Day 16: Celestun

December 10, 2021

The Flamingos and the Mystery of Hotel Xixim

This was the day for our flamingo tour, which was a shoe in for the highlight of the trip, unless a perfect poc chuc would somehow jump up and bite us. As usual, we wanted to get going early, and we were not perturbed by the boat man , who explained that to split the cost of a boat one should wait a while, to accumulate six people, who would then pay 400 pesos each. Our answer was to dump out 1800 pesos (of our kids' inheritance) and say "vamenos"!

We had come suitably attired as gringos, in shoes and socks and dress slacks, making it awkward to splash through much water to board the boat. No matter, a little extra tugging and the thing was beached enough to just climb in.

It's a pleasant and short walk from our place to where the boats are. Lots more are 1 1/2 km away by the bridge, but there was no reason to trek out there.

Although I referred to ourselves as gringos I need to emphatically say that we have received only kindness from the local people. With the boat trip, we were given the full deal, with every stop and explanation that we expected, and friendly treatment throughout.

Pelicans are by far the most common bird here.

Celestun sits in a biosphere reserve that is briefly described in yuicatanwildlife.com as:

"Celestun Special Biosphere reserve is a 146,000 acre park located at the north-western tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. Celestun is a combination of coastal scrub, estuary, and mangrove, which together provides an excellent habitat for wildlife of many sorts. Celestun means "painted stone" in the Mayan language.

Celestun is probably best known for its Flamingos, but is also host to over 300 other species of birds, including the endemic Yucatan Wren, Mexican Sheartail, and Black-throated Bobwhite. In addition to birds, Celestun houses many species of reptiles, including 2 crocodile species: Morelet's and American, 4 sea turtles: Hawksbill, Green, Loggerhead, and Leatherback, iguanas, land turtles, and Boa Constrictors.

Probably the best way to acces Celestun is to take a guided boat ride. If you get a good guide you are sure to see a lot of wildlife. We recommend Alex Dzib."

Clearly, we were only going to spot a dozen or so rather than 300 species of birds, but for what it's worth, our guide did give his name as Alex, and Alex spotted a lot of things for us that we would have never seen.

The boat ride heads south and hits the beach, from which a short hike to the lagoon reveals the flamingos. It then continues into mangroves, where among other things very many termite nests are seen. Finally there is a ruined Spanish colonial salt mill, and a walled off spot in the salt water where fresh water wells up. We know that people are invited to swim there, but like most - we passed.

Cactus - survives even in a marine tropical environment

Flamingos are always so interesting and beautiful. Alex showed us the tiny red shrimp, so plentiful in the water.

This tour can really "blow" you away. Look at that hair!

Into the mangroves, it's a different world. I wondered if our passage through was natural or man made. Perhaps it was man enlarged.

There were the "usual" giant termite nests, but also many of these smaller ones. Large or small, they were all over.

Alex went to some trouble to draw us near to this crab but my camera refused to focus. Perhaps our experts can still make an ID?

The trip back afforded some more photo ops. One problem about our desire for a morning ride is that heading south, the land (roosting, wading sites) is to the east - right where the rising sun is. In evening with the sun from behind, photos would be easier, but perhaps the birds would be at home in bed?

Journey's end. We rated it a great success.

From back home we could see a little road running both north and south of Celestun, and we thought it could be a little adventure to follow this a little ways. We set out north, and here's the thing. Back (90 km back) when we were urgently seeking out a hotel near Uman, we saw an arrow sign for "Hotel Xixim". In a land where accommodations often do not even put a sign at their front doors, this seemed like quite a boon. But we never found Xixim, despiter seeing more signs, on the way to Celestun. We let it drop and forgot about it, until we set out on our little adventure. "Hotel Xixim" and an arrow - showing north. OK, now we had to find the thing!

There was a problem, though. Knowing the little road to go 25 km north, Dodie (the one who was earlier knocked out, sick, or whatever) was keen to more or less spin up there, and back. I was thinking more like a 10 km leg stretcher out, and back. But then the road turned to rough gravel, and I was all for quitting at that point. "You can enjoy it if you have the right attitude", chirped Dodie, bashing forward over the washboard. I would have put my (bad attitude) foot down, except for ... another sign: "Hotel Xixim 6 km"! "Ok, fine, let's find the darn place".

The road successively narrowed and got rougher, but were egged on by the Burma Shave like signs. "Hotel Xixim 5km". Just 5 km!

With road narrower and rougher again, there came a seductive sign promising kayak, bicycle, and standup board facilities, and a restaurant. Ominously there was also "Mosquito Camp".

Another turn or two and we came to understand that Mosquito Camp was a meeting place for mosquitoes (we were alongside the lagoon), and they had all come out to greet us! We had actually dragged specially impregnated mosquito hooded jackets from Canada just for this ride. But they were safely in our packs back at the hotel.

We waved our way through the mosquitoes and pulled up to the very impressive Hotel Xixim. In the atrium building sat a man who had obviously arrived by motorbike, and who was sitting there playing with his phone. "What is this place?", we inquired. But the man both did not speak any English and had zero interest in us. He returned to his phone.

We looked around for the few seconds the mosquitoes would allow, and basically fled back down the washboard road. Though we were by the lagoon, we saw no flamingos despite lots of salty deposits around. We saw only one egret?

Back at the room we discovered that Xixim is (was) a luxury eco-yoga type deal, costing about $212 per night, except it's closed. Closed does not mean trashed or abandoned. As I walked through the deserted restaurant I saw I could probably whip up an omelette pretty quick. So there you have it, the mystery of Xixim, responsible for dragging the Grampies 25 km while possibly jarring loose their fillings!

Sorry folks - internet Xixim photos upload is a no go - maybe tomorrow!

Meanwhile, we have decided to go beserk and shoot straight for Uxmal tomorrow - 120 kms at least. To avoid the heat, we'll leave at 4 a.m. The Uxmal place seems quite luxurious, so we should be able to collapse in comfort. Our unproven backroads route to Uxmal seems to be paved, so it should be smooth sailing!

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 703 km (437 miles)

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Laurie MarczakExcellent typical loony Grampies adventuring. The offspring approve.

Also sorry that link was fubar -the concert was recorded and as soon as they put it online I’ll hook you up!

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2 years ago

Douglas LotenAh Xixim! One of our families favourite tales to tell! We drove, in 2 cars, from Uaymitun to Celestún and took one of the Flamigo cruises available from the bridge! Great as always! My sister had also taken notice of the many signs for Xixim and suggested we ought to go… it’s probably just down the road a bit… 11 km of gravel, sand or worse and with lots of misgivings we finally arrived! Back then it was still open but with very few guests. We did have a great meal in the restaurant, had a tour and returned with enough chuckles to liven up any family gathering by just saying “Remember Xixim?” 😉
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2 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Douglas LotenIt's fun to know that someone else had a Xixim adventure! There must be quite a back story to the place!
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2 years ago