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After a couple days on the
Ruta Puuc, I returned to Merida. I planned to visit the flamingo
estuary at Celestun, along the Gulf of Mexico. You can see on the
map that there is only one way to get there – and that’s from Merida
– so I spent the night in Merida.
Celestun is 56 miles west of Merida.
The name means
"painted stone".
It is described as “a picturesque coastal traffic port where its
4,600 inhabitants still preserve the traditions and folklore of the
Mayan fisher folk.” Actually, as you can see, it’s kind of a dingy
dusty little town – but the coastline is beautiful and the Wildlife
Refuge is enormous. |
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Celestun Wildlife Refuge
The Celestun federal Wildlife Refuge
is 146,000 acres, shared by the states of Yucatan and Campeche. It
is one of the “Special Biosphere Reserves” which are representative
zones of one or more ecosystems that haven't been altered by men.
These areas are the habitat to endemic, and/or species threatened
with extinction.
I took a trip in
a very shallow skiff through the salt water flats and into the
mangrove forest. The water is very shallow here. There are
supposedly up to 18,000 flamingos at Celestun. I didn’t see quite
that many – but you get a little idea from the photos how many there
were. |
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| Flamingos |
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The area
consists of coastal dune scrub, estuary, mangrove forest
(59%), and marshes. Mangroves are resistant to salt water,
and prosper where other plants can't. |
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| Mangrove
forest |
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| Premature Amber |
Unknown bird |
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Deserted Beach
Leaving Celestun, I drove along the
beach road (for a very, very long way), along bumpy, deserted sand
roads, until I stumbled across the
Hotel EcoParaiso. Here are their directions: “Once in
Celestún take the road that runs parallel to the sea shore to the
right and drive 6 miles to the North of the village until you reach
our resort. There are many signs along this road, so you can't miss
us”. I’ll let you judge from the photos of their remote
location whether you could miss them. Ha! There isn’t anything
else there.
I had a pretty darn good hamburger
for lunch, climbed the lookout tower, decided I wasn’t brave enough
to try to find an unpaved coastal “shortcut” road to Merida, and
hence backtracked the long route back to the city.
Next adventure …
Mexico City. |
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| The so-called "road" |
Atop the lookout |
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| Barren as
far as the eye can see |
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