A Look Back at Mexico: Charming Celestún, Part 2

On our first morning in Celestún, the primary order of business was finding breakfast.  We had read good things about Restaurante Gutierrez Dolphin, so we took a stroll into town to try it for ourselves.  We arrived a few minutes before the 8:30 opening time and had the place to ourselves.

Downtown Celestún in the morning

Restaurant Gutierrez Dolphin

The restaurant lived up to the reviews.  Excellent French-press coffee, fresh fruit, and Eggs Miga fortified us for the day, and at a very reasonable cost.

We also enjoyed watching the hummingbirds having their breakfast as we ate ours!

Since we'd already planned on saving the flamingo tour for the following day, after breakfast we decided to pull out the bikes at the guest house, Celeste Vida, and explore the sandy road to the east, away from town.  

​This experience reminded me so much of our bike rides in Belize.  No traffic, no pavement, no helmets or fancy cycling wear, just cruising along wondering what we'd find up ahead. Like being a kid again!

This sign surprised me.  There's actually a hotel way down here, in the middle of nowhere.

Eventually we spied a natural pool to one side of the road so pulled off to take a look.  We were surprised and delighted to have our first flamingo sighting!  This guy (or gal) obviously didn't know where the tour was or was just a loner.  

Before leaving this gorgeous, deserted spot, we noticed a large pile of sand off to the side. Coming closer, we realized it was salt!  We didn't know it at the time, but Celestún is an important salt-producing area in Mexico. The salt from the pools is pink, like the more well-known Himalayan salt sold everywhere.  It gets its color from the tiny brine shrimp that also give the flamingos their rosy hue.  Here's a blog post with more information about the pink salt of Celestún:  adventures-mexico.com/blog_/sal-rosa/.

The rest of the day was for relaxing, reading, and enjoying another seafood dinner on the beach at the same spot as the night before.  There's not a lot of variety to eat in the small town of Celestún, which is, after all, a fishing village, but that didn't bother this seafood lover one bit!

Here are a few more photos, taken from the gulf shore behind the breakfast restaurant. Early December is not a busy time for tourists in Celestún, so everywhere we went, we had to ourselves, or nearly so.  It was a welcome respite after the hustle and bustle of Playa del Carmen, which is fun but demands "recharge time" from now and then.

Stay tuned as our next day we finally take the much-anticipated flamingo tour....