Attention: you have to take care of this paradise.
The bacalar lagoon It is a paradise that is located in the south of the state of Quintana Roo and in the city of which it bears the name, a municipality of 32,000 inhabitants . It is popularly known as " the lagoon of the seven colors because in it you can distinguish up to seven shades of blue and because under its waters there are several Mayan cenotes.
Since 2015, when Bacalar was declared Magical Town , the lagoon and its municipality experience the ravages of tourist popularity - at Easter the hotel occupancy was 100%, s According to data from the New York Times -.
And it has been like since then this Caribbean town has not been able to manage with its resources the number of tourist visits and its consequences: the correct treatment of garbage, recycling and its main problem, the drainage of its waters.
Now you know what stromatolites are. Protect them!
Bacalar is not just any paradise and its coast does not have seven random shades , under its waters are the stromatolites . Perhaps this word sounds like Chinese to you, but these rocks with life they are now more in the mouth than ever in all the meetings between environmentalists, scientists and government.
In the Bacalar lagoon there are hundreds of stromatolites , as in few places in the world, which are microorganisms with more than 3,700 years of life . At first glance they may look like coral reefs but they are not, and thanks to them, the oxygen that is on earth today was formed.
What is happening with the stromatolites? The growing tourist popularity has made the -uninformed- visitor overlook this ecosystem, bathing, stepping on and destroying centuries of life and history while ecologists and researchers throw their hands in their heads.
This, added to the poor drainage of water in the municipality, which causes contaminated water to be poured into the lagoon every time it rains, is destroying its color and irreversibly contaminating it.
Its 42km long by 4km wide are much more than a paradise, that's why organizations like Clear Water by Bacalar they are carrying out a daily struggle to preserve it.
Dissuasive posters are being put up in numerous hotels, restaurants and areas where tourists pass by to inform about the importance of these waters. So if you read this, do not ignore it: “The Bacalar Lagoon is home to the largest freshwater stromatolite reef in the world , do not step on, do not sit or stand, do not touch, do not hit or approach with boats”.