City of Campeche

Monday December 15…10:45pm

We went for another walk down our little entrance road, and as we got near the beginning of it, we walked into 4 Mexican marine soldiers with their rifles.

They were very friendly though, and they said hi to Whiskey and gave her a pet. Surprisingly, she didn’t even bark at them. When we got back to the motorhomes, the soldiers were just heading back the other way, and we offered them each a glass of cold water. We had quite the conversation with them considering only one of them spoke just a little English, but our Spanish is certainly improving.

Our soldier friends

We were all planning on a day in Campeche tomorrow, but after doing some research, Ruth and I decided we’d like to spend more than just one day there. Glen and Steve were quite happy staying another night at this spot near Seibaplaya, so after lunch Ruth and I and Whiskey headed into Campeche. We had read that you can stay in the car park at the tourist office which is located right downtown at the malecon (waterfront walkway), and as we got into town we stopped by the brand new Holiday Inn and used their unsecured internet connection. I went into the hotel to ask for directions to the tourist office and the Walmart. It was a really nice hotel and had only been open for a few days. You could tell that the staff was bending over backwards to do their job properly, and even went out of their way to help me, a tourist who wasn’t even staying there. They even printed us a map off their computer.

Entrance to Campeche

The tourist office was easy to find, and soon we were parked up for the night. Actually, it is wise to show up here after 5pm because otherwise the parking area is too full. However once you are parked up it is no problem to stay for a few days.

Campeche used to be a walled city. That is, the Spanish built a wall around the city in the 1700’s and several forts to defend themselves from pirates and other conflicts. Now, many of the walls and forts have been restored and many of the churches have been turned into museums.

The chapel lit up at night in Campeche

Another view of the chapel

It is close to Christmas, we are impressed with the amount of decorating the Mexicans do. I can tell you, we certainly enjoy the Christmas spirit just as much, if not more, WITHOUT the cold! We took Whiskey for a walk around suppertime and found a Christmas pageant being run by a local college. It was free, and we each had a look at it while the other stayed outside with Whiskey. Also, there was a Christmas parade through the downtown area. Later, we walked all the way down the waterfront walkway to the new shopping area where the Walmart and other larger stores are. The waterfront walk has separate paths for walking, jogging, and cycling.

The town square in Campeche

Campeche is definitely the most interesting Mexican city we have visited. Very clean, and lots to see. We are surprised that it is often ignored by tourists from outside of Mexico.

Total nights sleeping in a motorhome…418

December Fuel $275.50 CAN

December Grocery $ 100.05 CAN

December Overnight costs $ 49.80 CAN