Merida, Bacalar, Rio Lagartos, Dinosaurs

After spending some extra time in Tulum, I rented a car with one of the retreat ladies, and we traveled to Bacalar, and then on to Merida.  All of the photos I've seen of Bacalar show turquoise water and cute thatch-roof cottages.  However, we were there during rainy season, so it was cloudy and rainy.  The water was not as bright, but we did get some time to kayak on the lake.  It was fun and relaxing, and there is an excellent restaurant directly on the water, but I would like to visit again when it's sunny.
From Bacalar, we moved on to Merida.  Merida is a very humid and colorful colonial town on the Yucatan Peninsula.  We did a free walking tour to learn some history.  In the early days, Merida answered to Spain instead of Mexico City, and to me, it still has more of a European feel than the other cities I visited in Mexico.  We took a day trip to Rio Lagartos where we saw crocodiles, a flamingo colony, and a pink lake (the pink color comes from dead shrimp that can't survive the extreme salty water near the salt factory).  We also visited a memorial to the dinosaurs near Progreso.  The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs hit planet Earth near this spot, so the memorial is a nice tribute.
We stayed at an Airbnb in both Bacalar and Merida.