Bacalar and the sailing trip on the lagoon

On Saturday the 11th, I got up early again to be at the Tulum taxi drivers' union to catch the colectivo bus around 8 am to be sure of getting a seat. After booking a seat on the bus with the driver, and since the departure for Bacalar was only at 9 am, I went to have breakfast on the terrace of a café across the street.

The trip cost 180 pesos (€9), half the price of the 50-seater buses of the ADO transport company that most people use. The journey took almost 2h30 at breakneck speed, with a mishap halfway that made us stop, but it was nothing serious, just a few scratches on the vehicle. In a stretch of road where roadworks were going on, one of those central dividers appeared in the middle of the lane which, luckily, was one of the plastic ones and not concrete, and which must have been hit by another car and ended up sitting there in the middle of our lane.

Once in Bacalar, I had to find somewhere to stay. I'd seen on the map that the place was small and had several places to stay next to the central square, but I hadn't booked anything. On the way from the bus stop to the centre, I found somewhere to stay, at the Yaxche Hostel y Camping, where I booked 2 nights for about €20 a night.

After checking in I went to Bacalar's central square to get something to eat and to my astonishment I discovered that Carnival was taking place here this weekend. I had a walk around the shops and stopped by Mónica, who was making dreamcatchers, and we spent a while talking about dreams, which is something we all have, but which I never remember. Then I walked past the fort and went down a staircase that led to the Lagoon of 7 Colours.

It was about 3:30 pm, I was looking at what activities I could do on the lagoon, already thinking about what to do the next day. They ranged from kayaking, paddleboarding and windsurfing to motorboat or sailing trips. That's when I bumped into Sarah, a German, and we decided to take a sailing trip around the lagoon that was starting shortly. Sarah had come prepared with a bag, towel and swimsuit and I, once again, as at the cenote, had only the clothes I stood up in, so once again I had to go into the water in my undies.

During the trip we got to see 3 cenotes, the Negro, the Esmeralda and the Cocalitos, and we also went to the Pirates' Canal and Bird Island, where some storks migrate from Canada in winter to have their young here and then, in spring, once they're ready, fly back to Canada.

The trip was beautiful, very peaceful, only occasionally interrupted by a motorboat passing by. I talked to Captain Benito, who was in command of the sailboat, and told him they should get rid of motorboats, to which he replied that there was already that awareness and that more and more captains were swapping motor boats for sailboats. Drinks and fruit were also included in the trip, which the captain prepared and served.

The place was perfect for having 2 calmer days, in a quieter spot in the middle of my trip. Towards the end of the afternoon and the trip, the captain anchored the boat for half an hour so we could watch the sunset, my first in Mexico.

As I left the boat and headed for the main avenue, the parade of floats was just starting right there, with the King and Queen at the front, throwing things to the people watching, and right away they threw a red plastic ball at me, which I then gave to a little boy.

After watching the parade, I went back to my hostel to rest a bit and have a shower before going out to dinner. But suddenly a strong wind picked up and out of nowhere torrential rain came down that lasted about 1 hour, enough to ruin the open-air party in the square. People caught in the rain trickled into the hostel, all soaked.

I waited calmly and dry in my bed for the rain to stop and then went out to have dinner at Mister Taco and a drink at the bar La Catrina, but by then there were few people in the street and around 1:30 am I went back to the hostel, to get up early and watch the sunrise over the lagoon.