Lake Bacalar is clearly a favorite of ours. We spent one whole week at Lake Bacalar between Christmas and New Year’s Eve (a record for us–we’re usually movers)! The best part of this leg of our trip was simply being with friends, relaxing, and enjoying some very beautiful water.
Lake Bacalar is the 2nd largest natural lake in Mexico, after Lake Chapala (where we currently live). Lake Chapala’s water is dark and murky…such a contrast to this Caribbean blue laguna of Lake Bacalar!
One very interesting thing about this lake is the presence of “living rocks”. They are called stromatolites, and Lake Bacalar has some of the largest in the entire world! These sometimes round-ish rocks caught my attention, and it was only after asking a local that I found out that they truly were unique. They can literally grow around mussels that cling to their sides–essential burying them alive! Wow!
The babies were a hoot to watch 🙂
Here are the Live Deliberately kids devouring a fresh coconut with our kids. Natural, delicious, and healthy snack food! They didn’t stop until it was ALL gone!
Lake Bacalar’s shores are filled with beautiful white shells that have been abandoned by little snails. In fact, in Spanish these snails are called Caracol Manzana Maya, or Maya Apple Snail. They are apparently eaten by locals–fresh, in ceviche, or cooked. We passed on that taste test, and instead Ethan enjoyed picking them up and throwing them back in the water!
We were invited by an (almost) retiree-age American couple to come to dinner at their beautiful house on Lake Bacalar. We went with 2 other families and had a great afternoon cooking up food and chasing around kids!
Ella and Kyah went kayaking on the water.
And our whole family made it out, as well! It felt so nice to be physically active! Jared dreams of having his own kayak some day…but that requires a stable home and lifestyle to invest in a purchase like that!
The woman who invited us over is clearly an artist. She had nabbed items from the shores of the lake, and had turned them into little tokens of beauty everywhere you looked! More Apple Snail shells…
Yes, that is a hat on top of her shell lamp she created!
The artist, herself, and her sweet husband!
One of the greatest treats of traveling is making friends in the most unexpected places!
Comments 1