Punta Laguna Nature Reserve

Halfway through our diving days, we took a day off and arranged with Avelino at Mayan Traveler to go to Punta Laguna Nature Reserve which is the "gateway to the Otoch Ma'ax Yetel Kooh National Protected Area, home to spider monkeys, howler monkeys, and many other types of animals and plants." 

We started off with a Mayan Ceremony to welcome us to the Reserve, wish us safety in the jungle and good luck in finding the monkeys. The Reserve is operated by locals and our guide was the son of the elder who did the ceremony. 

We managed to spot families of both spider monkeys and howler monkeys but there were so many trees I didn’t bother trying to get photos and just took video instead. A couple short clips turned out pretty good which I posted to Instagram stories and will try to get around to making a youtube video to add here later. 

Leaf cutter ants, which come out at night, make these "highways" through the jungle. 

An air plant

Avelino then gave us a choice of where to have lunch, and we chose to go to a Mayan community. The hot, freshly made tortillas, egg salad with a spinach-like green in it, squash and freshly mashed habaneros was delicious! A really nice change from a traditional restaurant. 

Tortillas don't get any fresher or hotter than these ones!

From top to bottom: egg salad, squash, freshly mashed habanero sauce. Only a drop of two of the habanero was needed to spice things up!

Our dessert was local organic honey on a tortilla. 

There were lots of fruit trees and vegetables grown on the farm. Papaya, lemon, lime, orange, squash, and much more! 

A beautiful bird of paradise.

Avelino was good about stopping suddenly for Andrew to take photos of birds! 

Avelino also arranged our transportation to and from Cancun. We would highly recommend him. He was quick to respond to all our inquiries and was well organized and on time.