Saskatchewan Gypsies

Four from Saskatchewan viewing the mating pink flamingos.

Yes, the four voyageurs from Saskatchewan.  We had finally arrived at the protected breeding grounds of the flamingos and what a sight!  Both Roger and I took way too many photos while Maureen and Suzanne studied the birds (and us) through binoculars provided by Ismael.  I got Ismael to take this photo of us with my camera.Roger and Suzanne watching the flamingos.

Roger and Suzanne watching the flamingos.

I got to try my telephoto lens while at the mating grounds, a good thing to have brung as the flamingos were a bit skitish and so stayed quite a distance away from where we were. 

Since the lens made the camera heavier than usual, I ended up using my miniature tripod and laying on the salt-crusted dirt between the large shallow ponds.  The ponds were filled with brine shrimp which was what helped the flamingos have their rich pink colour.  Since it was mating season, the pinks were an even deeper colour than normal.

When you look at these photos, you only get a small idea, and a poor one at that of just how breath-taking these birds were to see and listen to.  With so many birds in one area, thousands of them, it was like being at a Saturday farmer’s market with everyone shouting out their bargains for all the wandering shoppers.

One final shot of the birds before I take you on the next part of our journey through the Yucatan.

Once we returned from the three hour tour, we left Rio Lagartos for the drive to our next stop, Sudzal. 

 

However it was only a matter of three kilometres before we decided to stop at a small cenote.  

The water was bright blue-green and crystal clear making it easy to see the fish swimming in it.  It was a shallow cenote unlike the one we saw on our tour of the mangrove swamp.

This is where I will stop for this post.  Tomorrow I will talk about our adventures for the afternoon of our second day out in the Yucatan countryside.

Learning to make a hammock with a local woman in her home.

Soon after we entered the fishing town of Rio Lagartos, we booked our rooms and a boat tour to see the flamingos for the next morning.  We then were free to discover a bit about the town before it was time for supper.  As you can see, we ended up in a local woman’s home.  We spotted her working on a hammock through an open door.  Curious, we asked if we could look closer at her work.  When all was said and done, Maureen ended up learning the pattern and ended up doing a fair number of stitches before we decided to head on.

Since it was late in the afternoon, a lot of boats were resting at anchor in the protected harbour. 

We were told that not far from our lodgings for the evening, there were quite a few egrets and cranes and herons coming in to roost.  We raced the setting sun in order to attempt to get photos of the event. 

Even though the light was quickly fading, we did manage to get a few decent shots of the birds such as this shot of a Snowy Egret. 

The next photo shows four White Ibis birds.  We also saw a few blue herons perched in the branches.  The whole thing was absolutely amazing and made us wish that we had been there about fifteen minutes earlier for better lighting for the pictures.

Sunset over the harbour in Rio Lagartos.

We took our time returning back to the hotel and restaurant where we took photos of the sun setting over the water of the harbour.  It was a magical time of day for us. 

With that excitement over, it was time for a good meal of local seafood. 

After eating we relaxed with our drinks before heading to an early bedtime as we had a 7:00 AM boat ride to see pink flamingos waiting for us.  Our first day of touring with Roger and Suzanne had finally come to an end.

On the road again. Well, actually, it's time for a potty break and for more photos.

With lunch done, we left the Dzilam de Bravo area and headed inland to get to our destination of Rio Lagartos.  After checking out the road atlas, we settled on taking a shorter route down a secondary road.  The idea was to check out the road for about two kilometres to see if it was good enough for travel. 

It began as a newly paved narrow road and stayed that way for about fifteen kilometres before changing into a narrower and rougher road filled with potholes.   As we drove along, we saw many flowering trees such as this one.  There were also a number of other different flowering trees, one orange-red and another variety of yellow and smaller blossoms. 

A typical home in Yalsihon.

We stopped on occasion to take photos and eventually reached a little village called Yalsihon. 

As you can see from the photo, the houses in Yalsihon were very basic, not much more than twigs and straw.  They are functional homes. A few of the homes were quite pretty obviously a thing of pride for the homeowners.  Most were basic, not pretty at all as they wore the dull look of lived-in poverty.  As we walked around taking photos, the children watched us shyly with interest.  I don’t imagine that they get many strangers stopping in their village.  It was time to drive on.   The next stop was Panaba.

The church on the eastern side of the town square of Panaba.

As with any town we have passed through, we arrived at the town square or plaza where we saw the main town church as well as the town’s administrative offices.  

A statue in Panaba in praise of breast-feeding mothers.

In the centre of the plaza was a statue celebrating mothers, nursing mothers.  The statue is quite recent and likely is just one of the means by which the community is trying to return to traditional values in the flood of new ideas and products from the affluent western world.

Panaba is a cowboy town, a town surrounded by many large "rancheros".

Walking around the town, it became obvious to us that this was a cowboy town.  Most men were wearing cowboy hats, a few were riding horses and we saw saddles resting in the backs of a few halfton trucks.  If it hadn’t of been for the architecture, we could have been in any town in Alberta or western Saskatchewan.

It was time to head out of town in order to get to Rio Lagartos early enough to get our hotel rooms and arrange for the next day’s adventures.   The sign at one end of the square let us know which way to go.

The road to Rio Lagartos led through ranchero country passed small herds of cattle, passed irrigated fields that seemed to be mostly rock and passed small crops that we found out were for fodder.  The drive was not too long and before we knew it, we arrived at our next stop.  And the rest is another story for another day.

The town administration centre for Telchac Puerto.

Having finished our visit to X’combo, we drove north to the town of Telchac Puerto in order to see the damage done to the town by Hurricane Isadore which caused a lot of damage to the northern shore of the Yucatan.  First stop was the town square, a place that featured a great place for kids to play and for villagers to gather.  On the north side of the square was the town administration centre which was brightly painted with a sea scene, a recent work of art created by Rigel Sauri.  

This is all that remains of the town's dock due to Hurricane Isadore.

Armed marines making a determined effort to halt the flow of drugs and guns into Mexico.

A termite colony up in a tree within the mangrove swamp.

As the boat began to make its way through a narrow channel that was cut out of the mangrove swamp, work done by hand by local men and women, we saw birds pass by too quickly for our cameras.  The smell of the swampland was actually quite pleasant rather than the sick and cloying smell one usually associates with swamps.  But then again, this is was a saltwater swamp.  A few times we spotted large clumps of what appeared to be dirt up in the branches of trees, termite colonies. 

The boat travelled on being poled by our guide as the water was much too shallow for a motor.  We made it to a cenote where we all got out for a refreshing dip.  A cenote is basically a sweet water pool, water that is filtered through the bed of limestone rock and gravel that makes up the basic bedrock of the Yucatan peninsula.  On the return through the mangrove swamp we saw a baby crocodile swim by within inches of our small boat.  Sadly, he disappeared before I could get a photo of him.  However, seeing him was enough.  Back at our starting point we continued our journey where we were to travel Rio Lagartos where we were to spend the night before getting to see pink flamingos the next day.

The main entrance into the Santa Ana church.

The cathedral in Dzemul is huge, something that one wouldn’t expect for such a small village in the countryside.  The church is old and was originally built and controlled by the Franciscan Order. 

The altar of Santa Ana church.

We watched as an old man went through the process of opening up the church before entering it.  Besides the impressive front altar, there were two shrines on each side of the church, one of which contained the relics of some saint.   Interesting was the presence of a statue of a black saint.

The pyramid of the X'combo Mayan ruins.

We drove down a narrow dirt trail to get into the ruins site.  Unlike our visit to Tulum the last time we were in Mexico, there were no little shops lining the entrance to the grounds. 

A small temple to the right of the main pyramid.

The ruins gave an appearance of being well off the beaten trails for tourists.  Besides ourselves, we saw two others who came later in the morning, climbing the ruins and taking photographs, Mexicans.

The main pyramid from which the town of Dzemul got its name: Dzemul - Small Pyramid.

The main pyramid is on the north side of the grounds.  South of the pyramid lies a second pyramid, not quite as high.  We were able to climb both pryamids.  I got the photo of the larger pyramid from the top of the second pyramid.A group picture with the main pyramid in the background.

A group picture with the main pyramid in the background.

Needless to say, being able to wander freely among the ruins without being bothered by others was one of the main highlights of the visit to X’combo.  Next stop will be Telchac Puerto and San Crisanto.

Dzemul town hall.

This woman wearing traditional Yucatecan clothing was on her way to buy some fresh meat from the market. Most of the older women we saw were dressed in this type of dress.

On the road to X’combo, we found a locked gate that denied us entry to the Mayan ruins.  Realising that we had to wait until later in the morning, we decided to visit the next village to the south which had an old 16th century cathedral still in operation.

At the meat market, strips of meat hung from hooks above the counters.

Arriving in the town, it was still too early for visiting the cathedral so we decided on a walking tour of the village while waiting.

 

Busy at work even though it is only 7:30 in the morning.

Once we finished walking around the square we decided to head into the village to see how and where the people lived. 

A typical home along the back lanes and central streets.

Since we were inland we didn’t expect to see a fishing culture. 

A young man proudly showing me his trophy set of antlers from a fairly recent hunt.

Combi (taxi) drivers sitting in the town square waiting until enough people decided they wanted to travel to a different town.

Bill and I enjoying a good Skype call

I began the morning with my daily fix (well, almost daily) of reading the news on-line.  While busy checking out sports pages and news about Obama’s being installed as the 44th President of the U.S.A., I got connected with brother-in-law, Bill.  As I mentioned earlier, Skype is our preferred means of keeping in touch with family and friends, as we get to hear their voices.  I tried taking a snapshot of our video connection and the result is displayed on the left. 

Once I was done with the Skype call, I downloaded Google Earth so that I could locate the exact position of our villa.  Surprisingly, I found the villa.  I never would have been able to do this if I hadn’t walked most of the area.  Landmarks helped me locate the villa.  I put a yellow pin on the villa.  You will see three rows of trees just before the villa, these are all palm trees in our back yard.

Resting flycatcher

Now, back to recapping our day yesterday.  Our guests left us about noon, but before they left, we went out taking some photos.  Bird photos became a bit interesting as we saw our first flycatchers.   Amazingly, we actually got a few pictures.

We also spotted a different kind of bird which I can’t identify as I don’t have a bird book available.  I know I could do some research on the web to solve that issue, but I am too lazy for that.  If anyone is interested in doing the work, they can let me know what it is.

A mamey fruit that is hanging in a mamey tree

After saying good-bye to our company, we continued our walk through the village where we saw a mamey tree with fruit still hanging.  Since this is now one of Maureen’s favourites, it was neat to see.

Further along on our walk we came across this iguana which was different from the others we have seen.  As you can see, this one was almost black where the others had been a light gray in colour. 

In the late afternoon we went for yet aother walk, one that took us quite a ways to the east, further than we had yet walked in that direction.  Just as we turned to walk back, we came across some guys (Mexican) who had benn busy working on a site earlier, now trying to get some coconuts off a tree.  They offered us a coconut for juice.  When I told them we didn’t have any money with us, they basically said it was no problem and gave us both a coconut for juice.  When I mentioned about “la pulpa” the actual white coconut meat, the guy cutting the coconuts pointed to one of the other coconuts and then proceeded to clean it up and then give it to us.  It was quite the experience.  Lucky for us an English speaking foreigner came upon the scene and lent us ten pesos which we gave to the men as thanks for the three coconuts.  Another experience and another chance to learn and improve my Spanish.

Let me introduce our back yard pet.  He is one of two ignuanas that have taken up residence within the walls that surround the property.  When it turns warm, he crawls up out of the cinder blocks to sun himself on the ledge of the wall.  It is interesting to see him pose as well as chirrup, his way of talking to other iguanas who might be within hearing distance.

Sunday marked two weeks in Chuburna.  Today we had Roger and Suzanne come for the afternoon and overnight at our villa.   Almost within moments at arriving at our villa, we set off along the beach so that Roger and Suzanne could show us where they had stayed for a month a few years back.  While walking, talking and taking pictures, Roger was amazed at how the beach had changed.  Some places had more beach and other spots had less beach, changes he hadn’t expected over a short two-year span.

Maureen and Suzanne had a lot to talk about, especially since both have work backgrounds in the field of medicine.  Roger and I were much too busy taking photos of anything that sat still long enough  and then discussing our captured images. 

At the gate to our villa property. Thanks, Roger, for taking the photo!

We took time to plan our upcoming four-day trip to a few Mayan sites, cenotes and old Spanish colonial churches and such.  Of course, that means we will not be posting here for four days while we are wandering around the countryside and seaside beginning Friday morning.

The evening was spent playing cards and glasses of chilled white wine.  It would have been better if Roger would have let me win, but being a good host, it was best for the host to allow the visitor to win. 

Before leaving late this morning, we took a long walk down the sandy lanes.  And as we did yesterday, the women visited and we chased butterflies and birds to see which ones would be lucky enough to get their photographs added to our photo collections.  Having company stay over was a great experience.  I wonder if any other friends or family will make the journey?