Colonial city by the sea

Campeche is a walled seaside city. Approaching by taxi from the bus terminal we were amazed by the change when we got inside the wall. It went from a fairly normal looking clean Mexican city to an image of cobbled streets and colourful colonial houses and lantern style street lights.

We had booked the Pirate Hostel and it lived up to its name with authentic nautical stuff, canons and all, and a skeleton dressed as a pirate. Our room was tiny but we had a loo and shower in separate compartments and space to sit on the roof. At P$240 (US$23) a night including breakfast it was a good price.

There was lots to visit in Campeche and we started with Casa Six (P$5 each) which was a beautifully restored colonial house with period rooms. Next we visited the Museum of Mayan Architecture. They had stone carvings collected from all over the area, and provided great explanations in English. Even the video had English subtitles. That was all we could cope with for one day.

We enjoyed a sunset walk on the waterfront. There was a huge flag and a well manicured walkway with space for pedestrians and runners. We wandered to the cinema (there was nothing on we wanted to see) and found 'Sams Club' which turned out to be a huge Walmart-owned warehouse of everything. We browsed a bit and then bought some Tequilla-like booze and a big pack of marshmallows. We had to wait for ages at the checkout. People had big trolleys full of things they were buying in bulk. A pretty lady in an adjoining queue had 4 boxes of Smirnoff as as a trolley full of other booze and food. While we were being served Pieter nipped around to check her total. It was P$15,000 (US$1430) and she paid in a bundle of P$200 notes.

We spent that evening on the roof playing 'shithead' until late and watching a play being put on at the Puerta de Tierra at the bottom of our street. Couldn't hear much but could see the pretty coloured lights and saw people carrying torches and having sword fights.

Next day we continued our exploration of the city, starting with the very small Jardin Botanico Xmuch Haltum in the Baluarte de Santiago. It was quite beautiful with a well kept display of plants and a pond in the middle. We then collared a taxi to take us to the Fuerte de San Miguel. It was only P$40 and saved us the walk up the hill where no bus goes. The archaeological museum was free because of lack of lights and loos. They had some interesting things and the fort was lovely with canons and a great view. We walked back down the hill and caught a P$4.50 bus to the market. It was interesting but awfully smelly.

We did lots more walking around the city and ended our day with a lovely night time stroll on the waterfront.

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