Campeche,
Mexico
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Somehow we managed our 6.30 am get up this morning (bravo to us!) to get our early morning bus to Campeche, a town North by the sea on the Gulf of Mexico. It is slightly late departing, but itīs c10.30 and i am quietly dosing between scenes of spiderman (being shown for the second time with no sound) and i notice we have stopped. I then realise we have 2 men walking down the bus dressed in camouflage jackets, trousers and caps. mmm they donīt really look like passengers. I am a little concerned, but no-one seems to react...eventually i nudge Kathryn, but she was so engrossed in cocaine being planed in her Helen Fielding novel she hadnīt seen the real life drama! Then people at the front of the bus start getting off... no explanation in Spanish or English. As a few more get off i look out the window on the far side and see all our bags are being removed. It becomes evident we are subject to an army search - i guess for drugs? No sé!A man with a giant rifle is standing at the front of the bus and another with a gun asks to see in my day bag - i quickly oblige! He sees the 5 books on the top and looks no further. Every bag in the bus is lined up in groups and roughly (but not thoroughly) searched. Mine is near the end and i am called across no manīs land to unlock it, and then summoned back when he is finished searching. I try a casual saunter and not to shake as i put the lock back on!! On the plus side we got a toilet break and chance to get a packet of crisps! A further delay for roadworks or something and we make it 2 hours late to Campeche, but as we arri ve at the coast and drive along the still Mexican gulf the tranquility of the place is already evident.
We get a taxi to the hostel from the bus station, K has paid from the Kitty. We go up the stairs to the hostel and are about to pay for the room and K realises she hasnīt the purse anymore. She empties her bags, looks around. Looks out the balcony window and with a scream as darted off down the stairs. The receptions and I run across to the balcony to see what the fuss is and there is her purse still in the middle of the road - with everything in! In a flash it is retrieved and back in her pocket! Some local cuisine later and 2 caramel sundaes to celebrate the retrieval of the purse (or just because we want them!) we walk through the quiet colouful town (and a trip to the wholesale centre?!). As the evening draws in we sit on the balcony overlooking the park and floodlit cathedral, picturesque and peaceful.
