The Tour of Celestun

The following day we signed up to do a tour of Celestun. The Celestun reserve is a protected area, most notable for it's resident flamingos. They picked us up at the hotel by van, and transferred us to a bus. Edwin was the tour guide, and he was pretty good, especially since he had to do everything in Spanish, and then again in English. The bus ride was interesting, through the towns. The towns were filled with houses made from any available materials. But because of the weather, I don't think people hole themselves up quite like people from more northern climes. When we got to the reserve they loaded us onto several little boats, and hightailed it out onto the estuary. It was a pretty chilly 20 minute trip. And then we arrived at where the flamingos were feeding. Since my summer working at Sea World I have a soft spot for flamingos. They are this combination of beauty and hilarity. The truly odd color, that only a bird could get away with, yet it's not really as flashy as a parrott. They are tall and graceful, and yet bicker with each other and stand on one leg, with a backward knee. There was this constant low squawking as they feed and communicate. They are so large, that to take flight, they have to run on top of the water for a short ways, before they lift off. But it is a magnificent sight. Watching them was all to short, before we had to take off to go into the mangrove trees. It reminded us both of the Jungle Ride at Disneyland, only it was real. I spotted a large bird, camoflaged in the shadows. I later found out it was a Bare Throated Tiger Heron. And there were these huge termite nests in the trees. Really, at any second we expected a mechanical hippo to raise out of the waters. After a short walk on a boardwalk, it was back to the boats and on the bus again. It was much too short a trip for me. If we go back, I think I want to rent a guide and do a whole day. They then took us to a pretty good restaurant on the beach, and gave us time to go swimming or sunbathing. Unfortunately, Mark and I didn't know anything about this, so we hadn't brought our swimgear. Mark walked to the plaza, while I laid out on any scraps of clothing we had brought and got a little sun. Then it was back onto the bus and the return trip to Merida. Back in Merida we went out to dinner, and then sat in the Plaza Mayor again and people watched. Who were all these people, and why weren't they home watching TV? And why were they spending time together in family groups? It was very exotic and confusing.