There’s a lake in Mexico called Las Coloradas, which translates to "the red one" in Spanish. Red algae and plankton fill these salt lakes and turn the water into a gorgeous pink.color. The lake has not yet blown up into a huge tourist destination yet, but I imagine it will pretty soon since its only about 2-3 hours from Cancun/Riviera Maya/Playa del Carmen. Since it isn’t that popular currently, there aren’t a lot of tours that go there and the few that do are really pricey, pick up a lot of people at multiple hotels, and are about 12 hours long. So I decided to look into other options. As I’ve stated in most of my other posts, I am just not a fan of large tour groups anyway, usually opting to drive myself. However, I’ve met a lot of people who have had bad experiences driving around Mexico, so I decided to hire myself a driver.
After a lot of research, I only found a few options. I decided to go with the cheapest option who was recommended on a random tripadvisor forum. It was just a little bit sketchy since he didn’t have an official website and his email address name was “Jesus Cool,” even though the guide’s name is Valentin. Of course lately all you hear is how dangerous Mexico is and how Americans are gonna get kidnapped but after reading a few reviews, I decided to take the risk!
Valentin charged 4500 Mexican Pesos to take my group of four wherever we wanted for the whole day. I decided I wanted to stop at some Mexican ruins along the way to Las Coloradas and added Rio Lagartos to the trip. The price I found with other drivers and other tour groups was double what he charged, without including the ruins stop. Valentin drove us through multiple small brightly colored villages along the way, and although you could see there was much poverty, you could feel the sense of community in those villages and how everyone would sit with their neighbors outside to chat and laugh together.
Las Coloradas
The pink lake is located in this little salt mining town on a peninsula. There are only about 1000 people who live there, most of whom are involved with the salt industry there. The brightness of the pink color depends on whether it is a sunny day and how high the sun is. There are guards around who don’t really want you to get in the water, however, but I did see some people sneaking a touch for some photos. After leaving the lake, you can taste the salt on your lips.
Valentin seemed to know and talk to everyone in all of the places that we went. We had to use the bathroom after exploring the lake and he stopped at someone’s house in the area who welcomed us in. Afterwards, he stopped by this tiny little beach with so many boats and shells.
Rio Lagartos
Rio Lagartos is brightly colored village about 20 minutes from Los Colorados. It’s a sleepy fishing village that boasts the largest concentration of flamingos in Mexico. I liked that we were the only tourists there that I saw.There are a few small restaurants to grab lunch and then you can negotiate with the locals to take you on their boat through the mangroves and biosphere. I looked up how much people usually pay for these tours from locals and found on the lower end a range from 9000 to 10,000 pesos for a boat, so I decided before I got there that this was what I would pay. Valentin talked to a local for us who offered us a 2 hour tour for 15,000. I declined and told him I would pay only 9000. He walked away while we ate our lunch, but I was confident after lunch I would find someone who would take us. After lunch, he came back with Valentin and offered us the boat for 10,000. I declined again and told him 9,000. So he finally conceded and brought us to someone who would take the four of us for 9,000 pesos.
I really love being on boats, especially when it’s a private boat! We rode around the biosphere and saw crocodiles, raccoons, flamingoes and other birds like pelicans. One of the raccoons was walking on top the water, which I had never seen before. You can also swim in some salt pools and take a Mayan mud bath, but it was a little too chilly for my group.
Ek Balam
We also had Valentin take us to some Mayan ruins called Ek Balam. Ek Balam reached its peak in the 8th century before being suddenly abandoned. Most tourists choose to visit Chichen Itza instead of Ek Balam, but I much prefer the latter. While Chichen Itza is pristine, cleared from the jungle and swarmed with tourists, Ek Balam remains raw and serene. Pieces like the kings tomb and the acropolis have been cleared from the jungle, but half of the acropolis is still covered in it and you can’t even see it from the back. The best part is you can actually climb to the top, which you can’t do in Chichen Itza or Tulum. Plussss there was a really cute dog there. And a tree that looks like it has the symbol of the eye. There are also some amazing cenotes you can swim in after exploring the ruins, but it was a little chilly for swimming
Since my family has a timeshare in Mexico, I have been many times and have done all of the typical tourist attractions like Xel Ha and feeding monkeys. This one was my favorite because it felt really authentic to Mexican history and it was great to have our own personal local guide. If anyone wants to explore Mexico with a private driver, I would definitely recommend emailing Valentin at 448taxi@gmail.com I felt safe the whole time and am excited to go back next year to Mexico and have Valentin take me somewhere else magical in Mexico!
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