PINK PARADISE IN MEXICO

This summer my brother got married in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and despite living so far from Mexico, it was not an event that I could miss. Looking for cheap flights, we found a very good deal on a direct flight from London to Cancun and decided to spend a few days on the beach before the wedding, since we needed the sun after a long cold London winter and spring.
Arriving at the airport we decided to rent a Fiat 500 to be able to transport us and make a small roadtrip to a destination that I had been dying to go for a long time.
Our first day at the beach we took advantage of Cancun’s blue sea as we sat on the sand and enjoyed some cold Coronas (we needed them!). Feeling the sun and the heat burning deep in the bones is one of my favourite things, so you could already imagine my happiness. After having stayed all day at the beach, we decided to go for some delicious tacos to end the day.
The next day we prepared to go to the place that I had been waiting for so long, Las Coloradas de Yucatan. I had seen many pictures on the internet of that place and I could not believe that while I lived in Mexico for many years I had never visited this place, so this time around I could not miss out.
We left very early in the morning as the roadtrip to get there takes about 3 hours. We drove all along the Kantunil Cancún road until we reached a small city called Valladolid. Unfortunately, we could not stop there as the day light was limited and we needed to make the most of it. So we continued driving to Rio Lagarto and although the road is very safe, we had no cellular signal and car’s GPS didn’t work but fortunately people were very kind when we stopped to ask for directions.
On more than one occasion, we stopped to take pictures of the towns we were driving through. Counting these stops plus some technical breaks for some corn in a cup led us to take almost 4 hours to arrive to our destination (ups! Haha).
Once arriving at the place, it took us some time to find the pink river as it was some what hidden but since the town is very small, the locals who saw us knew why we were there for. I will not lie to you but once we arrived, it was not what I expected. The river was very small and next to a busy salt factory. I imagined an incredible magical and heavenly landscape but there were lories and cars around the plant that limited the view. Later a gentleman approached us and offered us to take us to the perfect spot to better see the landscape. We told him that we only wanted to take some photos and he gave us permission to roam with the car in the restricted area and just asked us in return to not to go into the water as it would affect the water’s composition.
It was there that I found the magical place I had hoped for. The pinkest water I had seen with the reflection of the blue sky. You could see a beautiful gradient of pink and the tones were perfect. The final photo editions did not need Photoshop, it was actually pastel pink!
After having taken thousands of photos, we decided to break the rules a bit and go a little further into the restricted area. We arrived at a lagoon where there were many pink flamingos!!! We went further more into the property again to take more pictures and try to catch the flamingos moving but as the place had such a zen vibe, they were very peaceful. On our return back to Cancun we made a small detour to visit the majestic pyramid of Chichen Itza, as we had never had the opportunity to visit.
Many times we let ourselves be guided by tourist things and we do not explore everything that Mexico can offer us. More than once I have talked with foreigners and they have told me about their trips to Mexico, especially Cancun or Tulúm, and when I tell them about Las Coloradas they can not believe that this exists and that they did not have the opportunity to visit because they didn’t know of their existence. As Mexicans we have to promote the tourism of Mexico and demonstrate all the beauties that it can offer us.
The following are some photos I would like to share with you of the pink adventure I had.

Este verano mi hermano se caso en San Miguel de Allende, y a pesar de estar viviendo en Londres, no era un evento que me pensaba perder. Buscando vuelos baratos, encontramos una muy buena oferta de un vuelo directo de Londres – Cancún. Entonces aprovechamos ese vuelo y decidimos pasar unos días en la playa, ya que después del frío que pasamos en Londres nos hacía falta.

 Llegando al aeropuerto decidimos rentar un Fiat 500 para poder transportarnos y hacer un pequeño roadtrip a un destino que moría por ir desde hace tiempo.

 El primer día aprovechamos el mar celeste de Cancún, nos sentamos en la arena y disfrutamos unas Coronas frías (¡ya nos hacía falta!). Sentir el calor y el sol que quema los huesos es de mis cosas favoritas, así que ya se imaginaran mi felicidad. Después de haber estado todo el día en la playa por la noche fuimos a unos tacos que nos recomendaron deliciosos.

 Al día siguiente nos preparamos para ir a el lugar que tanto había estado esperando, Las Coloradas de Yucatán. Había visto muchísimas fotos en internet de ese lugar y no podía creer que mientras vivía en México nunca lo visite, así que en esta ocasión no me lo podía perder.

 Salimos muy temprano por la mañana, ya que el viaje toma aproximadamente unas 3 horas. Manejamos por toda la carretera Kantunil Cancún hasta llegar a Valladolid, pero desafortunadamente no nos pudimos parar ahí, ya que íbamos con el tiempo contado. Continuamos manejando rumbo al Rio Lagarto, y a pesar de que la carretera es muy segura, no teníamos señal del celular y el GPS del carro tampoco funcionaba, pero la gente era muy amable cuando nos parábamos a pedir indicaciones.

 En mas de una ocasión, nos bajamos a tomar fotos de los pueblitos que estábamos cruzando. Contando esas paradas mas las escalas técnicas por unos elotes desgranados nos tomó unas 4 horas en llegar (ups! Jaja).

 Una vez llegando a el lugar, nos tomo tiempo encontrar el rio rosa, esta un poco escondido, pero el pueblo esta muy chiquito, entonces la gente que te ve supone que vas a ver eso. No les voy a mentir, pero una vez que llegamos no era lo que esperaba, el rio estaba muy pequeño y queda a lado de una salinera. Yo me imaginaba el increíble paisaje mágico y paradisiaco, pero en realidad había trailers alrededor y fabricas. Pero en eso llego un señor con nosotros muy buena gente, el cual nos indico el spot perfecto para ver el lugar. Le dijimos que solamente queríamos hacer unas fotos y nos dio permiso de entrar con el carro, solamente nos pidió que no nos metiéramos al agua.

 Entonces fue ahí donde encontré el lugar mágico que tanto había esperado. El agua mas rosa que había visto, con el reflejo del cielo azul, se podía ver un degradado hermoso. Los tonos eran perfectos, las ediciones no llevaban Photoshop, en realidad era rosa pastel!

 Después de haber tomado n-mil fotos, decidimos romper un poquito las reglas y adentrarnos un poco mas. Llegamos a una laguna donde había muchísimos flamingos rosas!!! Nos bajamos de nuevo a tomar fotos y tratar de captarlos en movimiento, pero como el lugar tiene una vibra tan zen, estaban muy pacíficos. A nuestro regreso aprovechamos el viaje para visitar Chichén Itzá, ya que nunca había tenido la oportunidad de visitar.

 Muchas veces nos dejamos guiar por las cosas turísticas, y no exploramos todo lo que México nos puede ofrecer. Más de una ocasión he platicado con extranjeros y me han contado de sus viajes a México, especialmente Cancún o Tulúm, y cuando les comento acerca de Las Coloradas no pueden creer que eso exista en México y que no tuvieron la oportunidad de visitar porque no sabían de la existencia de ese lugar. Como mexicanos nos toca promover el turismo de México y demostrar todas la bellezas que nos puede ofrecer.

 Les comparto las fotos de esta aventura rosa.