Flamingos!

We had visitors, yay! What a party to have D's parents come visit us on New Year's for 9 days! I could happily run tours for friends and family for the rest of our stay in Merida. Who else wants to visit??

We took advantage of extra helping hands to do some things we've been wanting to do. We went on THE BIRD LOVER'S DREAM EXCURSION. I am a bird lover--growing up, birdwatching was one of my favorite things to do. D's dad is also a bird lover. After this trip, who wouldn't be a bird lover?

Celestun is legendary as the main courtship area for tens of thousands of flamingos. We took a boat ride through the estuary flanked by mangroves to find the flamingo habitat. We passed many water birds on the way. And then we arrived to the area where thousands of flamingos were feeding and socializing. It was mesmerizing to watch those beautiful creatures take flight--their dainty feet skimming across the water's surface as their long, graceful necks stretched straight and their beautiful pink and black wings beat the breeze. I couldn't get enough of it!

There's a juvenile right in the middle of this group. It looks gray. Flamingos are born white and become pink as they continue to eat shrimp larvae. 

Flamingo in flight

Love this awkward loooooong neck!

We also passed "Isla de Pajaros" with hundreds of Canadian and brown pelicans and other shore birds. And we went through "paseo por los manglares" (the mangrove tunnel), where we were surrounded by mangroves just barely above and to the side of our boat. Reminded me of "Rainforest Road" in the motherland. I was in heaven!

T, Chiqui, Baba Jim, Pip, Baba Dona, Nena, D, Lechon

Canadian pelicans and other water birds on a sand bar

paseo por los manglares

isla de pajaros

That's me, the bird lover, in paradise. I suddenly find myself liking pink!

If you think you want to come for a visit, the flamingos are there in the thousands between January and March. No pressure!

Christmas at Playa Celestun

We are pretty good at keeping Christmas simple here. I love the month of constant parties and good food, but as far as doing gifts for the kids goes--we keep it really spartan. This year we were extra spartan (MSU fans will find that to be especially funny).

We didn't bring any Christmas decorations with us (except for four ornaments I'd made right before leaving). With all the other details to take care of with moving, I just forgot. Stockings are hard to come by around here, so I decided to make some. The kids loved choosing their own fabric. Other than that, we bought the cheapest tree we could find and one string of lights.

Mateo loves checking out his own ornament

Sunday before Christmas with my barefoot girls 

We love having our Noche Buena feast on the 24th followed by the nativity play and then having a relaxing day on Christmas. Usually we have friends join us, but the people we invited couldn't come, so it was just us.

Noche Buena feast as simple as it gets: lentils and tortillas, fresh bread with honey and butter, cheese and jamaica

Santa filled the stockings with Mexican goodies and also left FIVE FRESH PINEAPPLES!!

My heart's desire was to go to the beach after the kids went through their stockings. I wanted to get some shells to decorate the tree, and I wanted to feel that yummy sand between my toes and smell the salty air. We were told that Celestun was a great beach for shells, so that's where we went. It was breezy and cool so we didn't stay in the water long, but we loved walking up and down the beach feeling the frothy water lick our toes. The shelling was great! I loved seeing my little people exclaim over their shells--seeing myself in them is so fun!

Playa Celestun

Love this photo

Collecting shells

The kids drew names for gifts for each other this year and spent their pesos at "Tienda de Mami" ("Mami's Store") because taking each one shopping would've been too complicated. It worked out surprisingly well. I need to restock and reopen "Tienda de Mami" again soon! We let them exchange gifts that night after we returned from the beach.