Laguna Bacalar (4/4/11-4/5)



roadside view of the laguna


A few miles after leaving the border, I'm detoured to the side of the road where I need to pay $5 for the fumigation of the FJ. Then it's clear sailing to the north on perfect 4-lane highway. A lot of this looks new to me since 5 years ago, including overpasses built to gain access to places I never heard of.

view from the campground

The town of Bacalar is on the southern end of the laguna, but the campground I'm looking for is on the sparsely populated north shore. About 2 miles in from the highway on  a dirt road is the Laguna Azul Campground, run by Reiner and Elga, from Germany. Reiner welcomes me  and says to park anywhere; there are about 8 spots available and no one else is here. As hot as is I pick the one with the most shade potential. The laguna is a beautiful shade - or shades - of blue, the result of all the limestone. It's also the only place to stay cool and away from the local brown flies that like to bite, and the reason I only stayed two nights.

Elga cooks up a delicious breaded pork chop with fries and a salad, and Reiner makes a potent margarita. I have the same dinner both nights. Reiner tells me what all this looked like back in 1978 when he first came through as a college student. Back then it was a slow road with almost zero traffic and Playa del Carmen really was a small village. Wish I had come down then.