The children wake up at 4, and Olga entertains them with puzzle books until 5.30 when Tim decides to join them, and it gets light outside. We get dressed and explore our compound and walk 5 minutes to the beach to see the sun rise over the Atlantic.
We are greeted by many exotic birds and spot our first wild life, the Central American agouti which looks like a small capibara. Sadly the red flag flies on the beach so no morning swim for us. We walk along the freshly raked beaches which are all cordened off by signs and ropes. Luckily there are no touts this early in the morning to sell us beach chairs. We secretly try some hammocks and swings of the resorts. Over time, more and more tourist with bracelets of their resort join us to do some yoga and enjoy the views. This must be paradise, but only accessible for those who can afford it. Some tourist even claim their favourite chairs at the pool side by installing their towls, and walk back to their hotel room. What a strange parallel universe they live in.
We are back at the apartment at 7, so we jump in the car to get out of the compound. At the entrance, dozens of workers seem to wait for a job, showing the parallel world we live in, in our compound. We feel very privileged to spend our holiday here. We cross the highway to reach the supermercado. We fill our cart but try not to buy too much as our car isn’t that big.
Back at our apartment we finally have our breakfast, and Olga and the kids change into their swimming gear to discover our pool. It’s great fun and refreshing even this early in the day. We have lunch in our garden before we go back to our car to explore Mexico out of our compound.
We are heading to Reserva de la Biósfera Sian Ka’an. ´Sian Kan’ means the ´Origin of Heaven’ to the Maya’s. The reserve is the home to 300+ birds and 103 mammal species, among whom the jaguar, puma, monkeys…
It’s an hour drive to the entrance, and 30 minutes to an alligator bridge we for sure want to see. At the entrance, Olga pays twice the fee because the guard asks her to. They for sure don’t invest it in road maintainance, because the road is awful, with many, many big holes. We cannot drive faster then 10 km per hour and the children are shaken awake. However, we see many animals on the way: the black iguana, yellow breasted Chat Icteria Virens (bird), many pelicans, frigate birds and to top it off, a macho alligator is waiting for us at the bridge. The bumby drive and looking out for the animals reminds us of our trip to Botswana, 7 years ago. On the way back we even see a group of white nosed coati’s.
It’s 17 when we’re back at our appartement. We eat wraps outside, until we realise the sun is setting and musquieto’s are hunting for Cleo. We finish our meal inside and go to bed early.
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