Rio Largartos Biosphere Reserve

One of the main things on our bucket list for the area around Valladolid was to head out to Rio Largartos, about a 1 1/2 hour drive to the coast. The mangrove area is a protected environmental reserve and well known for the flamingos. There were many other birds as well! 

We went with Rio Lagartos Adventures and the owner, Diego, picked us up at our hotel in Valladolid. In Rio Lagartos, he left us with his daughter, Andrea, who was an excellent guide for the 4-hour boat tour. She explained that Rio Largartos is very mis-named. The Spanish explorers who first came to the area thought they had found a river (rio) when it's actually a lagoon. And "largartos" means alligator but it's actually crocodiles that are in the area. Although wikipedia indicates they named it for lizards which is another meaning for the word lagartos. 

I was quite sceptical about how my photos were going to turn out as most of them were at the maximum capacity of my 600mm zoom lens. Combined with the fact that, without reading glasses, what I see isn't all that clear so I really have no clue if things are in focus or not. Point and shoot and hope for the best! LOL! While there were lots of duds, I was pleasantly surprised to get a few decent ones as well. 

The movements of the flamingos while they search for food are hilarious. They sort of shuffle their feet and their necks hinge back and forth as the dig with their beaks as well.
It's a well choreographed little dance.

You don't really notice the black in their wings until they take flight.

Double crested cormorant

Brown pelican

Osprey

Snowy egret

Great blue heron

Guatamalan cracker butterfly

Green heron

Kingbird

Willet

Wood stork

Osprey with fish for lunch

Of the 4-hour tour, we were on land for about an hour and walked through a forest area with a board walk that was sketchy at best! Lots of missing and slanted boards. This is where we saw most of the crocodiles. Andrea took the three photos at the bottom of this post. 

Overall, it was a great day and it was nice to see so many birds!

Baby crocodile

With our guide, Andrea

Ek Balam Archeological Site

Black vulture, at the very peak of the Acropolis, showing off its impressive wing span.

Ek Balam (Mayan for Jaguar Star) is an archeological site about 25 minutes from Valladolid. We took a taxi out there early and arrived shortly after they opened. This turned out to be a very good plan, not only to be there when there were few other visitors but to avoid the worst heat of the day. 

Rather than wandering on our own, we hired a tour guide who showed us around and told us much more of the history and interesting tidbits of information than we would have gotten otherwise.

The excavation and restoration of Ek Balam started in 1994 and continued until 2015 when government funding went to other projects. It was open to the public in a limited capacity before this (about 1986) and, as work progressed, became more of a tourist destination in the late 1990’s. There are still two large buildings that haven’t been excavated and looking at the very large “hills” where you can see rock peeking through the grass and weeds provides just a small glimpse of the tremendous amount of work that was involved in what’s currently been restored. 

Ek Balam is one of the few Mayan sites that still allows visitors to climb the stairs to the top of the ruins. And really, that was one of the highlights! 

Welcome arch

Tree of life

Stairs of the Acropolis structure

Steep stairs!
It was interesting to see the various comfort levels of people going up and down.

At the top of the stairs

Rooms and carvings half way up the Acropolis

Shell fossil in the stone

The ball field - viewing platform can be seen at the top left.

The game was played with a solid rubber ball weighing about 6-9 lbs. Players could use forearms, hips, and thighs to keep the ball in motion. Hands and feet were restricted. 

This is a small part of the building that hasn't been excavated yet. So much work involved! 

We saw quite a few iguanas sunning themselves in the heat.

And a small lizard.

I always love murals and these were at the public entrance to the ruins.