Pink Magic of Yucatán
Written by Lydia Jones
Looking for an unusual assault on your senses? Put pink lakes on your bucket list.
The world has very few pink lakes, so don't miss them when you visit Yucatán. And where to find them? The cool thing is that they are in remote places so you can create an all-day adventure.
Enter the sea salt pans and fishing village of Las Coloradas, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Salt has been extracted here since ancient Maya times. The salt pan was then called Emal and the quality was so fine that it was in demand as far south as today's Belize and Honduras. Emal salt was taken by canoe traders all the way south, in exchange for precious stones such as jade, which the kings used for their royal jewelry.
You can't swim in the pink lagoon, but it's an extraordinary sensual experience and a great photo op. Just absorb that unreal scenery (and capture it). When I came to Las Coloradas for the first time, I was taken aback. I thought I had been tricked by nature. Such magical mysteries as pink lakes leave us lost for words but it is good to know how nature creates such raw beauty. The pink color comes naturally from brine shrimp and an algae called Dunaliella salina. Come any time of year but the pigment is more concentrated and vibrant in summer, and more so in the afternoons.
Needless to say, the pink lakes have now been discovered by a few tourists so the village has fenced off part of the main lake and you can enter only with a village guide, as the lake is on private land. From that angle, you can get a stunning reflection of the clouds in the surreal pink waters. The shades of pink also change depending on how close you stand to the shore. The closer the encounter, the stronger the hue.
You can also take a motorbike ride with a local guide to see the rest of the lakes in this group. The other lakes are less pink but they are home to flamingos, which are also pink from their brine shrimp diet (they are born white). And if you are determined to have a swim in the sea, aim for the village beach called Cancunito. There are no crowds and you can collect seashells, which is rare along this coast or Riviera Maya. You can also combine this trip with a boat trip across the river Río Lagartos for bird watching. Yet another village nearby, San Felipe, is the most colorful in Yucatán. It is a rare jewel, a rustic village with a cascade of brightly colored wooden houses, made of zapote wood to resist termites. The idea of varnishing the houses came from the need to protect them against moisture and salt from the coast. They are all painted in different bright pastel colors. And not just from outside. I peeped inside some of them, as often they have their doors open for fresh air. This is without doubt my favorite fishing village in Yucatán.
If you are after a wider range of water hues, and no crowds, make a trip to Xtampú Salinas ponds. It is easiest to come here from the colonial city of Mérida. Here you can get many shades of pink: salmon, coral, rose, orchid, lavender, Barbie, French, Persian… Did you know that pink could have so many shades? These are also salt pans. Salt was extracted here by the ancient Maya who lived in the nearby city of Xcambó, which grew wealthy from the salt. Do visit the ruins; they have unusual monolithic architecture and some great pyramid masks of the Mountain Monster called Witz, who guards the entrance to the Maya underworld.
Once at the salt pans, you can see the blindingly white heaps of evaporated salt, still produced here today, but you can freely walk about between the ponds. Your only occasional companions will be flamingos, woodpeckers and herons. There are no guides here, just a friendly Maya family living at the site, in an isolated wooden palapa house among the lakes.
