February 16, 2018 Day trip to Celestun to see the flamingos. Breakfast – Pita Lunch – Los Pompanos in Celestun Dinner – La Casa de mi Tia

February 16, 2018 Day trip to Celestun to see the flamingos. Breakfast – Pita  Lunch – Los Pompanos in Celestun Dinner – La Casa de mi Tia

We got up, showered and dressed and left the hotel around 8:30.  The place we were looking for was closed so we stumbled onto Pita near Santa Lucia church.  I ordered the Omelet Del Mar breakfast for 146 pesos.  I first received a plate with four ramekins , one of cream cheese, one of guacamole, one of feta cheese and the fourth one filled with natural yogurt and granola plus a glass of orange juice and a plate filled with slices of cantaloupe and papaya.  Suzette ordered Muselaneas??  A plate with two fried eggs on top of a corn tortilla smeared with refried black beans covered with a mild red sauce and garnished with diced ham, Gouda cheese, and green peas for about 86 pesos with coffee.

Then I was served a large 14 inch platter with a large omelet filled with shrimp and squid on one side and a salad of iceburg klettuce and tomato wedges dressed with a sweet mustard dressing.

After breakfast we met Amiday and Elksie a their hotel and walked the  block to our car and drove to Celestun.  When we arrived at the beach at Celestun a vendor rep for a cooperative of boats that take tourists on tours of the flamingoes for 250 pesos each.  We took the two hour tour.

The tour went from the beach front a couple of miles to the point where the estuary meets the Caribbean and then turned into the estuary and retraced our route in the estuary.  The town of Celestun sits on the barrier island that lies between the estuary of a river and the ocean.

There were many small fishing boats and the bottom was rather shallow, perfect for flamingoes to stand and forage on the small brackish water shrimp that live in the estuary.  There is a large mangrove swamp along the estuary that is a protected eco zone.

Wikipedia states:
Celestún is a town in Yucatán, Mexico. It is located in the northwest corner of the state, just north of the border with the state of Campeche, on the Gulf of Mexico coast at 20°51.5′N 90°24′W. In 2000, it had a population of just under 6,000 people; however, the population swells to 10,000 during the octopus hunting season. It is mostly a fishing town, with a 19th-century lighthouse (as well as a more modern one) and an abandoned historic Hacienda[citation needed]. Besides fishing, Celestún also produces salt, as it has done from pre-Columbian times[citation needed]. Tourism is also making up an increasing portion of the town's economy, as the community has many kilometers of sand beaches and abundant wildlife.

Celestún
Coordinates: 20°51′30″N 90°24′0″W

Surrounding the town is the 147,500-acre (600 km²) Parque Natural del Flamenco Mexicano (also known as the "Celestun Biosphere Reserve"), a wetland reserve that is the winter home to vast flocks of flamingos, as well as many herons and other bird species. This location is set within the Petenes mangroves ecoregion.[4] In addition, more than 200 species of birds pass through on migration, or live there.[5] Celestun's ecosystem is unique because of a combination of fresh water from the estuary and salt water from Gulf of Mexico. The reserve also has two types of pelicans - large white Canadian and smaller gray Mexican ones. Celestun is also known as a hatching ground for endangered sea turtles. Wildlife conservationists have an ongoing project to protect the sea turtles from encroaching modernization.”

The boat driver took us to within feet of a flock of flamingoes for pictures and cut the engine.  Then he went up river past the bridge into Celestún to see another flock of flamingoes.  Then he turned into the mangrove swamp and took us through a channel cut through a section of mangroves to see the mangrove forest. Finally he stopped the boat at a dock in the river next the ojo de aqua de Balestora, a spring rising within the mangrove swamp, where a wharf had been constructed and cat walks to the spring.  There was a swimming area between the estuary and the Spring.  There were folks swimming, so I went in and Suzette, Amiday, and Etskie followed.  The water was much warmer than Ik Kill cenote yesterday, I guess around 82 degrees, so very refreshing.

I had not swam in a mangrove swamp spring since the one in San Blas in 1967.  Both experiences were wonderful.

We then returned to the beach front at high speed that pounded us against the waves of an incoming tide that made one realize why this type of narrow thirty foot long boat is called a pongo.

When we reached the beach we walked to the nearest large restaurant “Las Pompanos” and took a table facing the beach.

Amiday ordered calamari a la plancha (grilled squid) and a guacamole salad.  Suzette and I researched the menu in detail and saw the sign in front of the restaurant that featured stone crab claws.  Suzette immediately ordered a lb. of stone crab claws.  She also ordered a cocktail of the local shrimp.  I guess she was thinking if the shrimp were good enough to attract the flamingos to winter here, they must be good.  The imagined hearing one flamingo say to another, “Where are you going this Winter?” and the other answering “I’m going to Celestun, the shrimp are wonderful.”

I ordered a grilled hog fish, which I have never eaten before.  It had an ugly toothy snot, but its flavor was like almost any other fish grilled and flavored with garlic butter sauce.  We asked for drawn garlic butter for the stone crabs and another guacamole and corn tortillas.  We drank beers and the whole meal was 1013 pesos, which Amitday and Esktie graciously paid.

Estkie is a psychotherapist with international credentials and Amitday owns a consulting engineering firm specializing in large ecological projects in Israel, such as how to get rid of the build up of salt solids in the south end of the Dead Sea.  The solution was to ship them north by conveyor belt and liquify them in the inflows of water from the river in the north.

Amazingly, the shrimp were wonderful.  The only comparable I have ever had were in Denmark and Oslo, which were also small plump brackish water shrimp.

After a leisurely lunch we drove back to Mérida from the west and said Shalom to Amiday and Estkie.

After a shower at our hotel we dressed and walked to the plaza and went upstairs to La Casa de mi Tia, a restaurant overlooking the Zocalo.

We were not hungry, so we ordered two large mojitos and a crepes Suzette, which were made table side as we sat on a small balcony overlooking the Zocalo in easy view of the Cathedral where there was another wonderful light and sound presentation celebrating the Cathedral.

After we enjoyed our Crepes Suzette and mojitos, we walked back the one block to our hotel and bed

Bon Appetit