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Published: March 5th 2008
So, I´m finally done with all of my work! Yay! So now I have time to tell you about my weekend in Campeche.
Campeche is the capital of Campeche, which is the state next to Yucatan. The bus ride is about two hours, and during it we sat and talked and slept. Once we got to the city, we took a bus to the centro, arriving in the market, which Annie wanted to see, but since it was pretty much exactly like the market in Merida only smaller, we left to go find the hostal. The first thing I noticed about Campeche was how clean and adorable it is. It´s a UNESCO world heritage site, so they have to keep it in good condition, or at least appear in good condition, because I saw from the top of an old fort that some of the buildings are collapsing on the inside, but they keep the facades so the city looks beautiful. There´s also practically no one in the streets, and (this is the most unbelievable) the cars STOP for pedestrians!!! There are signs on the road that say "pedestrians are first" and if you want to cross a highway, all you have to do is stop by the side of the road and the cars stop so you can cross, whether there´s a crosswalk or not. They literally stop in the middle of the road so that pedestrians can cross. It´s absurd. We checked into our hostel which was right on the central plaza and then went walking. We saw the ocean (there´s no beach, just a wall and then the ocean) and walked along it for an hour or so until we got to the fort of San Miguel. I got SO dehydrated and hungry because I hadn´t eated and it was really hot that I had to sit a while once we got there to rest. The fort has been converted into an archaeology museum, so that was pretty cool. Afterwards we walked back and ate at a cute little italian food restaurant. When we got back to our hostal, much to my surprise I saw William. William is one of the guys I know from my trip to Copan. He just HAPPENED to be staying in the same hostal as me! Crazy, no? When does stuff like that happen? He´s backpacking through latin america. He started two months ago in Panama and intends to go until he gets to New Mexico, where he´s from. So we talked for a while, and later the whole group of us went out to see more of the forts in the city and do a bit of shopping. Later in the evening there was a dance school performance in the plaza. It started with traditional dance from the area which was really good, and there was also a girl who was about 12 doing belly dance who was really good, but this other girl who was AWFUL. They had her set up as the star of the show and she could neither sing nor dance. It hurt my ears to listen to her. She was SO flat. Then the next day Rachel and I were going to go to Edzna, an archaeological site, the others didn´t want to go with us so we went alone. We got to the bus station at 10, but the bus didn´t leave until noon, so we wandered around the city and went to see another two forts. One of them has a pirate museum inside, but we didn´t see it. It was really cute. So then at noon we went and got on the bus. Mind you, this is the only public transportation to the site on Sundays. Other days there are combe´s (it´s like a van-taxi), but not on Sundays. This was the oldest bus in the worst condition I have ever ridden in. My chair was kind of falling apart and sticking me with some metal, not to mention the fact that it was cracking leather (leather+heat=not pleasant) Since there was no air conditioning it was SO hot. Luckily I brought a bottle of water with me because I was sweating like crazy. (I had a whole liter of water. Keep that in mind later so you understand the crazy amount of sweating I was doing.) We were sitting next to this guy on the bus who was about fourty who was "hunting ruins" but clearly knew absolutely nothing about the Maya. He´d spent the last two months wandering around Guatemala and Mexico going to every Mayan site he could, but he doesn´t speak Spanish (not speaking Spanish+going to Mexican country=bad idea) So he was asking us stuff cause we both know something about the sites. Anyway, we finally got to the site, and, because we´re Mexican students, we got in free! Yay! The main pyramid there is BEAUTIFUL! Unlike most pyramids, there are rooms on every level of the pyramid. It´s called the Pyramid of the Five Stories because of this. Normally the pyramids just exist to have a temple on top, but this one had five or six rooms on each level. Another cool thing is that in order to have halls that connect the different rooms, the stairs were built above nothing! They start and then just continue above the walkway. It´s crazy! There were some Amish people from Canada there, and this boy was being REALLY dumb (silly boys). He climbed all the way to the top of the temple. That is SO not safe. I don´t mean he climbed on top of a building. He climbed on top of a free-standing collapsing wall on top of a pyramid. Another really cool thing about this site is that there are some stucco masks on a few buildings that are almost perfectly restored. They still have their paint and everything!
Anyway, by the time we were done with the site, I could barely walk (ok, so I could walk, I just didn´t have much energy for it. Plus it was 3:30, so it was REALLY hot) I was so tired and dehydrated (remember, I´d already drank a liter of water). When we had entered the site we saw a vending machine, but by the time we got back to the entrance it was completely empty. So there we were in the middle of the Mexican country, dehytrated, with no option for anything to drink and we had to wait out in the sun for a half an hour for the bus to come. By the time we got back to Campeche we were SO thirsty. We bought drinks and downed them so fast our stomachs hurt, but our bodies needed the liquid. Then I slept for two hours, after which we went out to eat with William and his friend and hung out in the centro where there were various little stands and ate flan for dessert. Mmmmm....flan. Then the next morning we got up and went back to Merida. Our bus was filled with Mormons. It was nutso. And then I didn´t sleep because I had so much homework. But today at school after my presentation I talked to a Mexican girl for about an hour about various things, and she complimented me on not being like most Americans who come here more for vacation and don´t even try to learn the language and speak with accents so thick that no one can understand them. She said that when I speak it´s obvious I´m not from here, but that they can understand me perfectly well, and I understand them and I try to speak with an accent and that it´s good. Yay!
And then I came home and slept a lot because I was tired. And then I ate a ham sandwich (SO MUCH HAM!!! I eat ham at least once a day. When I go home, I never want to eat ham again. Seriously. SO much ham!)
But I´m feeling much better now that my crazy homework time is over, and hopefully the next week and a half before spring break go well. (I only have three more Spanish classes this semester. Crazy!)
Anyway, I hope you´re all doing well. I´m definitely doing better.
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Linda
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Very interesting. I wish I could be there with you and have the wonderful experience you are having. Love Linda