"Where the Sky is Born"

This week in Mexico has been filled with "firsts" for me, but the first of the firsts came on my...first ...day as I went to the place the Mayans call, "where the sky is born"; the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. That is what this entry is about.

Pirates came by here occasionally looking for treasures of gold and wealth, their desire to become rich kept them from discovering the true treasure of this place and experiencing what makes the people of Quintana Roo proud. In a beautiful way this reminds me of a place our ancestors Adam and Eve were banished from- rich and lush and teeming with life. The good thing is there are no apples, but 528,000 hectors of jungle, 120 kilometers of coral reef, 82 types of coral,and native inhabitants which include 90 species of bees, 103 species of mammals to name just a few. In 1987, Sian Ka'an was awarded a Natural World Heritage award site status. Getting to it was a remarkable experience in itself as we traveled in a SUB-subcompact car passing along the hotel/cabana strip on the sugar-sand coastline, through the limestone archway which marks it's point of origin and down a decomposed limestone road - surely one of the bumpiest roads on the planet - for about a mile and a half.
Once there and with our Mexican guide Miguel in tow (actually I was the one in tow!) I boarded a boat which took me to a land unlike any I have ever seen. The guided tour took me racing through the lagoon and then gingerly into the mangroves where I was told live dolphins, crocodiles, pumas, and 339 kinds of birds such as pelicans, frigate birds, pink spoonbills and white herons - some which I was able to see. Into the mangrove river I traveled, the boat driver - a 70+ year old Mayan who looked strong and leathery and every bit of 70+ yet in confident control - carefully negotiated the tight turns of this original Mayan water trading route. Looking into the deep silent water I could only imagine what must lie beneath and of the ancients who had traveled this route thousands of years before. Reaching the 1/2-way point of our travels the group deboarded onto an old wooden dock, walked down a short trail to a small Mayan temple filled with bats and outfitted with very short (4 1/2 foot) passage ways and were then told to fit ourselves with a life preserver and to "float" down the river; the boats would pick us up---somewhere---down river! This is the first of the firsts for me. Being a non-swimming person and not a real fan of water surrounded by the mangrove world (beautiful as they are) this was asking a lot of me. But, along with the rest of our party of 12, I jumped in and float I did. I tried to be graceful about it. What was in fact graceful was the current that carried me gently down the river past the habitation of the natural residents I never saw but knew were there. Arriving at the boats I boarded with a sign of relief and feeling of accomplishment and off I went down the river into the lagoon past a huge centoe (fresh water underground cave) which found its exit in the middle of the lagoon, under two bridges and to the sea for a look at the entry point to this amazing world before heading back.
Once back at the interpretation center I was greeted with a meal of fresh, local fish, rice, salad, papaya juice topped off with Mexican rum as a prelude to my saying good-bye to the ancient beauty of this mystical place.
I left a piece of paradise behind but took with me a bit of the treasure the pirates of the Caribbean missed in their day. I understand why our passionate guide Miguel loves this place so much and seems to never tire of coming here and sharing his love, respect and volumes of acquired information and tantilizing facts with folks like me from far and near.