kim-wassermann Pigs are one of my favourite animals in the whole world! And for years I thought I have to go to the Bahamas to see them swimming! Only going to the Bahamas for that seemed insanely expensive. Yet I considered it because I wanted to experience it so badly. You thought so too? Well, good you found my blog then! Here is a detailed guide on how to swim with pigs in Mexico.
While I was working in Mexico City in 2022 I casually mentioned during a team meeting that I will go to Yucatán for Christmas break and asked for some recommendations around Mérida. One of my co-workers told me to go to Progresso and Playa Cochino. Cochino? Sounded very much like pig to me. I asked again and she confirmed my wildest thoughts and told me there are literally swimming pigs at that beach. To check out my Mexico Food post click here.
How to get to the pigs from Mérida
Finding a bus to go from Mérida to Progreso is very easy and cheap. You just go to the terminal Autoprogreso terminal on Calle 62 near the Zocalo. There is no real schedule for the bus, but I have heard that it leaves every half an hour. I just went to the counter around 8.30am and bought a return ticket to Progreso which costed me 40 pesos. There were already people waiting in line, but I got a seat for the next one leaving 10 minutes after.
Tip for the bus: Even though it is really hot in Yucatán (or maybe because of that) they extremely cool down the bus so make sure to bring a hoodie.
After roughly an hour drive I arrived at the main station in Progresso around 10am. I checked for Uber, but none was available. So I decided to walk around and look for a Taxi. Technically, you can also walk to Playa Cochino but that takes over an hour. I went to Sitio De Taxis El Parque which was the closest one to me. However, there are several other taxi stands or if one passes by you can also just stop it. As always in Mexico ask for the price beforehand. I paid 80 Pesos to get to Playa Cochino and it took us around 15 minutes to get there. I also asked the taxi driver for his number once I figured out that around the beach there is apart from a military station absolutely nothing and I didn’t feel like walking all the way back in 30 degrees heat.
The beach and its swimming pigs
Once you arrive you will see a big sign telling you, you are at the right spot. A short way brings you all the way to the beach. Once you reach it, on your right side you will see an open cage with all the pigs. They had roughly 15 pigs divided into a cage for the babies and a cage for the adults. Most of them were sleeping but I just had to stare at them for a couple of minutes before I continued walking to find a spot in the shadow for me.
There was no shadow close to the pigs so I decided to walk a few meters left and sat down under a palm tree. Apart from me there was only an English speaking couple and a Mexican family at the beach. When you compare this to Progreso or most of the beaches at the Gulf of Mexico, this was very peaceful and a nice change. Suddenly there came some movement in the calm atmosphere. The couple next to me jumped up and walked, armed with their camera, over to the pig cage. From the distance I would see that some pigs, guided by a woman, made their way towards the sea. The spectacular has started!
Please be respectful with the animals and don’t try to hold them or pick them up. You can carefully touch them when they walk past you to pick up the food. They are relatively slow so you can get all the pictures you want. Just please don’t molest the pigs and just enjoy this moment. Since I was on my own I asked the couple to take some pictures of me and judging from that you can see how happy I was.
Around 30 minutes I was enjoying the pigs, then more and more people joined. I went back to my towel since I figured it would be too many people surrounding the pigs and I already got my moment with them. They did not go swimming and were also not forced to do so, which I really liked. The pigs need daily access to water and the possibility to swim in there to cool down. But since it was currently winter (for them, I was sweating like a pig haha), they did not feel like a swim.
What to bring for a swim with the pigs
There are no toilets, no options to buy food or water nor any beach chairs or umbrellas. So make sure to bring all the beach essentials you need. Also, there are some few shadow spots but depending on when you arrive they can be quite crowded so make sure to bring enough sunblock and a hat. And most importantly bring your phone or camera for photos of the cute piggies! Please make sure to not leave any trash and take everything you brought back with you. If you see trash laying around please pick it up and through it away. If we all to a small part we can keep the nature clea
Other things to do in Progreso
After 3 hours at the beach I got quite hungry, since I only brought water and no snacks so I decided to call the taxi and head back to Progreso. I asked the driver to drop me of at the Malecón, a long promenade with shops, restaurants and bars and I settled down at one of the many food restaurants at the beach and spend the afternoon as you should in Mexico: Fresh food, cold beer and sun!
