Day 22: Progreso to Conkal

January 20, 2026

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We woke up still thinking about the great time we had had in Chicxulub Puerto, with Doug and Elaine, and about the tour de force demo of what you can do with a tortilla, from the restaurant, La Carolina. It remains ironic that all that happened in the place we had photographed as a real mess. I guess it's a difference that can exist between the back end and the front end of things.

Our mansion-hotel was built in 1925, during the henequin boom. (Henequin is a kind of agave that has tough fibres. It was processed into rope and binder twine, and was sometimes called "sisal"). So it figures that the dining room wall has as decoration parts of a henequin processing machine.

We set off quite early again, since we knew that our route would take us again past the great birding spots at Chicxulub. In fact, even before we were close to Chicxulub, we found that the roadside ditch was full of Egrets, both the Great and the Snowy. They were wading in the water and perched up in the trees - scads of them.

The road by the mangroves was not surprisingly the same as when we had patrolled up and down it over the past two days. But this was our last chance to spot more birds. The Norte had quit blowing, and it now was easier to park the bikes at likely gaps in the mangroves, to look at the birds.

This definitely is an area of plentiful water birds. Lots of our shots have all sorts of them in the single frame, like these:

This shot is also impressive, but the reflection is doubling the number of birds:

Here, nature has just casually sprinkled a few miscellaneous species:

Usually, we try to isolate a bird and present just one in each photo. But of course photos of flocks are a thing as well, especially when it's photos or video of flocks in flight. Here there was a chance to have sort of artistic compositions of multiple birds or multiple species, like this:

Too many Flamingos are hard to organize.

Gaggle of Avocets (except for the Stilts - with red legs)

Ducks in pairs is an old classic. These are Blue-winged Teal.

Still, single birds can be classically beautiful:

Lots of Flamingos vied for this glamor shot.

How about the ballet of the Lesser Yellow Headed Vulture!

We headed on down the road to Conkal, encountering the rather different elegance of the wind turbines. (Wind only makes up 6% of Yucatan electricity usage.)

Our road was really fine for today's ride, wide, with a good shoulder and not much traffic.

The first thing we noticed on arriving in Chicxulub Pueblo (the inland match to Chicxulub Puerto) was the number of dogs. I think there are 9 dogs on the road in the first photo below.

They are not hostile, and no doubt are all friends.

The centre of Chicxulub Pueblo had most of the necessary components, like the colored sign, church, benches, probably the dental office, health centre, and miscellaneous vendors. I was going to say it was missing the ayuntamiento (city hall), but I see it in one of the photos. So, good.

The Chicxulub Pueblo large church was intriguing and I went in for a look.

The church extends from here to over there!

The interior was quite plain, with lots of blank wall space.

But here is a required well dressed virgin.

Frescoes at the front added an original touch.

One side room seemed in use to store stuff that might perhaps be brought out for special processions.

Outside Dodie spotted some baby Royal Palms. They will grow to be so tall and elegant.

It's not far from Chicxulub Pueblo to Conkal, and we found ourselves in their square as well. This time the ayuntamiento was really easy to spot, as it is a bright blue:

The church too was suitably hulking.

But this square also had a small tribute to local birds:

The church interior also also had relatively bare walls. But it too had a well dressed virgin.

One unique and at first puzzling thing was a large photo of a young contemporary boy. There was no plaque or explanation of what this was, but I made the photo, feeling sure Google would cast light on it. And yes:

This is a photo of Carlo Acutis, a London-born Italian Catholic teenager who was canonized as a saint. He is considered the first millennial saint. He died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15.

In the same room with the Carlo photo were banners that are surely used to carry in procession.

A further mostly undocumented display had three Virgin images as part of it. What this is all about is the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The most famous pilgrimage in Mexico is to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where millions of pilgrims travel each year—especially around December 12th, the Feast Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It is considered the largest annual pilgrimage in the Americas.

So I would take the form on the left to be a pilgrim, who seems to have already bought the tee shirt.

However, in the legend, the Virgin appeared to a peasant, Juan Diego, and :

Miracle of the Roses (Dec 12, 1531):The Virgin instructed Juan Diego to gather Castilian roses (not native to Mexico and blooming out of season) from the hilltop. He carried them in his tilma (traditional cloak made of cactus fibre) to the bishop. When Juan Diego opened his cloak, the roses fell, revealing the miraculous image of the Virgin imprinted on the fabric. This convinced the bishop, and a shrine was built.

Since we see the rose in the statue's hand, this must surely depict Juan Diego.

Leaving the church, I noticed my first thing of any kind related to Pope Leo.

Leo will need to pick up the pace to match the popularity of predecessors, like JP II.

We had arrived in Conkal really early - before noon - and had used as much time as possible with the likes of the church visit. But now we contacted the hotel, Casa de Campo Conkal, and they were kind enough to let us in at 12:30. This place is one of costlier ones on our itinerary, but it sure is nice. The whole large property is enclosed by a wall, and a little like the Santa Clara, the accommodations are a series of bungalows. The place is distinguished by beautiful landscaping and a giant pool. Also the owner is a birder, and he sent us to our room with a copy of "Birds of the Yucatan Peninsula". We actually have that at home, but judged it too heavy to carry around. It has accessible large illustrations, and we noted for better - or worse that we have so far spotted about half of the birds shown.

The owner pointed out a tree near our bungalow that he said was often visited by an "eagle".

And yes, something like that did turn up, and screamed at us from a top branch. It was a Roadside Hawk:

We also chased a yellow and red bird around the grounds, finding it to an immature male Summer Tanager:

Beyond that we really enjoyed the super clean room:

And the foliage outside our door:

We are really pleased with all the bird shots we got on the way down from Progreso. Here are a few more of them to enjoy. We know as we re-read the blog in future years we will be saying "Oh wow, that was cool!":

An oh, remember Brian from Buffalo that we met the other day. Here are the shots of him as liberated from the big camera:

He comes to Progreso each year, but has also cycled other parts of the world.

I am guessing that I am more likely to get a 💖 for writing by ending with a pretty bird, rather than with Brian's puss, so:

Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 777 km (483 miles)

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Karen PoretHope your tooth continues to heal, Grampies!
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6 days ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretAs do we! Everything is much more fun when you are not in pain.
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6 days ago