Traveling across Quintana Roo in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

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And finally on February 17 are part! Destination Mexico, specifically Puerto Aventuras, Riviera Maya, in the state of Quintana Roo.
And here at last the lights of Cancun. We walk again to 80 km until arriving in Puerto Aventuras, namely the Catalonia Yucatan Beach. The hotel is a four star very big and very nice, a few Italians, but too many Americans!
The sea front there is nice, but not exactly the best, because it is often quite rough, however you can still swim as close to the main bay is a small lagoon that is sheltered, with water always flat. Anyway, despite the rough seas, even if the water is not exactly crystal clear, the sun causes the colors of the sea are very beautiful. And there are too many fish!
Puerto Aventuras is a very nice town, even though Mexico has very little, and many tourists, hotels and houses, golf courses, and its center consists of shops and restaurants built around the marina and the Dolphinarium. Here you can see dolphins, seals and sick in the Caribbean that swim in large tanks of salt water, and you can swim with dolphins.
In Mexico things to do and see are many, and in a week does it necessarily make a selection very restrictive ... we did to visit the state of Quintana Roo, trying to alternate sea, Mayan ruins and natural beauty.

Playa del Carmen: as has been described by many as the main avenue seems Viale Ceccarini Riccione: shops, restaurants, bars, tequilerie will ... and the sea is not a lot, and its beaches you can see the skyscrapers of Cozumel ....

BIOSPHERE Sian Khan is a natural reserve, the UNESCO hosts howler monkeys, anteaters, foxes, ocelot, puma ... The boat trip takes place, it seems to be in a documentary, we start from Punta Allen , a small fishing village where you can get some 'real Mexico. The meeting between sea and lagoon are spectacular.
The tour proceeds of the following stages: swimming in natural pools, a sea sheltered enough when the sea is splendid: you have in mind the classic picture postcard image that one has in mind when you think of the Caribbean, with only the blue sea and palm trees horizon??
Then you go to do some 'snorkeling on the reef: the colors are certainly not those of the Red Sea, but you can see a lot of fish and huge brain corals! And then off with their spears, looking for turtles and dolphins!! We were lucky, we could see them both together even a manta and a lot of colorful starfish!!
Finally we visit a small island where nesting frigates (a typical Mexican bird, so named because the food did not get it as they do fishing, for example, pelicans, namely fishing, but "frigate" who was so good to get it !!!), a paradise of sea. The tour ends in the Laguna Negra, which is accessed through the mangroves in the middle, this lagoon is named after a particular mussel, very present in this area, these mussels, at a certain hour of the day, say they do their "shit", so the water becomes very dark, almost black ...
And later in this excursion, which really deserves, lunch of paella on the beach of Punta Allen ...

Coba ': a visit to one of the largest Maya cities, which includes the tallest pyramid of the Yucatan peninsula! The trail is inside the tropical jungle (the entrance is also a sign for poisonous snakes! !) and, following, you can admire the Juego Pelota and other Mayan ruins, some still covered by jungle. In fact, whenever there is a small hill, is a Mayan rest, as the Yucatan peninsula is completely flat!! We also did an amazing discovery: the bee Maya really exist! It is a type of bee more petite than we know ourselves, but its main feature is that it has the sting!! Honey also makes a very delicious! And finally you get to Nohoch Mul, the Great Pyramid, built on a natural hill and 42 meters high! The top view is spectacular, you see only the jungle to 360 degrees! And before we left, we even had a meeting with the crocodiles in Lake Coba!

PLAYA PARAISO: dining at the establishment of Ana y Jose, on a stretch of coast is considered one of the most beautiful of the Mayan Riviera! Pity the sea a bit 'too rough ...

Tulum: Mayan site near the Caribbean Sea, beautiful, we were lucky enough to arrive there in late afternoon, almost dusk, so the site was almost deserted, a surreal silence ... and the whole process was accompanied by funny iguanas ...

Cenote "Cristalina" along the Carrettera Federal, towards Tulum, you will find numerous signs of cenotes, some of which you can also swim ... the cenote Cristalina is little known by tourists and is usually frequented by Mexicans who want to enjoy a little 'relaxation. ... When we went there we just arrived, we were alone, it was wonderful, felt only the sounds of birds singing and saw only green around us to relax!! The water was not even as cold as I imagined and snorkelling there is really special! From the outside it appears that the water is so deep, and instead from under you realize that it is, and even so at some points! Then he observed a lot of freshwater fish and bravest may also try to venture into the caves ...

From what I could see Mexico is a country of great contrasts, which I think are much more visible on the coast, where tourism is more pronounced. Beachside explode huge resort, but beyond the federal carrettera are the huts of Mexico who lives it every day ... The vast majority of tourism in this country is made by the Americans, who have turned a bit 'too much this piece of world, just look at parks like Xcaret or Xel-Ha, where beautiful lagoons have been converted into a sort of Big Ben, tailored especially for the American ideal ... Definitely go can be fun, but I much prefer the nature .
What about ... a week short, but intense, which only turned on even more in me the desire to return to this beautiful country to continue to discover its beauty. ...
HASTA L'HUEGO MEXICO!