BBVA expedition experiences pristine nature in Mexico’s Yucatan

Mangroves, mosquitoes and tropical rains gave the Ruta BBVA expedition a taste of pristine nature when it arrived in the coastal city of Celestun on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

With the theme of “Aventura en las selvas mayas de Yucatan” (“Adventure in Yucatan’s Mayan Jungles”), the 31st Ruta BBVA’s 180 participants from 17 IberoAmerican countries will continue exploring until July 15, when they will travel to Madrid and tour Spain’s Extremadura and Andalusia regions.

The academiccultural project was created in 1979 by reporter and adventurer Miguel de la QuadraSalcedo based on a proposal by King Juan Carlos I, with the goal of building an IberoAmerican youth community.

After a twohour bus ride from Merida, the capital of Yucatan state, the group camped 1,314 kilometers (about 817 miles) by road east of Mexico City, and trekked to Ria Celestun, a biosphere reserve that they toured on 20 boats.

Herons, cormorants, pelicans, frigatebirds, kingfishers, black hawks, fisher eagles and beautiful pink flamingos are among the more than 304 species of migratory and indigenous birds found in this ecosystem, where the main Yucatan aquifer discharges into the Gulf of Mexico.

Expedition guides explained that some of these species, such as flamingos and quetzals, were threatened by poachers.

The 18kilometer (10.2mile) sliver of sea, with depths ranging from 50 centimeters (17 inches) at the port of departure to more than two meters (80 inches) in the area where most birds can be seen, gave the visitors a chance to observe different species.

Under cloudy skies that hours later would dump torrential tropical rains on the area, the boats sailed around Bird Island to glide near where the pink flamingos rest.

Deeper into the mangrove labyrinth, where trees can grow to six meters (19 feet), the boats moored near a water hole, where the young explorers enjoyed the unrivaled experience of diving into brown water to escape from mosquitoes.

The second stage of the nature experience around Celestun involves a 12kilometer (7.5mile) hike over beaches and through mangroves to observe salt extraction.

By Concepcion M. Moreno.