Mexico cancun crocodiles in the lagoon. Cancun. Fantasy bankers. An extreme option to see caimans for thrill-seekers

I keep talking about mine.

For the second time, it turns out that I come to a small Mexican city in the middle of nowhere, not expecting anything special, but there are so many surprises here at once.

The first time was when I got to the festival and danced with boots in national costumes.

Now I'll tell you about Bacalar It is a town close to the border with Belize. Few people get here, because a 5-hour bus ride from a party beach is too long for modern youth prone to drinking and partying. But I love such places where the foot of a foreign tourist does not often set foot.

Bacalar is famous for being here Laguna Bacalar(Laguna Bacalar) or Laguna of 7 colors.

It is actually a lake with bright blue water. It is believed that seven different shades of blue can be distinguished in the water. I distinguished 4, and that's good. In fact, the water in the Laguna looks like sea water.

Impressive. We were there during the Easter holidays, so the coastal restaurants were crowded with Mexican families and it was generally crowded. Very.

The shores of the lake are slightly covered with garbage, or the grass is growing dirty, so you won’t jump right away

But if you walk a little along such bridges, located in several places along the perimeter of the lake, you can feel the charm of warm blue water, white sand under your feet and children splashing around

The town of Bacalar itself is quite small, more like a village. Reminds me a lot of Filipino. The same roosters sing, the same dogs rest on the roads.

In the center of the Zócalo, as usual.

But from the unusual here is a fort, which in ancient times the Spaniards used as a defense against numerous pirate attacks. Everyone remembers the Pirates of the Caribbean, right?

But in the evening it was just atas! A festival dedicated to the 100th anniversary of some kind of protest. At first there were songs about Bakalar, about 10 pieces, but on a grand scale, which is heard in every corner of the city. And then a costumed performance of the Maya Indians.

Scenes of making fire, sacrificing a girl, rescuing a child from predators, a man dominating a woman. Generally flying! Well done guys! Mexico, oh my!

All this was accompanied by frightening music, drums, rattles, hisses, squeals and other screams. Real space!!!

Never seen anything like it. It was especially unexpected to find such a show in a tiny town, and even for free. Oh, the Mexicans know how to arrange holidays, whatever you say.

And then there were dancing to live Latin music. The guys played just beyond the bounds of fantasy, and there I already went into a rage and showed everyone how to twist the booty.

On the morning of the next day, we again went to Bacalar Lagoon to swim, until cheerful vacationers came running.

Looking at Cancun, it's hard to believe that 40 years ago it was a forgotten island off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, washed by the waters of the Caribbean Sea, on which only coconut palms grew.

Until the then Mexican government waved its hand and proclaimed: "Here will be a garden city resort, but cooler than Acapulco." (And what was then the city of Acapulco, you can see in the movie "Fun in Acapulco" (Fun in Acapulco) in 1963 with Elvis himself in the title role). They took 27 million dollars from the American bourgeois bankers and decided to defeat nature. And excavators howled, and trucks with sand drove off to build a road that connected the island with the mainland. Then they added an airport, hotels ... And they brought in large numbers of workers and tourists. Oh, no, the labor force was brought in before the tourists, but how would they build it all.

By the start of construction on January 23, 1970, on Isla Cancun there were only three people who looked after the coconut plantation of Don José (Don José de Jesús Lima Gutiérrez). Another 117 people lived in the fishing village of Puerto Juarez. Apart from them and the military base, there was only the forest and the sea. Cancun was the first turnkey city project. For arriving workers, houses, kindergartens, schools and other infrastructure were immediately built on the site of the former jungle. And now the population of Cancun has exceeded half a million people, not counting the three million annual tourists.

Despite the fact that we have been living in the state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan Peninsula for quite a long time, and have already visited all the surrounding taverns of the island, cities, towns, villages, climbed the jungle and swam the sea, there was never any particular desire to go to Cancun. Because for me, Cancun was, first of all, a big city with a big airport.(I have a small one behind my house in Playa_del Carmen) and very large houses on the beach. I saw them from afar and was already afraid, because it was known for sure that it was not at all like in Rio de Janeiro. If I had my own car, perhaps everything would be easier. But the rarest sorties to Cancun "on business" - to pay for tickets to Havana or look for the mysterious Russian consulate - were limited to a couple of hours.

And this time business brought us back to Cancun. As many as three.

1. The Monster High doll, which I generously agreed to buy and begged Ramon, was sold out in all the stores in Playa del Carmen. And we decided to go to look for her in the big city of Cancun, "in which she definitely is, because everything is there - this is Cancun."
2. Meet Granny Zoya at the Cancun airport.
3. And between these two most important things - to still look at what kind of beaches there are, so as not to look completely wild in the eyes of people who rent housing "on the first line with a view."

And we got on the ADO bus, which took us from Playa del Carmen to the big CITY in 1 hour and 45 pesos. Cancun is divided into two parts - Downtown Downtown and Zona Hotelera, which are as different as heaven and earth.

Both parts of Cancun are connected by bus routes R1 and R2, at a price of 8.5 pesos. Well, that's why 8.5 and not 8 or 9?! The most interesting thing is that in order not to pay for children (which I never do in Playa), it turns out that they must be carried into the transport on their hands, holding them high above their heads, in order to avoid being counted by a secret passenger counter, which is screwed at the entrance.

In Downtown (El centro) everything is much cheaper, there are giant supermarkets, a bus station, inexpensive hotels and cafes, in a word - almost real Mexico.

Cancun's hotel zone is home to giant all-inclusive hotels, bars, discos, and sky-high price tags, often quoted in US dollars. And so that tourists do not forget where they are, sombreros are hung everywhere.

The hotel zone itself has the shape of a sausage (it seems that it has already been somewhere), sausages in the form of the number 7, 23 km long, which is kindly separated from the mainland by the huge (3000 hectares) Laguna Nichupté. Nichupte Lagoon is connected to the sea by two channels (Siegfried and Nizuc) and consists of seven other lagoons. It was Nichupte who was the biggest secret prepared for us by Cancun. The beach there turned out to be good, despite the terribly overhead buildings built for sleeping and eating tourists. But when we crossed to the other side of the highway ... We were simply nailed to the place from the sight of the mangroves, the transparent water shining like glass and the sunset in the whole sky. I can’t understand why no one has told us before what a miracle this lagoon in Cancun is, what sunsets are there. How cool it must be to ride a boat there, stroking the crocodiles.

With difficulty breaking away from the contemplation of such beauty, we rushed back. More precisely, not back, but to the airport, where the grandmother with dryers and buckwheat, but without a phone number and address, has been sadly waiting for us for 20 minutes, coming up with a backup plan. Having taken her, we went to our dear, undersized, and therefore.

There are several places that will save you from boredom if you suddenly get tired of lying on the beach and do not want to drive too far. As an example, we will make two exciting boat trips at once.

Isle of Women (Isla Mujeres).

First we will go to Isla Mujeres (“Island of Women”), which is only half an hour ferry ride from the city. This is a small island with an area of ​​​​1100 km² with a population of just over 16,000 people. On the map, it looks like a dried fish.

I came here on a tourist boat as part of a snorkeling tour. Snorkeling, however, was boring, but I enjoyed the boat trip and managed to see the island during our two-hour stop. You can easily get here on your own.

How to get to the Isle of Women: on the Ultramar ferry. There are several departure terminals in Cancun; Prices are for one-way/round-trip fares (as of 2017).

From the port of Puerto Juarez

• departure address: López Portillo SM-84 M-5 L-6 Puerto Juárez
• there: every half an hour 5:00-21:30, 22:30, 23:30
• back: every half an hour 5:30-21:30, 22:00, 23:00, 00:00
• Cost: adults - 100/200 pesos, children - 80/150 pesos.

From Playa Tortugas beach in the Hotel Zone

• departure address: Playa Tortugas, Blvd.Kukulcán km 6.5, Zona Hotelera
• there: every hour 9:00-14:00, 16:00-18:00, 19:15, 20:30
• return: every hour 9:30-13:30, 15:30-17:30, 18:45, 20:00, 21:15

From the port of El Embarcadero in the Hotel Zone

• departure address: El Embarcadero, Blvd.Kukulcán km 4, Zona Hotelera
• there: 9:15, 10:30, 11:45, 13:00, 14:15, 16:30, 18:15, 19:30, 20:45
• back: 9:45, 11:00, 12:15, 13:30, 16:00, 17:15, 18:45, 20:00, 21:15
• Cost: Adults $14/19, Children $8/12.

From the Playa Caracol beach in the Hotel Zone

• departure address: Playa Caracol, Blvd.Kukulcán km 9.5, Zona Hotelera
• there: 9:00, 10:15, 11:30, 12:45, 14:00, 16:45
• back: 9:45, 11:00, 12:15, 13:30, 16:00, 17:15
• Cost: Adults $14/19, Children $8/12.

Pier on Isla Mujeres.

The Island of Women is quite small, it consists of a central street and several public beaches. There are also hotels for guests here. We immediately went for a walk around the neighborhood, so as not to waste time. Welcome to the main street of the island!

As expected, it is stuffed with a string of cafes, bars, souvenir shops and stalls with all sorts of personal belongings.

Cheerful bar on the main street. Try Mexican Viagra!

Isle of Women got this Name due to the fact that when it was discovered by the Spaniards, many Mayan female figures depicting the goddess of fertility and medicine were found here. The theme of the Maya and the Aztecs is well revealed on the souvenir stalls of Isla Mujeres. As you have already noticed, various figurines and dishes in the form of skulls, beloved by these cultures, are sold here. And here is the bench with the Lady Turtle.

And another one, this time with a brutal Mexican.

Most of the houses on the island are white and blue and white and blue, which looks very organic and makes you think of the sea.

To get around Isla Mujeres, you can rent a golf cart or a moped. We met both of them at almost every step.

We also saw many tourists walking around with coconuts, from which they drink juice through a straw. We did not have enough time to find a magical tent with this heavenly delight, but we found a store that sold delicious coconut ice cream. Then, turning down another street, we stumbled upon a local school.

What else to see on the Isle of Women:

• Several lighthouses.
• Mexican cemetery. It sounds gloomy for a vacation, but if we had known in advance, we would definitely have looked here: his photos on the Internet give out unusually shaped multi-colored tombstones typical of Mexico.
• Not far from the island is one of the parts. It was here that we swam with masks and snorkels. And the reason why I was not enthusiastic about snorkeling is the always urging guide and poor visibility of underwater statues from the surface. Better to scuba dive.
• You can dive with whale sharks, swim with dolphins, go down the cable car or look at the turtle farm.
• Museum of Captain Dulce, dedicated to the sea and navigation.
• One and several beaches. Many advise North Beach (Playa Norte).
• Ice Bar on Tiburon Beach (Playa Tiburon). Its interior is completely made of ice, which is rather strange for hot Mexico. I visited a similar place in Amsterdam, it was fun.

Here are some shots from Tiburon Beach, where our group stopped for lunch. The water here is dirty, I would not swim in it, but the sand is white-white. I took a couple of shots from the "heavenly delight" series. Since I didn’t find a coconut with juice, I photographed real coconuts.

Laguna Nichupté.

One of the features of Mexican nature is its mangrove trees, which grow right next to the water, creating lovely views along the shores of quiet lagoons and reservoirs. The nearest mangroves can be seen on the Isle of Women in the beach areas, and in Cancun along the Hotel Zone. But I saw real beauty in the spacious Nichupte lagoon, which this Zone goes around in the form of the number "7".

My second snorkeling trip began with it, when we went out to the open sea through Nichupte. The water in the lagoon is fresh. As the guides say, here it is warmer than in the sea due to underwater sources that heat the lagoon from below. Restaurants and small marinas for boats are located on its banks.

I fell in love at first sight.

Light breeze, serene view, mysterious mangroves, beauty!

In Nichupte Lagoon you can do water sports - windsurfing, kayaking, and others.

The Yucatan Peninsula is home to the largest population of crocodiles and alligators in Mexico. Main 3 types: sharp-nosed,Crocodile caiman And Central American crocodile. In the Nichupte lagoon, which lies on one side of the Cancun hotel zone, all of the above are found. On the road around the lagoon, there are many signs warning unwary tourists about the danger:

From time to time, bloody articles appear in local newspapers, screaming about the torn bodies of local residents, about the bitten limbs of tourists who lost their vigilance while feeding the reptile. Incidents happen most often on Fridays or Saturdays, when ordinary Mexicans after a hard week of work decide to relax and drink some beer, after which they often fall asleep until morning near the lagoon in the mangroves. Wake up, as you already understood, not everyone ...

In August 2014, 3 torn corpses were found in the hotel zone near the Cancun lagoon. Two Mexicans and a Canadian. Russian tourists, according to rumors, themselves catch crocodiles at night.

Our crocodiles are mainly active at sunset and stay awake until the morning. If you decide to walk in the evening and watch the sunset on the lagoon, be careful near the water. And of course, swimming is only worth it if the light is no longer nice to you.

For those wishing to see these amazing reptiles in the area, I would recommend some good places:

• Rio Lagartos Nature Reserve
• Biosphere Celestun
• Crococoon Zoo
• Punta Sur Nature Reserve on Cozumel Island:

In the Punta Sur reserve, on the island of Cozumel, after 4 pm there is a daily evacuation of tourists. At sunset, the caimans run from the cooling swamps to the ocean via the main road that runs along the beaches to spend the night at sea. The fact is that local alligators can live in both fresh and salt water. At dawn, the caimans flee from the sea back across the road to their sun-warmed swamps.

An extreme option to see caimans for thrill-seekers

About an hour after sunset, crocodiles are at their peak of activity. At this time, they are interested in everything that moves or makes interesting (not sharp) sounds. You need a powerful flashlight and a place where you can walk to the edge of salt marshes, such as those surrounding Nipchute Lagoon in Cancun or near Puerto Morelos.

The place where we usually watch crocodiles at night in Puerto Morelos:

Process

• You need to quietly approach the edge of the water and illuminate the surface of the water at a distance of about 70 meters
• If you see two burning dots above the surface of the water - these are most likely the eyes of crocodiles
• You need to make the following sound:

• After that, just wait, after about 10 minutes you will see how two burning points start to approach you
• You just need to calmly wait until the crocodile approaches you at a distance of 5 / 3 meters. At this time, crocodiles usually go under water in order to quietly swim closer to you and then grab you by jumping out of the water. I advise you not to wait for this moment and calmly move away from the shore.

Places listed above

Types of our crocodiles

Sea cows of the Belize region and Banco Chinchorro in Mexico.

Photo reports and reviews about the trip and visiting the sights of Nichupte Laguna. Photo report about Nichupte Lagoon, history, location

Laguna Nichupte: detailed information

Among the Mexican natural attractions, the Nichupte Lagoon is often mentioned. This beautiful place is located in Cancun. Picturesque mangrove trees grow here, in warm waters there are large fish and crocodiles, which signs warn about. Along the coast there are cafes and restaurants, as well as rental equipment for outdoor activities.

The most popular activities in the waters of Nichupte are diving and snorkeling, water skiing and fishing. Spend a romantic evening on the beach for an incredibly beautiful Caribbean sunset. Numerous sightseeing tours from local residents are at your service, for example:

The Jungle Tour, a guided boat tour through the jungle, is especially popular with first-time visitors. You will see beautiful landscapes and learn a lot about the local flora and fauna.

The glass bottom boat ride is especially suitable for families with children. You will go to the coral reef and admire the underwater inhabitants without getting your feet wet.

A themed cruise on an 18th-century Spanish galleon - an entertaining cruise with a full immersion in the era of piracy.

Fishing - the waters of the lagoon are a natural nursery for fish, quite large specimens (10-12 kg) come across. Try the way of catching locals - with your bare hands.

Book a hotel in Cancun, Kancun

• Feedback to Cancun Rested with his wife for 11 days in Mexico. Picked up a hotel in Biblio-Globus. TANKAH HOTEL 3 * liked both outside and inside. Registration went quickly. Settled in a room that was even more than necessary. In particular - air conditioning, safe, TV, bathroom. The hotel also has wi-fi. My wife and I really liked it, because the room is really very comfortable and cozy. The staff also played a big role. It must be admitted that cleanliness is monitored here. An important role... February 18, 2014
• Review to I have long wanted to visit Mexico, travel to several cities ... But it turned out spontaneously and mostly a beach holiday, but I didn’t regret it at all, because there was a good company :) The Caribbean Sea is simply magical, turquoise and clean, the sand is fine, white and does not heat up. There were waves in our part of the tourist spit of Cancun, but we enjoyed jumping on them. I hunted iguanas, pelicans and crocodiles the whole trip. Crocodiles are found in the Nichupte lagoon, access to which was just at our hotel. IN... March 30, 2014
• Review of Gran Melia Cancun Beach & Spa April 7, 2012
• Feedback to It's a shame The Gran Melia Cancun 5 * hotel in Mexico is a claim to a very great steepness !!! He is handsome and even pompous. BUT!!! We lived in pyramid number 5 (vip), in a standard room. The rooms are luxurious and very comfortably furnished. They have everything: a large bed, a sofa with a coffee table, two chairs with a table, a large plasma TV, a luxurious balcony with two sun loungers and a table, an ironing board and an iron. The view from the balcony to the Caribbean Sea is something unimaginable that can only be understood by seeing. A little difficult... April 14, 2012
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