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Costa Maya > Bacalar

Bacalar is a lovely town about an hour and twenty minutes away from Mayan Beach Garden. Bacalar is a very Mayan town with little English spoken except at Cenote Azul restaurant. It's a very nice restaurant with good food, but relatively expensive for Mexico. The main appeal of the restaurant is that it sits on the rim of Cenote Azul, a 300 deep 600 feet diameter cenote that is crystal clear and good for diving when the Caribbean is too rough. Because the water is so clear you can easily see quite deep. Rumor has it that it is the largest and supposedly the deepest Cenote in the Yucatan. Its arguably one of the cleanest. To make it a whole day's trip, you can also enjoy Lake Bacalar and see the San Felipe Fort in town.

Bacalar has few services. At the time of this article, (9/15/03) there was no bank or gas station. You can find 2 Internet Cafes, however and some very nice restaurants on the lake.

What's a Cenote?

The Yucatan is a large riverless peninsula made primarily of limestone. The Yucatan has thousands of underground caverns, many running with underground rivers. Occasionally these caves will collapse leaving an opening. If the cavern is running with water, it will create a cenote.

Fort of San Felipe

The Fort of San Felipe was built in 1733 under the order of don Antonio de Figueroa y Silva, field marshal of Yucatan, to protect the Bacalar population from the frequent attacks by pirates from the Caribbean and to defend the region from harassment from the traders in Campeche wood. In the second half of the 19th century, during the so-called War of the Castes, the fortress once again became the scene of skirmishes for the possession of the fortress. It has recently been restored and sits looking over Lake Bacalar in the center of town.

View of beautiful lake Bacalar from fort San Felipe. The lake is called the lake of seven colors because of the different depths and composition of the lake.