Progreso is about a half hour drive north of Merida, and it's a decent sized town of about 50,000 when you take in the surrounding areas that have grown into Progreso. Even though I've been to Progreso often on my visits to Merida, my main experience with the town is simply the malecon area. It's where the people go to walk along the beach, and it's where you'll find most of the restaurants and vendors. A few of the restaurants even have pools, so your kids can swim while you linger over drinks and conversation.
The gulf waters at Progreso tend to be a bit wavy, and there is usually a fairly brisk breeze coming off the water, so in my opinion, it's not really the best place to go for a dip, but it is a nice beach for a stroll.
As you can see, the beach is a lovely white, and it is really quite smooth on the feet. The long pier you see in the photo is the world's longest pier at 4 miles in length! Progreso is a port town, so there exists a need to allow ships to dock here, but the water is really shallow very far out, so the pier had to be really long to reach the deeper water for large ships.
About twice a month they open the pier for people to go out and stroll on it and enjoy the sunset. We made plans to do this on one of our last days in Mexico, and I had really been looking forward to it; however, as luck would have it for me, I wasn't feeling very well. Let's just say I couldn't get four feet from a bathroom, let alone four miles! So, while we didn't wander out very far on it, we did go a short ways -- far enough to snap a few photos of us on it and the sun behind us.
Bless the people handing out bags of water! Yes, bags of water. Not only did they quench our thirst on a hot day, but they also made for good fun for my daughter to squirt my boyfriend and best friend with very cold water! Don't worry, they definitely returned the favor!
I'm showing you this picture because 1. -- you can't go to Mexico and not have at least one margarita (and this was the only one I had), and 2. -- this is on a beach restaurant right by the long pier and at the very start of the malecon. Like many places in tropical regions this has a palapa roof, and I love them. You'll find them shading single beach chairs on beaches, covering homes, and cooling diners while they eat. They block the sun but still allow the lovely breezes to flow freely.
But when it comes to Mexican alcohol, nothing beats a Sol cerveza! I like beer above any other type of drink (except a Bloody Mary), and I especially like Mexican beer. Dos Equis and Sol are my favorites, so when I saw this giant Sol, naturally I had to stop for a photo! Here is a photo of a stroll along the malecon part of Progreso.
Now, the real reason I took the photo was to get a shot of the white car with a toy car strapped to the top of it. It made me laugh, but in the end, I just like the photo for the lighting and the activity it shows (and for the peek at my best friend's tatoo -- ha ha!).
You can't have a port without a lighthouse. This one is actually located a few blocks inland, which I thought was odd, but what do I know about lighthouses!
Not too far east of Progreso is a very small town called San Crisanto that carries a bit of fame in the world of tourism for the mangrove tours offered there. We had been there before, but my boyfriend had not, since this was his first trip out of the country, so we revisited it, and I'm glad we did because sometimes you get more out of a second visit than you do on the first one.
First you have to find the palapa covered building where they sell the tickets to the mangrove, which is called manglar in Spanish. Then, after you pay, a man on a bicycle will lead you down a sandy road to the grove itself and a nice shady place for you to park your car.
The start of the trip down the sandy road.
Getting closer.
When you arrive, you get in very small boats that can accommodate no more than six passengers. We were five, so it was o.k., and one of us was a small child, so that made it even better. The guide then pushes you through the swamp canals with a long pole, so it's sort of like riding in a gondola.
As you glide along in this very quiet place, you see what appear to be gigantic globs of poop in the trees.
These are termite mounds, and they are very prevalent throughout the mangrove. Part of why people like to go through this mangrove is to get to the ojo de aqua, which means eye of water, located in the heart of the mangrove. Apparently, according to our guide (who didn't speak English as most of them do not), there are over forty of these ojos de agua throughout the mangrove, but all but one of them are located in areas where it's just too unstable of ground for people to go into them.
Basically the eye of water is a place that lets ground water come up and make a natural small swimming hole.
Here my best friend, my daughter, and my friend's daughter enjoy a refreshing dip. She is perched right over the hole, so it is deep where she is. The bottom of the swimming hole is quite slimy actually, and it feels funny on your feet, but the water is very nice. They've built a walkway around the hole, and a palapa covered shady spot for people to rest. The guides just wait in their boats for you to swim and take your time.
The following photo is the road leading away from the mangrove, and I just really like the photo, so I'm going to leave you with it. I'll be back to tell you all about my very favorite place in Mexico, Holbox Island!
No comments:
Post a Comment