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Crossing the Yucatan Peninsula

By Anke Lutz, EcoColors

Finally, after months of hard work, I was recently able to explore the Yucatan Peninsula with my family on a tour that would take us through that area’s most amazing spots. Four months ago, when I arrived at this warm and booming destination in the Mexican Caribbean and first laid my eyes on its turquoise and blue waters, I couldn’t believe that it would be my home for the next six months while I worked for a travel company. 

I didn’t need much power of persuasion to convince my father and brother to spend their spring break here in Cancun, and I was thrilled when I finally met them at the airport after months of separation. I was eager to show them the incredible nature the Yucatan Peninsula had to offer, while functioning as their private guide.  

And I succeeded; they fell in love with it as much as I did. 

After two days of adaptation and familiarization with Cancun, it was time to start our journey into the region. The Yucatan Peninsula, a huge shelf of limestone, has a distinctive set of characteristics. With only underground rivers, flat terrain, thin soils, a tropical climate and a patchwork of different ecosystems, it attracts visitors from all over the world. On that first day, our car was waiting at the hotel at 8 in the morning, ready for us to take us wherever we wanted to go. It would take us to places that we will never forget. 

One of our first stops was a visit to Puerto Morelos, where we had the opportunity to go snorkeling in the second longest reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Reef System, which stretches from Contoy Island to beyond the borders of Belize. It was an incredible experience for us. I had already fallen in love with this immense underwater world when taking my PADI Open Water diving course, but I was anxious to see how my father and brother thought about it. After seeing their faces, I knew that they loved it as much as I did. 

Exploring the archeological site of the Mayan city of Tulum was breathtaking. After having visited Tulum and the urban sites at Coba and Chichen Itza, I no longer saw the Mayas as small people with flat noses, but as genius engineers who were far ahead of their time. Their fantastically accurate calendar, with its ability to measure time far more accurately than the medieval Europeans, impressed me so much that I almost wished I had lived in one of their empires. Each of these sites has things in common, but are entirely different from each other in feel, making a visit to any of them unique and interesting.  

Visiting Valladolid was stepping back in time. We had seen pictures of Maya women dressed in traditional clothing – white cotton dresses decorated with colorful flowers – but thought that this era was long gone by. However, when we enetered the town, it felt to us as if we stepped into one those pictures. We were surrounded by all these friendly people who were still wearing their traditional clothing and still carried their faith; untouched by Western ways and the money-driven thinking that sometimes seems to rule most modern societies. Instead, this was a peaceful little village that had maintained its charming character through the centuries.  

(Nor, had they lost their knowledge about the old ways of cooking. For a small price, we were able to eat at private houses and enjoy traditional home-cooked Mayan meals. We also appreciated the Mexican custom of accompanying their delicious cuisine with beer.)  

Two days was way too short to discover and enjoy the rich cultural heritages of the cities of  Merida and Campeche. But from the quick sights we took in, we left with a renewed realization of the necessity of preserving our heritage for future generations.  

The splendors of Sian Ka’an 

Probably the part of the Yucatan that impressed us the most was the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, only two hours away from Cancun, but an entirely different world. After exploring the archeological site of Tulum, we ventured into the reserve on a road that would scare anybody away. But I knew that Sian Ka’an would reward us for this trip, and I was right. Sian Ka’an is the largest protected area in the Mexican Caribbean and with good reason: It is home of more than 330 bird and 100 mammal species, and more than 20 archeological sites have been discovered in this reserve. Being able to explain this all to my father and brother was an amazing experience – I watched the expressions on their faces change from interested to unbelieving to appreciative as I told them the story of the reserve. 

When we arrived at the visitor center, we were warmly welcomed by our guide for that day and the following morning, Luis Manuel. He immediately started talking about the reserve, the Maya communities that lived here and the animals that could be found here. We realized from the way he spoke about it that he had fallen in love with this area and wanted to make us do the same.  

After a delicious meal, we got ready for a tour around the center. Luis amazed us with his views on sustainability and his explanation of the different equipment used in order to preserve this pristine area. Most impressive, however, was the view from the observation tower: On one side was a vista of the Caribbean Sea; on the other, as far as your eyes could see, were lagoons, wetlands and hummocks – a quiet sea of green and blue with no sounds of industry at all. It was so quiet that we could only hear our own breaths and the sounds of birds calling in the distance.  

Just before sunset we set off on a kayak tour that made us fall in love with the Sian Ka’an Reserve even more. Everywhere around us it was almost as if we could hear nature slowing down and starting to relax, perhaps contemplating and looking back on yet another beautiful day. With no disturbing sounds around us we enjoyed a sunset from the seats of our kayak. Saving our energy for tomorrow, we returned. In the morning a bird-watching kayak tour awaited us.  

Early the next day we began our second kayak trip, which took us through the lagoon, observing different flora and fauna, to a small Mayan archeological site. Taking a kayak tour in the early hours of the day was a breathtaking experience. The serene nature that we’d observed the evening before had changed completely with the morning light, in the blink of an eye. The quiet and peacefulness everywhere we’d looked yesterday was now filled with activity, accompanied by a tremendous volume of noise. Birds surrounding us were singing about life and the new day that had come to wake them. I could not believe my eyes and my ears, and when I looked at the faces of my father and brother I knew they were as astonished at this place that was so full of life.  

Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve has been an established World Heritage Site since 1987 and I couldn’t agree more with that staus. The reserve holds such ecological significance that it’s only right it be protected and preserved. It is an important refuge for endangered species, such as two species of marine turtles that come to lay their eggs on the beaches during the nesting season. The state’s largest mammal, the manatee, is rarely spotted, but can be found in this reserve, which is also the home of crocodiles, jaguars, tapirs and other intriguing animals.  

After traveling for more than eight days in the Yucatan Peninsula, we felt at a loss that we had to head back to Cancun. There was a small consolation though: We spent our last couple of days together relaxing on the white pristine beaches that border the turquoise Mexican Caribbean. It was an experience that we would never forget and would tell to everybody who wanted to hear about it. My family fell in love with this area as deeply as I already had done in the previous four months. It fell in love not only with the Yucatan’s amazing natural wonders, but also with the people – their way of living, their history (as impressive as it was turbulent) and their cooking! 

Two weeks were far too short to discover to entire Yucatan Peninsula, but it was a start that we enjoyed immensely. This area is one of the most popular destinations in Mexico, and we discovered why. Looking back on this vacation still gives me a warm feeling inside and I know my family feels the same. Saying goodbye to my family was not easy, and I knew that they would miss me and the peninsula. Driving to my house from the airport I looked back upon two incredible weeks and realized how much love I had developed for this warm country and its friendly inhabitants, and found myself looking at the face of my Mexican boyfriend. I might even end up staying here a little bit longer than six months.