The Weekly Watch

One More Beach and Birding stop Plus Historic Merida

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Join us on the last week of our Mexican vacation. I hope you've enjoyed this exploration of the Mexican Yucatan. This week we're visiting Celestun and the white city, Merida. Celestun is home to flocks of pink flamingos with a nice beach facing the bay of Campeche. Merida is the capitol of the state of Yucatan. It is a cultural center with lots of museums, music, and foods.

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Located 60 miles southwest of Merida, Celestún is a quaint fishing village where the beaches are lovely and there are no crowds. Celestún is famous not only for its seafood restaurants, but also for its river or ría, beautiful flamingo colonies, fresh water springs, and calm beaches. You will also find a 36 foot tall lighthouse and salt fields near the town.

We took a bus from Merida and spent two days in Celestun. Day one was spent eating lots of seafood and exploring the cute fishing village of only 6,000 residents. (Although the population rises to about 10,000 when its octopus hunting season). We booked an oceanfront Airbnb and found out that Celestun is one of the most affordable places on the whole Yucatan Peninsula to book oceanfront accommodation. Hotels or Airbnbs. The town itself has a super laidback and chill atmosphere and we didn't find it to be very touristy at all.

Day two was all about seeing some flamingos! Celestun is known for having flocks of thousands of them and they are in season right now. (We went on February 15th-16th and saw thousands!) We booked a boat tour at the Celestun Biosphere Reserve. An amazing 147,500-acre (600 km²) reserve where you could spot more than 400 species of birds. There's other options if you want to go see the flamingos, like hiring a local fisherman and their boats to take you out directly from the beach in downtown Celestun, or booking a private canoe tour. (8 min)

Celestun beach is nice and wide, so there is plenty of space to find your own little patch of sand. Playa Celestun is also westward facing, which means that you can watch the sun set over the water here ... the beach in itself isn’t going to win any awards for the most gorgeous beach in the world, but its a quality and relatively crowd-free option if you’re in the area.

Plus, you can combine a trip to the beach with a tour of Celestun’s biosphere! In fact, the most popular thing to do in Celestun is to visit the excellent Ria Celestun biosphere reserve, where you can explore mangroves, look for crocodiles, and visit enormous concentrations of flamingos!

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...it’s important to remember that the flamingos that live in the Ria Celestun migrate between here and Rio Lagartos (another popular day trip from Merida, Mexico). So the best time to see flamingos in Ria Celestun is when they are in season, roughly between November and March, with January and February being the best month. Celestún is the main courtship area for the greater pink flamingo, during the fall and winter months, in the mangroves. Then they move to the sandy beaches of Río Lagartos for nesting and birthing.

Flamingos aren’t the only birds in the biosphere reserve though. You’ll likely see egrets, frigates, and array of different avian life. There is even a stop at “Bird Island,” which is filled with hundreds of egrets and pelicans.

While the flamingos are of course the highlight of a boat tour through the Celestun biosphere, the surrounding shallow mangroves are worth exploring in their own right. Your boat will take you on a brief tour of the mangroves. Pay close attention and you might just spot a crocodile or two! You will then will likely stop at Ojo de Agua Baldiosera, a cenote, where you can get out and walk around a short boardwalk fronting a little swimming hole.

https://travellemming.com/celestun-mexico-guide/
https://www.mexicotravelsecrets.com/celestun-mexico/

The area is an UNESCO site
Located over the mouth of Yucatan’s biggest groundwater basin, between the towns of Celestún and Maxcanu, the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve is part of a vast wetland corridor in the west of the peninsula. The fresh water from underground aquifers has an outlet in the site, which makes the Biosphere Reserve a unique example of a natural wetland in the area. Its mangroves, dunes and low rainforests are home to a substantial natural heritage, particularly in terms of birds. In fact, the area is a resting place for a huge number of migrating species.

Mérida
About an hour away from Celestun is our last stop of the trip...the city of Merida.

The peaceful paradise, Mérida, features a blend of colonial houses and Mayan ruins between which the city shares its heritage. Begin your #vacation at Plaza Grande and #explore the surrounding pastel streets filled with architectural treasures and cool parks.

Mérida’s many museums cover everything from Yucatan song to the folk arts of Mexico. The Museum of The City of Mérida charts the rich and sometimes turbulent history of Yucatan’s capital. #Visit the Yucatan’s Anthropology and History Museum and nearby, the Great Museum of the Mayan World which creates a striking contrast to Mérida’s historic streetscapes.

Mérida is surrounded by ancient Mayan cities such as Dzibilchaltun, Mayapan, Uxmal, and Chichén Itza. The Yucatan Peninsula has an incredible network of over 6000 cenotes. Some, such as the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itza, were considered portals to the afterlife.

Mérida is undoubtedly one of the coolest and most cultural cities in Mexico.
(8 min)

MUSEUMS AND RUINS - MERIDA, MEXICO (3 min)

Merida is the home of the Mundo del Maya Museo (or the big honking Mayan Museum) which also has ample air-conditioning and is a sweet little nip out of the heat of the city. There are also plenty of contemporary art galleries on the main park - all with free entry and a sweet little walking tour that meets daily at 9:30AM on the square for a bilingual history of the town. Also free.

Anthropology and History Museum - Merida, Mexico (26 min)

This is the Anthropology and History Museum in Merida, Mexico. It has an awesome display of artifacts from early Mayan periods all the way upto the last 50 years of rulers in the Yucatan Peninsula. To understand the history of Mayas, you must go here first and you will be amazed at their advancement in Mathematics, Engineering and other fields of science and art.

Merida Mexico Yucatan. Downtown, museums, restaurants, what to do. (8 min)

Welcome to Merida, visit Casa de Montejo, Palacio Cancun, Paseo de Montejo, Monumento a la Patria and many other interesting sites.

Merida is near the landing site of the asteriod that wiped out the dinosaurs.

The Chicxulub Science Museum is located in the central sector of the Parque Cientifico y Tecnologico de Yucatan in Merida, Yucatan. The museum is a major component of the Chicxulub research center, dedicated to outreach, education and science communication in the Earth, life and planetary sciences.

The museum is an interactive facility that incorporates research programs on the Chicxulub asteroid impact and Earth´s evolution. It has exhibit halls on the Solar System, impact cratering, Chicxulub impact and mass extinctions and life evolution- The museum is built around the studies of the Chicxulub crater and the End -Cretaceous mass extinction.

Chicxulub was formed ~66 million years ago by an asteroid impact on the Yucatan carbonate platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The impact excavated a deep cavity into the crust, with ejection of large volumes of fragmented rocks and dust that spread at the top of the atmosphere and caused global affectation of the climate and environment. The impact altered the life support system of the plant causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, marine and flying reptiles, ammonites, foraminifera and about ~76 % of species on continents and oceans. The globally distributed impact ejecta is the marker horizon for the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary.

... in 1991, scientists figured out where that impact happened: northern Yucatan, a day’s road trip from Cancun’s party central. It’s now known as the Chicxulub crater, and it’s possible to see evidence of the impact with your own eyes—if you know what to look for.

Screenshot 2023-01-22 at 13-07-17 Chicxulub crater How to visit the dinosaur-ending asteroid site in Mexico - Tripadvisor.png

The Chicxulub crater is located in the northern part of the Yucatan peninsula, with about half of the (underground) rim on land and the other half underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. The asteroid itself was estimated to be 6.2 miles wide, but the impact it left was monumental—a whopping 110 miles in diameter. Yucatan’s capital city, Merida, is located within the impact site, and scientists say the center of the crater is underneath the town of Chicxulub Puerto. One side of the rim reaches as far as present-day Parque Nacional Natural San Felipe in San Felipe, and the other side to Reserva Estatal El Palmar, east of Merida.

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https://sites.northwestern.edu/monroyrios/some-maps/chicxulub-and-ring-o...

...the meteorite crater is extremely well hidden under very thick 3,000 ft (1,000 m) of soft limestone rocks. However, we can see traces of the crater on the surface since there is a great number of very deep and large water filled sinkholes that are aligned along the edge of the crater basin. The local people call these sinkholes “cenotes” (pronounced say-no-tays) in a word tied to the Maya language (ts’ono’ot), meaning “a hole filled with water”.
...
The impact crater then changed where and how the water could flow, since in the middle of the crater is now a large solid lump of crystal rock formed by the intense shock of the meteorite hitting the earth. Water can’t flow through the crystal rock, so the water now flows up the sides along the perimeter of the solid lump. It is around the sides of the crystal rock where the soft limestone is now even more dissolved, creating large and deep voids. Over time, some of these hidden caves around the edge of the crater and the crystal rock, keep collapsing, and some of them even reach the surface where we can now see them as the Ring of Cenotes.

Besides the museum is excellent food , music, and dance.
Free Cultural Events, Dances and Concerts (12 min)

There are so many fun and free cultural events, dances and concerts that you can see in Merida. In this video we'll highlight what to do each night in Merida Yucatan Mexico in 2022.

I'm looking forward to renting a bike on the Sunday when we're there
Paseo Montejo in Mérida Yucatan is sublime on Sundays. Biciruta! (3.5 min)

This week we went to Biciruta, the weekly event on the Paseo de Montejo where they shut down half of the boulevard to car traffic and open it up to bikes, rollerbladers, joggers and pedestrians!

To wrap up this vacation series let me feature a summary of many of the things we've done with this video. (10 min)

It’s the state capital and widely known as the safest city in Mexico. But what attracts most visitors is its thriving food and cultural scene. With an interesting mix of Mayan and colonial culture, Mérida is encircled by ancient temples, sacred cenotes, and colorful streets with colonial mansions.

Here are our top 8 things you SHOULD do in Mérida, Mexico.
8. Walk the Paseo de Montejo
At number 8 we have the Paseo de Montejo. Home to some of the most beautiful and iconic buildings of the city, the Paseo de Montejo is a great place for an afternoon stroll.

7. Try the local Yucatecan cuisine
Trying the local Yucatecan cuisine is an absolute must when in Mérida! Food is a big part of the city’s culture, bringing together Mayan, Spanish, and Lebanese influences. In the center, you can find many great restaurants that serve traditional dishes.

6. Explore nearby Izamal
The small town of Izamal is about 70km or 43 miles away from Mérida, making for a great day trip. There’s a collectivo on the corner of Calle 50 and 63 which takes you from the center of Merida to the heart of Izamal in less than 1 and a half hours. Most of the buildings in the downtown area are painted yellow, giving the city a distinct bright feeling.

5. Swim in the nearby cenotes
Mérida can get very hot during the day. So one great way to cool off is to visit a nearby cenote! There are tons of beautiful cenotes around the city. Some are easily reachable by bus and others are more hidden, requiring a rental car to get there. Do your research before you visit as some can get very crowded.

4. Mérida's Historic Center (Free walking tour)
The 4th best thing to do in Mérida is to explore the Historic Center. With many colorful homes, beautiful colonial architecture, churches, and cute parks, this part of the city never bores. The streets are clean, well-maintained, and filled with restaurants, shops, and entertainment. The best way to learn about the city is to go on a free walking tour.

3. Day trip to Celestún
Located along the coast, Celestún is another great day trip destination. It’s about 100 km or 62 miles from Mérida and it takes around 2 hours to get there by bus. Here, you’ll find the Ria Celestun Biosphere Reserve, which is home to flamingos, crocodiles, and many other birds. As many as 35,000 flamingos live here from November to February. But besides the flamingos, Celestun also has a gorgeous beach for relaxing and swimming.

2. Enjoy Mérida's cultural performances
The thing we loved the most about the city of Mérida was its evening entertainment. There’s always something going on every night of the week. The city’s streets and plazas come to life with cultural performances, concerts, and dances that are free and open to the public.

1. Visit the Uxmal Ruins
At number one, we have one of the best archeological sites in Mexico: the Uxmal Ruins. Located 85 km or 53 miles to the south of Mérida, Uxmal is an important Mayan City and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s lesser-known than the world-famous Chichen Itza, but also less crowded, less touristy, and just as impressive in our opinion.

Well we've explored all that and more. I hope you've enjoyed this vicarious trip to the Yucatan. I'll see next week

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enhydra lutris's picture

Don't know if we'll ever gt back to Yucatan so this has been a great tour of some of what we've missed and should maybe consider going to if we return. Plus, archaeology/anthropology and Maya freak here, so all good stuff.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

ggersh's picture

Continue to enjoy it. My only foray to Mexico was to
Tijuana back in the 70's. What you could get for only
a few peso's was amazing Smile

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

One day...
I went to a place in Trinidad to see flamingos. In that place, and no other, they are red when visiting. It is due to a mineral in the waters. Once they move on, they fade out to white.
I dedicated an hour today to raising hell with Comenity Bank. I had a credit card with BOA that was compromised. BOA issued me a new one with a subsidiary Comenity Bank. Then, they sold out and severed all ties with them. I never got a payment processed, never got a paper statement that a phone call bot said had been mailed out. I got a late charge on a bill I had paid. I finally got someone on the phone today, paid (I think!) the balance, closed the account. I never asked to do business with them, will never do business with them, and if any of you are using one of their credit cards, be very watchful. My flirtation lasted 4 months. 3 months too long!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

dystopian's picture

Hey LO! It has been a great series of posts on the Yucatan. I have quite enjoyed it. Muchas gracias! Those flamingoes are awesome! They have webbed feet and swim well! Whaddabird! There is a wild vagrant Greater Flamingo at St. Marks NWR at the bend in FL right now, been there a year or more I think. There are sometimes small flocks of them at Snake Bight, in the Everglades, at the very southmost point where the little settlement is named, well, Flamingo. LOL. I have chased them but never saw one. I have seen escaped Greater, Lesser, and Chilean Flamingo in socal over the years birding. Those don't count. Anyway, thanks for sharing the Yucatan with us. Smile

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

@dystopian

While chasing flamingo ..

The Spanish word flamenco means “Flemish,” and its later usage in the sense “Gypsy-like,” especially in reference to a song, dance, and guitar-music style, has inspired a number of hypotheses about why the word flamenco came to be associated with Gypsies.

[video:https://youtu.be/QLnEjHuMFsA]

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enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

"Gypsy Flamenco" is stylistically different from regular flamenco or so I've heard.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris

There are 3 types of Flamenco dancing:

Pure Flamenco is considered the form of performance closest to the gypsy culture, it is always performed solo and it’s more improvised rather than choreographed, it’s characterized by its freedom.

Then we have classic Flamenco, which is more frequently performed by Spanish companies. This style is a combination between ballet and Flamenco; most of the time women are required to keep their posture with a slight backbend.

The last type of Flamenco is New Flamenco, characterized by the presence of new elements like spotted costumes and props such as castanets, fans, shawls, among others. This style of Flamenco is the one that foreigners are most familiar with and that is more popular around the world.

Fascinating culture - Romanian Gypsies

In the Middle Ages, the gypsies migrated to Turkey, France and Spain. In Spain, their culture mixed with Iberian, Jewish, Muslim, Moorish and Spanish society, influencing Flamenco’s creation. They have been one of the most persecuted populations, by both the Nazis and Communists, as well as several local governments in Asia and Africa. They had to face severe torture which ended in slavery, so for them Flamenco became a form of theraphy, it wasn’t just music, it was a way of self-identity.

https://www.stepflixentertainment.com/blog/gypsy-culture/

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enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

The gypsies have indeed been one of the most persecuted peoples ever.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

https://www.jazzradio.com/gypsyjazz

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris

Can't dance, but sure like to listen.

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snoopydawg's picture

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

Apparently it’s only a mile away that has a mandatory evacuation, but towns 20 miles away are reporting animal deaths. Who the FCK made the decision to burn the chemical and did anyone think of where the air would carry it?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

It sounds as if you had a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing your journey with us.

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