Cuatrociénegas on the 24th

Last weekend we decided to celebrate our near 4 year anniversary by giving a whirl at a place we went a few years ago, this was way before i knew anything about swimming, or how to breathe properly for that matter (i’m still struggling with the latter).

It’s a near 3 hour drive from Saltillo Coahuila, traveling through seemingly empty roads along the desert, huge ample skies bestowed upon our heads as we sang and talked about silly things and serious topics in silly voices.

Once we arrived we were welcomed by nearly 2 hours of searching for what seemed to be the last remaining room in the whole town, luckily we found just the place when we were heading out to try our luck in the nearby town of San Buena Aventura, it was cheap too, so we didn’t think too much about it and in no time we were already wearing our swimsuits and driving to the lake Mezquites, sadly that day we were too late and it was already closed (they open from 9 am to 5 pm just in case you want to go).

Since there was still light we decided to drive around the roads to sight-see, a few minutes from the river there are the famous white dunes which are mostly made out of calcium sulfate, to get inside you have to pay a toll at a different hut and travel with a guide that has the key to the access, the opening hours are not that great since it starts at 9 am and closes again at 5 pm (which is the time when the sun hits you just right to leave nasty burns, specially since the white sand bounces every ray of light it touches right back to your eyes, so bring some shades).

We returned to the town with some shots in our cameras and our faces covered in sand, just in time for supper, we got some tacos and a few beers and hit the sack. The next morning we drove back to the lake Mezquites, the price is cheaper than a meal and more expensive than bubblegum, so i’d say it was just right at 80 pesos per person (no pets allowed, if they catch you, they get to keep the pet and throw you out, or so i understood from looking at the signs from afar…without my glasses).

At first the water seems really cold, but the second time it feels warm all of a sudden, i sure hope it was the sun and not all those children peeing in the water, perhaps we’re all children peeing in the wind…into the lake of life… anyway the water was incredibly transparent, and there’s a nice amount of fish to human ratio, they nibble at your toes, so if you’re ticklish you might want to keep swimming or just moving your feet. There are turtles as well, both hard shell and soft shell kind (we took a few pics, the blurry kind).

Once we turned into prunes from soaking all the water we went to the Poza Azul, it was once open for people to swim, but tale as old as time… people turned it into a trash can so now it’s closed and you can only gaze at it from a few feet of distance, it’s clean now and it’s regaining it’s blueish color, it reminds me of the waters from Bacalar, apparently it’s way more popular than the lake as it was full with a few buses parked outside.

Was Cuatrocienegas worth it? Yup, we missed a few places, such as the marble quarry, the church and the museum, so maybe next time.