LrD123-2359_B - Celestún - Yucatán - México

By Gonzalo Contreras del Solar

Description:
Images printed on Ilford Fibre silver halide photographic B&W paper using a Lambda machine and shipped from NY.
Images printed on Photo Rag Baryta paper using a Canon 12 inks printer machine and shipped from Chile.

Story:
I was going to a wedding at Mérida and friend told me that I should reserve a day at Celestún.
The road crosses vast zones of forests ending on a bridge that crosses the Celestún Ría.
In this estuary there are thousands of Flamingos residing and all the channels where the manglers grow. Adjacent to the bridge there is a docking area with motorboats that take you on different tours, call Parador Celestún.
Besides using the motorboats, you can visit the manglers using a kayak or a canoe. This area is marked in the map as Guardianes de los manglares, which are the local cooperative of tours.
The canoe or kayak tours go through 800 meters of manglers ending at the Ría, are done by a guide who knows the path. The guide will explain the different vegetation or fauna, while he propels the canoe similar to the gondolas at Venice.
You will be able to see from lizards, small crocodile and their babies, golden spiders and an eagle, amongst others.
As you exit the Ría, where the water waves make a shaky ride until you arrive to a small dock. Here is locate the forest recovery area (during a hurricane 20+ years ago it wiped an entire area of manglers. You can still see the remaining of the mangler trees a salinized lagoon.