Campeche by the sea
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
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15
141
Trip End
Ongoing
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Campeche,
Mexico
Friday, January 12, 2007
Campeche is one of the most beautiful cities we have seen and has been an UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999. The city named Campeche was founded in 1540 by Montejo, the same guy who founded Merida, after fighting the Mayans for 23 years to take over the land. The city is surrounded by a wall that is 8 meters tall and 3 meters thick which took 13 years to build, from 1704-1717. The wall was needed to keep out the invading pirates. (not Johnny Depp you fools, real pirates). The wall is intact in many places and you can walk across it to obtain great views of the city and the sea.
The city square is dominated by a massive church that is beautifully lit and can be seen from all over the city. We had to pass it many times while looking for a place to stay and each time I took a new photo. (I take way too many photos) We ended up choosing Hostel Parroquia which is just about half a block off the city square. It was clean bright and had a little courtyard with an outside kitchen.
Side note: The definition of kitchen is up to many interpretations. If the guide book says it has a kitchen it can mean anything from a real full size kitchen to just a single electric hot plate and a small fridge. This one had the electric hotplate.
A final view of the main church
There were no private rooms available so Kay and I had to stay in the dorms. Note just any dorms but men only and women only dorms. This will be our first night apart. Luckily the next night we get a private room.
Our first day in town was spent lazily relaxing in the courtyard reading, doing laundry and catching up on some journals. Later that same day we decided we should get out and move about so we rented bikes and rode through town to the waterfront. The waterfront has a 3km paved pathway that runs from one end of town to the other. As we get to the far end of the path my bad luck with bikes continues... on a dirt road out to the docks Kay notices I have a flat tire. No wonder I could not keep up! I just thought it was all the good Mexican food I had been eating! There is nothing I can do but ride on the flat until we find a gas station for some air. From the docks we get a great view of the city from the Gulf of Mexico. After getting some air in the tire we head back through town to a lovely little park for a snack and something to drink.
That night we walked around the enjoying the different views of the city all lit up. The place is extremely clean and full of brightly painted little homes. The improvements made to obtain UNESCO status really shows. At the Hostel we met Jenny and Aaron, a couple from the US that is in town for a month doing interviews with the people of Campeche to see how the status of UNESCO has affected them. We also met a lovely Aussie couple that have been traveling for a year and gave us some great tips for travel throughout Central America. They even gave us a few Honduran Lempiras. Thanks Jessie and Steve!
The next day we are going to take a bus to Palenque at 2:30am (no that is not a typo) so we check out of the hostel but leave our stuff there, cook and shower there. We actually end up staying the lobby watching soccer and having a beer (thanks again Aaron) with some and of the staff and guests until about 2:00am. The taxi arrives and off to the bus station we go.
Adios Campeche
