Advertisement
May 1, Friday
Another pack the bike event, this time with lots of extra clothes aboard, and we headed north from Playa del Carmen looking for the cut-off road to the west so we could miss the snarl and mess of Cancun. After a short back and forth, we found the proper road, which looked originally like an entrance to an amusement park. This short cut began as a brand new blacktop road, and we whizzed along with almost no traffic. When we reached about 5 kilometers from the next main highway, the construction vehicles showed up, then the road turned to "under construction", then to gravel, then to dirt. It got narrower and narrower, and I started wondering if we'd have to backtrack the 20 some odd k's and go the long way around. Finally I saw the tops of some trucks going left to right, and was much happier until we went over the bridge, over the highway, and no chance to get on to the other road. The dirt road we were on entered a small village, then another hard top crossed left to right. This was the "old" highway, so we followed it westbound and had
a great ride towards Campeche. Eventually we came up to the "good" road, and it ran along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. Beautiful hills with grand views of the water. Into Campeche, and we checked out the prices of a few hotels along the coastline. Mucho dinero, so we settled for the Hotel Americas, a half block off the town plaza, with a 24 hour secure parking agreement with a lot two blocks away. Campeche is a very historically minded town, with lots of pirate vs Spanish galleon stories, many forts, a visible wall that went around the main city, which is actually still being used in some sections for stores and public offices. The cathedral is gorgeous, and the water this evening mirror finish. Deb wasn't feeling up to snuff, so she laid down for a while, and I walked around town, had a great supper on the plaza, and watched the sunset and the lights of the cathedral light up.
May 2, Saturday
With Deb feeling much better this morning, we took advantage of the free "continental" breakfast, and did a little walking around town so Deb could see the sights. We tried
to mail something at the Post Office, but it turns out that all the government offices, and many of the larger stores are closed due to Governmental request because of the flu scare. We got on to the road and continued along the coastline, stopping for a roadside lunch in a little village. We were pleasantly greeted by a small but highly motivated little 8 year old girl, who was our waitress. Her mom was the cook, and when we both ordered huevos, ( eggs ) her mom said something, the little girl hopped on her bike, and took off. She returned with a half dozen fresh eggs, then off she went on another errand, big smiles all the time. The food was excellent, though I really don't want to know what type of "grease" it was cooked in. Eventually we worked our way through Ciudad del Carmen, another cute town on the coast, and we coughed and wheezed our way through Coatzacoalcos ( say that three times fast...) where it appeared the "no smog restrictions" rule was in effect. Nasty. It was time to stop for the evening, but I didn't want to ride out the next morning with
Hotel Americas
Our room on balcony black lungs, so we struggled on to just outside of Acayucan and stopped in a second rate Auto Hotel. The room was 240 pesos (less than $20 USD), so I can't complain much, but there was no seat on the toilet bowl, and a questionable scent in the bathroom. This was the worst room we've stayed in so far, though I've slept in worse in the US. At least the sheets seemed to be freshly washed
Advertisement
Tot: 0.139s; Tpl: 0.033s; cc: 10; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0779s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb