Hasta la vista, México!

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Text by Alex Marashian Photos by Rainer Hosch

Hasta la vista, México!

On our last full day in Mexico, we head to the northern coast of the Yucatán peninsula, where the Caribbean meets the Gulf. Once again, it’s Nico and Francesca who have set our course: When we asked them for a place where they themselves go to escape, a place where the only tourists for miles around would be us, they recommended without hesitation the sleepy fishing village of San Felipe, with some nearby attractions thrown in for good measure.

An hour and a half’s drive from Valladolid, San Felipe lies a few kilometers east of the Rio Lagartos estuary, on the Gulf of Mexico side of the coast. As we roll into town, it’s just as Nico and Francesca described it: a dozen or so sun-splashed streets in an orderly grid that ends at a picturesque waterfront; tiny houses painted a rainbow of vivid colors, fishing boats bobbing in the sea, tropical birds gliding through a cloudless sky — and no tourists but us. 

Before going to explore, we decide to refuel at a local seafood restaurant, El Popular Kiko, where the food is as delicious as the service is slow — in other words, very delicious. But once on the streets, the thing that impresses us most here are the brightly painted homes, which are made of varnished cedar rather than the stone and stucco we’ve seen everywhere else. Apparently, things have been done this way since the town’s founding, some 200 years ago. 

The homes in San Felipe are packed close to each other and to the street. As we pass, people sitting in their living rooms, just meters away, smile politely and sometimes wave. We ask to enter one house and are graciously welcomed inside. Making our way to the waterfront, several of us start imagining owning homes here ourselves. We’re just thinking out loud, of course, but it’s easy to see how the Mexico fantasy takes hold. 

From San Filipe, it’s a 30-minute drive to one of the most spectacular sights of the Yucatán. Las Coloradas, on the western side of the Rio Lagartos estuary, is an otherworldly landscape of hot pink waters, gleaming white hills of salt and a seemingly endless flock of flamingos, which come to feed on the brine shrimp that inhabit this inland saltwater lake in such high concentration. 

A saltworks dating back to the time of the Maya, Las Coloradas has the largest population of flamingos, some 40,000 of them, in all of Mexico. Balancing on a single leg, the birds dip their heads into the water to scoop up the shrimp with the underside of their beak, which serves as a very effective ladle. It’s the beta-carotene in the brine shrimp that gives both the water and the birds their gorgeous hue.

After the brightly painted houses of San Felipe and the dazzling pink of Las Coloradas, it seems only fitting that the day should end with more riotous display of color, this time courtesy of the setting sun. On a beach somewhere between the Las Colorados and San Felipe, we watch it go down, the fiery gold sky fading to a soft magenta as it disappears, the perfect ending to perfect trip.  Hasta la vista, México. See you again.