Time for adventure.

Monday, February 12, 2024
Yucatán Peninsula
PLAN FOR DAY 2 Today's adventure starts with a visit to Río Lagartos Biosphere Reserve on the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, home to the largest flocks of pink flamingos in Mexico, in addition to the almost 400 bird species that have been identified here. Take a two-hour boat trip through the mangroves in the reserve's estuary to observe flamingos, crocodiles, and other animals.
The trip also includes a visit to feeding areas, a stop for a Maya mud bath with mineral-rich white mud and a dip in the salt-rich waters of the lagoon. We then visit a cenote - a natural sinkhole - for some time to cool off with a swim. After the visit, continue to the hotel in Valladolid. After checking in at the hotel, we will have time to refresh. Continue with a walking city tour by Valladolid, this is a city that preserves the tradition of Mayan culture in every corner and its historical legacy is unique. Discover the passage of time from pre-Hispanic times to the present walking through its streets. Overnight at hotel in Valladolid.
Reality of day 2 - we have been awake since 2.30am trying to find out what time our pick up for the tour starts. Tui are telling us that we need a ticket number but the only number we have is the booking reference number and they cannot work it out from that. It got to half 3 and that’s when the kettle went on as we are both wide awake and I needed coffee (Jane needed a twix!) If and when we do eventually get on this tour we are gonna look like shit as we have has so little sleep over the past couple of days, it’s just as well that we have 8 days of dossing on a beach at the end of all this. We finally made our way down to breakfast at 6 am after 2 power cuts! Whilst we were in the dining room there was a lady with a matching trousers and top on with the price tags sticking out, of course nobody told her so we just had a chuckle about it. Jane and I both had yellow dresses on today so we looked like we had a uniform on, we were identifying as the yellow ladies until I got the worst wind burnt face ever and then I was the burns victim, the actual comment was “Jesus Christ you’re red’  and would you like me to take you to a pharmacy - they don’t know me, red to brown in a couple of days.
We have a few names for our fellow travellers, there is stretch Armstrong a redneck front the US, a couple of les beans from the US, the moaning Aussies, pissy Edgar the driver, drink breath Dan - the tour guide, I’m sure we’ll make names up for the other 5 before we finish.as we made our way along one of the most boring roads in the world we came across a crash where a bloke had come off his motorbike and the traffic just kept on filing past him. The good news, that Jane pointed out, was at least he’s not dead.
Daniel kept giving us useless bits of information one was the origin of cancuns name, can = serpent and cun = nest. He was talking about these trees and all I could hear was suppository, I still haven’t found out the significance of the tree but I think he was talking about sap on trees and bubble gum.
Daniel told us if we had any questions just to ask, we did contemplate asking if there would be a raffle ( if you know you know).
We stopped for a comfort break on the way in the most boring services ever and as the driver helped us back on the mini bus it was evident that he had been for a wee hence the name pissy Edgar. We travelled further down the boring road to then be told we had gone through another time change and we needed to put our clocks back another hour - bloody hell, this already long day has just got an hour longer. As if we hadn’t heard enough about trees we were told about the sable tree commonly known as ‘Jack Shit’ - well that’s what I heard. This was a an odd tree with thorny bark and nobbles on it that looked like woman’s boobs and the story was that this tree would feed you?
As there is very little to see out of the window due to the vegetation just being jungle Jane pointed out the vegan llizzy had a tattoo that looked like a vagina! I wonder if that is what she asked for when she went to have it done. 
Daniel carried on with his chat and I worked out not to make eye contact as he wanted a reaction and what he was saying isn’t necessarily what I was hearing so my reaction was laughter quite a lot of the time. He spoke about montezuma who was leader of the aztecs and how he rule his empire with heart and passion.
Finally, we got to Rio Lagartos, it doesn’t look anything special when you get there, just a little fishing village with a few restaurants and a lot of boats. 
We boarded our boat with redneck rich and lizzy vag vegan and made our way out into the mangrove biosphere. We started off slowly then the boy racer got going and got in the slip stream of the leader. We got slight splash back as we skipped over I've the waves created by the other boats.
It was so calming gliding through the water and seeing the wildlife in their natural habitat. I absolutely shit myself when a pelican decided to hitch a ride on the front of our boat. It was a fabulous experience even if it did take me out of my comfort zone. We got further into the mangroves and then the estuary we were going down open up onto the mouth of the ocean. This is where we saw the fabulous flamingoes strutting themselves as though on parade for us. It was great to see them in their pink/orange splendour. Next we took the boat to the salt flats where you could put the nutrient rich mud on you, only one in our group put some on their face but there were boats wizzing by us that looked like they were full of geisha girls.
Once we made it back to dry land it was time for lunch washed down with a cold beer and then off the the cenote which is a natural sink hole whe we could go for a swim, Jane and I decided against it, Jane because she won’t go in if she can’t touch the floor and me out of solidarity and I couldn’t be arsed to get changed. It looked beautiful and those that went in really enjoyed it however, it was a tad cold. I am super conscious about the colour my face is turning and how stupid it looks - oh well, if it comes to it I could always get one of the wrestling masks.
On the way to the hotel it was decided we would make a quick stop so some people could change money up, 45 minutes later and it was done. They went in whilst it was light and came out in the dark, I was not a happy bunny. We got to the shack and after a quick shower went off out for supplies to the oxxo shop. We had a sandwich and a beer in the hotel and went to bed. I think Jane was snoring even before her head touched the pillow. It’s a full on day tomorrow so time for some shut eye, goodnight x

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2025-02-14

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