The Lagoon of Seven Colors, Bacalar,  Mexico   December 16, 2023

I had a relaxing morning until 9:30 when I left on a different bike to go to the departure point for my 3 hour tour around the Lagoon of Seven Colors.  Yesterday’s one speed was slow and very hard to pedal, in fact there’s a hill to climb as soon as one leaves the hotel and I had to walk it.  But not today as my new bike just slid up that hill!  

Along the way-

I bought a doll like this in Queratero-

Frida is everywhere-

So, because it was so easy pedalling, it only took me half an hour to get to where I was going so I had an hour to kill.  I visited with a bartender who said his sister lives in Saskatoon and her daughter is studying to be a nurse.  Small world.

10 of us boarded the boat-

pretty much at 11.  I could have gone on a sail boat but there was no shade and I got burned as it was so I was glad to have made the choice I did-

Our route-

The lake is very beautiful and according to Carlos, our driver and guide, it’s the only lake in the world with white sand.  I wasn’t too happy with him because I asked him to speak Spanish slowly but most don’t know that word and then he didn’t repeat in English.  I had to ask him every time to tell me in English and I know enough Spanish to know he left a lot out of his English blurb.

Looking back at the marina I left from at the beautiful colors-

The Esmeralda Cenote-

The Black Cenote or Witch’s Cenote is over 100 meters deep.  There are caves all around it and Carlos said many people have disappeared-

You can see the black-

Nearby was a huge orange iguana in a tree but my pictures are not very clear-

There are stromatolites which are groupings of cells that create sedimentary rocks that first appeared 2500 to 1000 million years ago.  They produce oxygen and their presence caused the atmosphere to change to the conditions we know today.  Thanks to them, life on the planet was possible.  They are rocks made of calcium carbonate and are the first reefs.  They are very important to the ecosystem, releasing oxygen and keeping the lagoon healthy.  They’re roped off to protect them-

but there are a lot in front of my hotel-

The lagoon also has a Pee Bay! We stopped in one spot for an hour to “swim”-

We drove to Bird Island where there are only birds in March and April and had another 35 minutes to swim.  Only 2 out of 10 people got off the boat.  I kept asking myself what I was doing on this boat, I mean I live at the lake and can go out on a pontoon boat whenever I want but I was happy to see the beautiful colors.

After, I had a pizza with ham, mushrooms, olives and artichokes.  It was very good-

I came back to the hotel, did laundry in a machine which is the first time this trip and visited with Blue and Tian, two women from Ontario who lived off the grid for a month before coming here yesterday and are flying to La Isla near Mazatlán on Monday where they’ll spend the rest of the winter.

Tomorrow my bus for Tulum leaves at 10:10.  Moving on!