Blogs from Campeche, Campeche, Mexico, North America

There is nothing like a great hotel to get your new town off to good start and Hotel Lopez did not disappoint. A newly renovated hotel in the historical centre of town that offered a great room with air conditioning and most importantly a pool. The historical district is a picture perfect area of Campeche with its multi-coloured buildings and its quaint tree-lined zocalo. Campeche was an important stop on the trade route between the new world and Europe and as such was not immune to the odd pirate attack or two during its heyday. Due to this the city has 2 forts on opposite hills about 4 kilometers from the centre that overlook the area and kept watch for those pesky pirates. On one day we headed out early to go to one of the ... read more

I had a rubbish night sleep in the cabin. It rained so much that I started dreaming about a landslide taking away my hut into the river. I even got up to check that the water hadn't risen up too much. It hadn't risen at all. I suppose, to have such vegetation, they must be getting a fair bit of water falling from the sky. So I eventually woke up for the final time at 5.40 and thought I might as well get ready. I was stressing about the buses, after having been told by one local than they ran every hour and took 2 hours (I knew that was wrong as it's more like 6 hours to get there), another who wasn't sure but thought they only ran at night and the last one suggesting ... read more

Auf dem Weg von Mérida nach Palenque mache ich in Campeche halt. Ein Zweite-Klasse-Bus bringt mich dort hin. Dieser ist um einiges guenstiger als 1. Klasse zu fahren und heute bin ich der einzige Tourist an Bord. Insgesamt ist der Bus etwas laenger unterwegs. Das liegt daran, dass der Bus auf der Strecke einige Leute ein- und aussteigen laesst und auch ein paar kleine Doerfer auf dem Weg anfaehrt. Der grosse Vorteil liegt allerdings darin dass der Bus auch einige Verkaeufer mit kleinen Snacks einsteigen laesst - so braucht man keinen Proviant fuer die Fahrt einzupacken. In Campeche angekommen mache ich mich dann zu Fuss auf den Weg in die Altstadt. Dort finde ich ein billiges Hostel direkt am Hauptplatz (ueblicherweise Zócalo genannt). Anschliessend gehe ich etwas durch die Altstadt, besuche einen botanischen Garten und gehe ... read more

As our bus to Campeche was due to depart until 12 we had a fairly leisurely start to the day. A relaxed breakfast sampling the never ending supply of tropical fruit provided by the staff, a prolonged visit to the internet cafe downstairs and a final pack in our room. We took a taxi to the bus station were soon settling onto our comfy Primera Plus bus. The bus trip wasn't too long and by mid-afternoon we had arived in Campeche, taken a very short taxi ride to our 'Pirate Hostel' and dragged our bags into reception where we were greeted by a skeleton in a pirate's hat and a room full of seafaring memorabilia. After a couple of minutes we were also greeted by a member of staff who showed us to our room...across a ... read more