Real de Salinas, Hacienda Salinera

Heading toward the hacienda ruins.

Pablo found the sign and he set it up on the chapel wall next to the doorway.

If you have taken a boat excursion into the Ría Celestún Biosphere, you have most likely seen the ruins of this old hacienda from a distance in one of the inlets. From March through August (approximately) the flamingos are in residence and the guides point out the old salt mine. On our last boat trip into the reserve, our guide showed us the cairn, or pile of stones, in the inlet, marking the "ojo de agua dulce" or freshwater spring that once supplied the hacienda with all of its fresh water.

Some of the old buildings surrounded by a rock wall.

I have written about Celestún in previous posts, specifically "Pink Flamingos" in May '08 and "Celestún" in November '08. I have been to the area several times now and have begun to take side trip adventures. My last post featured the salt beach on the way to this hacienda.

The salt and dyewood processing plant was built around 1918, and was at maximum production in 1927. Due to several seasons of excessive rain and flooding, the operation was shut down in 1942. Today it is in ruins. The buildings have decayed in a scenic way however, with seashells in the walls mixed with the building materials. There are pieces of French roofing tiles that served as ballast in ships that sailed to the Yucatán from Europe. The plant employed many workers, as evidenced by the remains of house platforms, a roofless chapel complete with pasta tiles, and other unidentified (by me, that is!) buildings on the site.

To visit to the Real de Salinas Hacienda Salinera, one option is to bicycle from Celestún, and another is to drive in your vehicle. It is located about 5 kms. inland from the mouth of the estuary. Coming from Celestún heading east, take the third avenue to the right (heading south). It is a dirt and gravel road but easily negotiable and takes you out to the peninsula between the estuary and its western arm. If you have trouble finding it, you can also ask for directions to Punta Lastre, or Ballast Point.

A view of the Lagoon from Punta Lastre, the end of the road.

Snow in the Yucatán?

Of course not! The coldest night of the year was in the mid-40’s Fahrenheit, so even if there were a freak snow fall, it wouldn’t stick. You are looking at me holding a handful of salt.

Pablo and I drove to Celestún this week for seafood and a relaxing day looking out at the soothing emerald green of the Gulf of México. After a satisfying lunch and a few shots of tequila (only to beat the chill in the air, honest!), we went looking for adventure.

There is an old salt mine called the Real de Salinas, Hacienda Salinera within the Celestún Biosphere. We had seen it by boat from a distance while on flamingo watching trips. This time we set out to find it in the car. From the pueblo we drove down a dirt road passing extensive salt flats. We have seen the salt flats in many parts of the northwestern Yucatán and they are as exciting as their name indicates: expansive flat areas of dried cracked mud with layers of salt visible from the road.

But this time we rounded a curve and found the most incredible sight! I thought my eyes were playing tricks with me. It was an area of shallow clear water where the red mangrove has painted the sea bottom red, thus giving it the appearance of red water. The beach looked like sea foam. We walked down to the beach thinking it was salt, and I said to Pablo, “Oh, it is just some kind of spume or foam,” disappointed.

But he said “No, this is definitely salt.” I reached down and sure enough, it was pure white salt. Looking down the beach reminded me of walking along Lake Erie in the winter with a fresh layer of snow and its drifts. At this beach however the drifts were piles of harvested sea salt. Even though on a much smaller scale, the locals still gather and process salt from the area’s many salt pans. The ancient Maya called salt “white gold” and have appreciated the importance of this element for more than 2100 years.

Looking out into the lagoon we could tell there were areas of deeper water, which shone aqua blue in the sunlight. The contrast of the white salt beach, the illusional dark red color of the water, and the bright blue deeper water in the lagoon was stark, and a hidden beauty I’d never imagined.

Carnaval: Mardi Gras

Princess Mardi Gras right here!

I know, I know, enough Carnaval already! But in my own defense, this was a cultural study that I undertook. What I learned was that the best parades to attend are the first one (Friday) and the Regional night (Monday). There are plenty of people around but they give you a little room to breathe. Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday's parades are much more crowded and the atmosphere (for me) is not as festive. There are too many people and they get really fucked up, making others grumpy and pissing off security. On Tuesday a drunken guy dressed in drag fell off the curb and on to Pablo.



We were able to get seats, but the box seats for the big finale were sold out by January. Or last year, depending on who you talk to. We sat in the street at the intersection of Calles 60 and 53.



This is a watermelon vendor going through a ritual health inspection. Ok, so we ate watermelon on Sunday, not Tuesday, but see how inviting it is? I finally got a good photo.



I learned why I write these blogs. It is all for me! I knew the blog coverage was getting excessive but I had a great time with it. Plus I was determined to follow it through. Even if I bored the shit out of some readers my ultimate hope is that you found something in all this that made you smile.


I was amazed to read in the Diário del Yucatán that 700,000 people attended Tuesday's parade. There are one million people living in Mérida and its immediate surroundings, so let's say 100,000 were working, e.g., emergency personnel. That would leave 200,000 people. I am convinced most of them were participating IN the parade!



We left the house at 8:30am to try to procure seats. We hadn't been able to arrange seating in advance, so early arrival was our only hope. We opted for the Santa Lucia Park area again and luckily for us they were still selling single seats at closed intersections....with chairs, without shade. It was hot, sunny, and really hot and sunny.



This is how I got some shade, not to mention almost having my eye poked!


For breakfast at around 10am we bought some kibis and piedras from street vendors. Kibis are Lebanese deep fried bullets made of crushed garbanzo beans. (There is a huge Lebanese population in Mérida.) The kibis remind me a little of hush puppies. The inside is hollow and the vendor fills them with "repollo", chopped cabbage and habanero chiles. Kibis are a bit dry for my taste.


We also tried piedras, or "rocks". They are little balls of masa (the corn dough you make tortillas with) stuffed and deep fried. Some had hamburger and seasonings in them, others had black beans and chicken. These also come with repollo. Those went very well with the beers I had for breakfast when the concessions opened at 11am.








With beer in hand, I bought some fresh roasted peanuts around noon. I swear they were the freshest, crispiest, tastiest peanuts I have ever tasted. They made the warm 2nd beer go down much more smoothly. The parade began at noon on Paseo de Montejo and reached us by 1:20pm. It was over in an hour and a half. The parade finished at San Juan Park around 3:30pm.


The participants were noticeably tired when they reached us, not only from the heat of the day, but from days and days of marching miles and miles. I was tired of watching parades so many days in a row, so I can only imagine how the marchers were. Some of those costumes were heavy and they all looked hot.......except for the scantily clad ladies of course, who didn't have to walk anywhere, as they just stood on the floats tossing loot and looking good. (Or not.)









The ACTUAL last event, the burning of Juan Carnaval until next year, we skipped. That took place on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. All of a sudden I was over Carnaval and ready to go to the beach and eat fish!

Mardi Gras Loot: Days 4 & 5

Monday night we scored, most likely because we had our own box of seats and were more noticeable. There was more drumming on Monday than on "batachá" day, or so it seemed, and Pablo drew added attention as he played his tambor along with each musical group that passed us.

A little Mayan boy handed me this sweet roll, freshly baked and out out of the basket he was carrying; all spiffed up in his white hat, shirt and pants. I gave it to the kids in the seats next to us because it wouldn't really go with my beer.



Later we caught a tshirt, 2 hats, a frisbee, lots of bead necklaces, candies, cookies, crackers, pencils, pens, a scarf, and a lighter.



Last year we caught a green scarf with the year's logo from Corona Beer and I now have a good starter collection of Carnaval memorabilia.



The cats particularly liked the necklaces that lit up. I really like this black hat. It has the Corona logo on one side.



I forgot to mention the glow stick glasses: they looked pretty bizarre outside at night. And if you notice this shirt was also donated by the handicapped. I like it. I took a photo of this character in the parade. But I won't search for it and post it here, I promise.


Tuesday we grabbed a few good items, but there were more people in attendance. Plus the guy in front of me, probably pissed that he got wet when a clown dowsed me (and him) with water, caught all the stuff that was thrown my way. As you can see I did get the Coke cup that he used to cool me off! Pablo found me a better crown for the final day, which will be good to start next year off right.....tons of beads and a tiara.



Tuesday's event is also called the Parade of the Flowers and they hand out fresh carnations. I was handed or thrown at least six, but only three made it home in tact. It was wild on Tuesday.

Carnaval: The Regional Yucatecan Parade

By the fourth parade I was able to get a decent shot of the Mask float. It was one of the best and I found myself looking for it every day.

Yucatecan night is my favorite of all the parades! First of all, we saw the action from a new location, in the centro on 60th Street. The street is narrrow compared to Paseo de Montejo where they use the lanes heading south for the parade and lanes heading north for the food and beer vendors. In the centro they utilize every centimeter of space. Both sides of the street are blocked off and temporary box seats constructed all along the route. The vendors push their carts down the street for hours before parade time, but you have to walk a few blocks for the beer. Pablo bought us our own box of eight seats. We considered selling the unused seats, but decided to splurge (at 28 pesos per seat) and enjoy the elbow room. Pablo played his tambor with passing musicians, while I took lots of photos and sucked up a couple of large beers.

This event brought out more participants from outlying areas, and the parade lasted more than two hours. The mood was upbeat, the music and dancing quite lively, and there were so many beautiful smiles. The costumes were a bizarre mix of old style Mayan-Yucatecans and the cartoon/movie characters as evidenced by the photo above.

Horse carriages are one of many typical modes of transportation in the Yucatán. I think they add a special charm to the procession of parade royalty. Having horse carriages here is so common even I have a horse trough in my patio area.

All eight of these seats are ours! What a luxury after being crammed in curbside along Paseo de Montejo. It was a completely different scene on 60th Street.

Several photos of the typical Yucatecan dress and smiles.

The parade on Regional night is not just all T&A!

Could you guess these are Mayan women? All around the Maypole.....they love to pole dance!

There were many groups like this. Great for people watching and obsessed photographers!

Then there was this kind of Mayan "woman".....he's not too bad looking if you like this sort of thing. The kids in the box next to us asked him if he was a man or woman, and he told them he was a woman. They were confused. They were quite young.

I know I have no business posting my shitty videos, but I love them! This one really reminds me of my childhood.....or my wedding......seems to me you could polka to this music and the dance is pretty close to what we learned in our neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio!

Carnaval: Batachá Parade - Part 3

Below are some additional photo highlights from Sunday's daytime parade. Since I posted the crowd gathering process and my favorite photos already, I'll spare you the rambling. There are more parades to report on!