finally spot them. Dancing! We get closer and admire a magical moment! They are parading, walking very fast from one way to the other, streching their neck and balancing their head from left to right. Suddenly they stop and start walking on the opposite side! There are not thousand of them but enough not to be disappointed!

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On the road of departure, we stop at Las Coloradas. Near the lagoon of flamingos, there are pink salines (color theme of the region). And they are amazing!

Las Coloradas salines, with unreal colours.

 

We go back in Tikal and start our drive to the last episod of the Yucatán Peninsula.

 

 

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