Laura vs. the World: Conocarpus erectus

Today was an amazing day! This week’s excursion took us to Celestún, a town located just on the border of the states Campeche and Yucatán. This fishing town is famous for the wild flamingos that take residence in the wetlands mostly during the winter. La Parque Natural del Flamenco Mexicano surrounds the town and is the home not only to flamingos, but herons, pelicans, and sea turtles. The town’s clean streets are lined with brightly painted house, stores and restaurants. I think it’s the prettiest town I’ve been too so far.

After we arrived, we headed straight to the beach to board our lanchas, or motor boats. There were seven to a boat, so we had a whole fleet of lanchitas to our group. We left the beach and headed towards the mangroves. After driving for about 20 minutes, we reached this clearing, and in it, flamingos! We were so lucky to see them, since this isn’t usually the time of year when there are many flamingos. The last time I saw a flamingo was in the zoo when I was really young, so it was really amazing to see these huge group of wild, bright pink flamingos. Our conductor told us that you can tell which of the flamingos are younger by their feathers. Apparently, flamingos get their pink color from the shrimp they eat, so the younger ones have less color than the adults.

Once we were done taking pictures, we turned around and headed into the mangrove trees that surrounded the clearing. We drove just for a couple minutes in a tunnel of mangroves; it was absolutely beautiful! And the water was red! Our conductor explained that the water wasn’t dirty, but that the roots or raices from the trees colored the water an orange-red color. We then “parked” our lanchita and got walked to a swimming hole in the middle of the mangroves. Not going to lie, I felt so gross swimming in the red water, even though I knew it wasn’t dirty. But you can’t help but feel that way when you look down into the water and your arms and legs are orange. It was really fun nonetheless. Afterwards, we returned to the beach, swam, and then ate at a restaurant right on the beach.

Such an amazing experience and one of the best excursions yet! Enjoy the pictures and have a wonderful day!