Traveling the Yucatan - Day 6 - Celestun

This was Chris and I's getaway day.  We threw a change of clothes and a swimsuit in our backpacks and headed off for the town of Celestun. It is described as a sleepy fishing village and I think that is a fairly accurate description.  I loved our drive there.

 
We drove through 3 small towns, Uman, Samahil and Kinchil.  Uman had a good size market in their town square. I wanted to stop but was also anxious to get to Celestun as well so we didn't stop.  Samahil and Kinchil were working villages. These were towns where the people had to work hard for their money.  I loved driving through them because there were lots of people out in the streets.  We also got a lot of stares. I don't think they get many tourists coming through. 

I noticed the women wearing beautiful white dresses with a lacey underskirt. It is the traditional Yucatan dress called a Huipil and in these small towns most of the older women wore them. They are made out of white cotton with flowers and geometric designs being cross stitched around the collar and the bottom.  We stopped at a little stand at the edge of Kinchil to try one on.  It fit but wasn't exactly what I was looking so we didn't get it. These traditional dresses haven't changed much since the pre-hispanic area.  Mayan women for hundreds of years have been wearing them and it was a priviledge to see first-hand their handicraft.

Our directions to Celeste Vida were perfect and we arrived without any problems.  We were greeted warmly by Ken and shown to our room where we put our things away.  We soon met Karen and loved her as well.  They are from Canada and 5 years ago moved to Celestun and opened their small resort, Celeste Vida.  It is a lovely place full of heart and I would definitely stay there again.

 
We had two meals in Celestun and both were outstanding. Celestun is on the Gulf of Mexico and so it's main trade is fishing. There are several outstanding restraunts right on the beach.  On the day we arrived we ate at Restaurante' Avila. Chris had a seafood stuffed fish and it was amazing.  I had Cerviche and it was super yummy as well.  I wasn't feeling so great this day so being out in the heat was taking it's toll on me. After eating we walked around the townsquare where I found a stand that was selling sunglasses. I bought a pair of Chanel sunglasses for a whole $10. Knock offs? Of course.

After grabbing a coconut popsicle we headed back to Celeste Vida to get changed into our swimsuits and a swim in the ocean.  When we walked onto the beach we were shocked at how many shells there were.  Hundreds of gorgeous perfect shells. We would pick up one shell and immediately see another. I have never seen so many gorgeous shells in one place before. Since there were so many shells it made it a little hard to walk out into the water.  Tiny jagged edges poking into your feet doesn't feel so great but once we got past about a 4 foot edge there was really soft sand beyond that. I noticed that while the Caribbean Sea is blue, the Gulf of Mexico is Emerald green.  A gorgeous green color. It was so nice to swim in.  While in Cancun we enjoyed the sunrise, but Celestun is on the western side of the Yucatan Peninsula so we enjoyed the sunset here.