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2 DAYS IN BACALAR

Bacalar is a town in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located in the south of its territory about 40 km north of the capital, Chetumal.

Places to visit:

 Sailing Lake 7 colors.

.Visit San Felipe Castle.

. Walk through its beautiful streets.

. Enjoy its nightlife.

Day 1: Baca lar .

Bacalar is a city in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located on the shore of the Bacalar Lagoon or Lagoon of Seven Colors, a very important tourist attraction. Its name comes from the Mayan Bakhalal, which means “near or surrounded by reeds.” We decided to take a taxi from Chetumal to Bacalar, it cost $300 MXN ($12 USD), the difference in price between the ADO bus plus the taxi to get to the bus station and to our accommodation was minimal. We left Chetumal at 10:45 and arrived in Bacalar at 11:20 AM, a 30 minute trip. We left our luggage and went for a walk around the city. There are a lot of tourists and February is low season, restaurant prices are higher than in Chetumal. We bought some products for our breakfast and some dinner (we always try to find an Airbnb with a refrigerator, kitchen, and private bathroom) and we found the  Olizabal restaurant  on 3rd Street. The food was great and the prices were reasonable: grilled chicken, salad, beans, plantains, rice, and beef soup for $105 MXN (%5.5 USD). The bad thing is that they only open until 3 PM, so we went to rest from there. At 6:30 pm we went out for a walk around the city, it was getting dark, you could see hundreds of little birds flying towards the trees in the main square, the streets and restaurant terraces were filling up with tourists, the lights of the lanterns were beginning to turn on, we were impressed by the atmosphere and beauty of the city, around the square there are many restaurants, craft stalls, street food (where they prepare the famous Marquesita and other typical sweets from here), nearby is the Castillo San Felipe, around the main square there are mobile stands where they offer different tours to the Lake of the 7 colors, we bought the Pontón tour, 2 hours of travel and 1 hour of kayaking, included water and fruit.

Then we sat on a terrace in front of the park to enjoy the city. After 10pm we went to rest, tomorrow would be another day. We were told that the party starts from 11pm until 3am, every day, tomorrow we will see if it is true.

Day 4: 7 Colors Lake Tour.

We got up around 10 am, walked through the main park, Castillo San Felipe and took a taxi for $50 Mexican pesos (2 USD), to take us to Casa Árabe, the departure point of the tour to the 7 Colores Lake; At 12 pm we were leaving on the Pontoon, we were 8 tourists and 2 boys from the crew, the day was nice, it was hot and the sun was burning hard, before leaving they gave us a couple of recommendations, the first, do not use sunscreen and the second do not touch the stromatolites, they are microorganisms that live in the lake, if you touch them they die and they are irreparable damage, we started sailing we passed next to the San Felipe castle, a fort that served as a defense in case of pirate attacks on the city, we made 5 stops, the first was The “Cenote of the Witches” or “black cenote”, named after the belief that in this cenote different rituals were performed by the ancient sorcerers of the region, as you get closer you can clearly differentiate the change in color of the lake water from light turquoise to dark black, this as a result of going from 2 meters deep to approximately 160 meters, the second stop was The “Emerald Cenote”, the second of the 3 cenotes within the lagoon, at this point we will approach a small sprout of water that emerges from the hard rock of a hill, the third stop was the “Pirate Channel”, named so because it was access for small pirate boats which motivated the construction of the San Felipe fort, which served as a defense of Bacalar, there we could swim for about 20 minutes, the water was crystal clear and very refreshing, the fourth stop was at “Bird Island” named so because it houses various colonies of birds such as the American stork, spoonbills, seagulls and frigatebirds among other species, then we went to the beach where we could swim for 20 more minutes and finally we went to the “Cenote Cocalitos”, known as such because it is located near the resort of the same name and where you can clearly see the famous stromatolites, which distinguish this lagoon from many in the country and in the world, since they are a prehistoric way of life and that only proliferate in a few parts of the world, the tour was wonderful, an experience worth seeing It was worth it, we were returning to the pier after 2pm, from there we took a taxi back to Bacalar to have lunch at the Olizabal restaurant, and from there we rested. We had dinner around 7:30, walked through the main park and the tourist part, ate some ice cream and around 10pm we went to rest, tomorrow at 9:20am, we will leave for Playa del Carmen.

Waiting to embark Lake 7 colors, Bacalar, Mx.

7 Colors Lake, Bacalar Mx.

Sailing Lake 7 Colors, Bacalar, Mx.

7 Colors Lake, Bacalar, Mx.

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