Hi everyone,
My Yucatan trip is ending, so I want to share a couple of more great things we experienced here. If interested below you will find suggestions on a beautiful kayak trip through cork forest (mangrove-like); El Cuyo and a tip about Las Coloradas.
- If you plan to visit Isla Holbox, do consider visiting the amazing El Corchal reserve, the starting point for which is In Solferino on the main road. For 700 pesos you will be taken deep into the secondary forest (there are no primary forests In Yucatan, unfortunately) that is on a private reserve. Once you get to the location you will walk for about 600 m to get to the "savvanah" lake, take kayak/canoe, and paddle for mere minutes, before you find yourself In an enchanted forest of cork trees. You can spend as long as you like paddling In this environment. Upon return to the land do climb the tower from which there is a spectacular view over the area. Our guide was one of the brothers, who spoke about food and their efforts to preserve the forest with equal passion and enthusiasm. Along the way through the forest he showed us many local tree species and explained their amazing uses. He also showed us the red dye tree from which Solferino got its name. We leanred so much our head is spinning. Besides, Solferino may be among the cutest local villages we visited on Yucatan - and we visited many. Just go from the main road into any little street and you will see beautiful colorful palapas, nice little local comedores, and even a coffee shop. Nobody but us stopped along the way.
What it all has to do with jaguars: the area is one of the last places where these highly endangered felines live, which are being exterminated on a daily basis with any bs excuse imaginable, and the family and local community are making efforts to save what can be saved. They track them, record them with cameras, and they need help with visitors' dollars. For a very low fee you will have a fenomenal relaxing trip with beautiful views and help to something for the extremely endangered animals. Besides jaguars the area also has pumas and ocelots, many birds as well.
You can contact Pepe via Whatsapp on <snip> He replies very quickly. Google map led us to the exact location without a glitch.
2. If you prefer to visit the same type of a beautiful beach as In Isla Holbox, but a lot cheaper, laid back and casual, El Cuyo may be just right. It is no longer the one-restaurant place, but is still very local, beautiful, with an amazing beach and many places to rent. There are several small restaurants and just today we had 2 whole big fresh fish, two shrimp soups and a beer for exactly 386 pesos! We could not believe they were really going to bring us entire fish, as we expected a slice of each. The restaurant was Mira Mar, located In the very center of the village, opposite the church. It does not seem busy, but they serve excellent food.
3. Finally, Las Coloradas are indeed beautiful, but the visit is now very restricted. As we were heading to El Cuyo from Las Coloradas, we were going to follow the navigation that would have taken us via Dzonot carretero and would take at least 1.5hrs. However, a local guy pointed to the straight earth road leading directly into El Cuyo, and we were there In 35 minutes, after the most beautiful drive in Yucatan. The road is straight ad quite solid, save for a few short areas where you need to be careful if driving a small car. Very enjoyable, and for the most part you see the saline pools to your right and the ocean to your left. Beautiful!
4. The village of Las Coloradas also has an amazing restaurant we discovered accidentally, Las Gaviotas, superb seafood, more expensive than MiraMar In El Cuyo, but very good.
Thanks for reading and enjoy Yucatan!
