After New Years eve in Mexico City, we decided to spend a few days checking our Bacalar Lake in Quintana Roo, Mexico, with our friends from Dallas. We flew into Cancun, rented a car, and drove south via Playa Del Carmen; past Tulum and Akumal, and drove south close to the Belize border. The drive was approx. 4hrs long and definitely worth it. We stayed at the a boutique hotel; called the Casa Chukum, which was a nice pleasant hotel, fairly new. Cost was around $83 per night including taxes.
Bacalar was a city of the Maya civilization in Pre-Columbian times, and the most important settlement and capital of Uaymil, one of the 16 provinces in which Yucatan peninsula was divided into, before the arrival of the Spaniards. The name comes from the Mayan word Bakjalal, which means “surrounded by reeds”. This was the first city in the region which the Spanish Conquistadores succeeded in taking and holding in 1543. In 1545 Gaspar Pacheco established the Spanish town here with the name Salamanca de Bacalar. The region of the southern half of what is now Quintana Roo was governed from Bacalar, answerable to the Captain General of Yucatán in Mérida. After the town was sacked by pirates in the 17th century, the Fortress de San Felipe Bacalar was completed in 1729, and is a Museum today in the center of Bacalar town.
Bacalar is famous for Laguna de Bacalar or Laguna de los Siete Colores (Lagoon of Seven Colors). The lagoon is a fresh water lake, fed by 7 cenotes (deep natural wells or sinkholes) distributed along the Bacalar Lagoon’s 43 km (26.7 mi) of shoreline. Depending on the time of day, sunlight illuminates the entrances to the underground caves, allowing travelers to appreciate the range of colors, as well as their varied depths. The colors range from pale shades of baby blue to aqua to deep royal blues. And in the shallower part of the Laguna, you actually stand on soft white sand, so it feels like you are at a beach on the ocean; but you are actually in a lake not far from the ocean.
We took a 3hr boat ride to check out the lake, as part of an organized tour. The boat took about 20 people, and drinks were included. The boat stops at interesting and beautiful places along the laguna, and allows people to swim and enjoy the lake. Lots of tequila as well 😀. Below are some scenes from the lake; take particular note of the multiple different colors of the lake
The town of Bacalar is small, with several restaurants. We checked out the Fuerte de San Phillipe; it was small and did not have too much on display. Some other scenes below
The Stromatolites are actually the oldest organism on earth that actually helped earth become habitable for humans by oxygenating it; and are currently scarce in the world.
We said goodbye to Bacalar and drove east to check out Mahahual, a coastal town on the southern coast of the Caribbean; same coastline as Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. Mahahual was a small fishing town that appeared to have become dependent on the tourist trade coming in from the cruise lines that docked here. Some scenes from Mahahual below
By this time, we needed to find a place to stay at overnight. We checked out several hotels in the town, but they all wanted over $125 per night for a small place. For 2 couples, that would be $250. So we tried AirBnB and found a 2 bedroom apartment, fully equipped for $98. This worked out to $48 per couple; much better 🙂
Next day, we drove back to Cancun; stopping in Akumal for lunch; Akumal was definitely much more touristy than Bacalar or Mahahual.
Having seen Bacalar, I have no doubts that it will become a tourist hot spot and hopefully not get ecologically ruined; as the ecosystem there is fragile. Bacalar is definitely worth visiting before that happens, especially when the weather is sunny. Unfortunately we got rainy weather and so were not able to appreciate Bacalar’s full beauty & splendor. Mahahual did not have much going on so can be skipped.
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Thanks for sharing! Great pictures, very interesting.
Glad you enjoyed
What an awesome place. Only you would find it. I should do more stuff like that. I seem to stick to roads that are well traveled.
Thanks Mahamud; I encourage everyone to go to less traveled places 🙂
Interesting, enjoyed reading the article.
Thanks
Nazmu
Thanks Nazmu; glad you found this blog interesting
Awesome Ali! What a fun trip it was!
It was indeed 🙂
Bacalar, Akumal and Mahahaul all sound and look like interesting places. The lake with different colors looks gorgeous and the big houses are just beautiful. Rainbow and tequila sound great and loved the Airbnb part, it worked out so much cheaper. The lunch platters look too good as well. The whole trip and the article are very informative and interesting. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Rosemin; so glad you enjoyed traveling with us 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Keep well and stay blessed. Love to Dilshad
Thanks Muslim
Very beautiful place
Indeed; thanks Nick
Thanks for sharing. Beautiful place. I loved the colours of the water. The fried fish looked good for lunch and the desert looked good too. All this food make my mouth water and hungry.
Lots of love.
Glad you enjoyed Naz. Thanks for the feedback
Ali,
Congratulations – it’s beautiful. You know these countries should pay you for your work in publicizing them – I think I wanna go !!!
Iqbal
Thanks for the compliments Iqbal. You should definitely go
Nice one
Thanks Meharban, thanks for the feedback; glad you enjoyed the blog.
Hi Ali,
Just saw your email n the blog link, reminded me of my few days in Cancun, did not explore much time was less , hopefully soon will get a chance to explore these places in your blog. Enjoy reading your travel blogs , a gentle illustration, a story, this one an Azul story, thanks for sharing !:)
Hi Sujith; thanks for the feedback; so glad you enjoyed traveling with us
It was so wonderful to read and see the pictures. Very grateful.
Thanks Durrain; glad you enjoyed the blog
Thanx for the Excursion
Most welcome Abdul