Mexico Day 8

Hi Everyone

The day start at 7 AM again. The same routine. Wake up at 6, breakfast at 7 and leave at 8. I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as we settled on the bus. Was woken up at 11 to order lunch and we were stopping for our morning pit stop at a local restaurant along a very boring road. No highway, just a road that went through some towns, but boring. I was starting to think that this would be a day of travel and sleep.

Our road turned finally onto the Gulf of Mexico. We were driving along the Gulf past beautiful deserted beaches and watching pelicans dive bombing for food. I wonder why pelicans do not get headaches or concussions. They must have hard heads to absorb this sort of punishment.

At around 12:30 we finally arrived for lunch in a fishing village named “Chamboton”. Chamboton is right on the Gulf of Mexico and the main activity is fishing. Our restaurant was on the water overlooking the Gulf. I had ordered fish fillet, but as soon as I saw all the boats, pelicans and fishermen I couldn’t eat and grabbed my camera. There were men standing in the water with nets and buckets fishing. Sort of reminded me of the stilt fishermen off Sri Lanka. I walked around with my camera constantly clicking away. I had ordered two cappuccinos for lunch and drank them down as fast as possible. I did not want to miss a minute of this beautiful scene of activity and to take pictures of these fishermen’s daily lives. The fishermen were so friendly and some of them held up their daily catch. The birds and pelicans were so beautiful flying around and resting on the boats. I hope my pictures do this place justice.

It was then back into the bus for our ride to Campeche. Campeche is a port city on the Gulf. We arrived at our hotel. Our hotel is named “Plaza Campeche”. There are lots of plazas here. My first impression of the city was amazing. There were old colonial buildings in different colors. The City was so clean and spotless. We checked in, had our pit stop and then we all got onto a trolly for a tour of Campeche. There are lots of old stone walls here with little look out towers. The walls and towers were built as protection against pirates. The City is full of old colonial architecture and each building is painted different colors. The trolly took us all over town and the local guide told us some of the history to what we were seeing. We finally arrived at the Malecon. This is a long walkway next to the Gulf. There is no beach here. Just a beautiful Malecon. A Malecon is a stone built embarkment or esplanade along a waterway. People were walking and enjoying themselves. No vendors nor restaurants. Very civil and devoid of tourists We then stopped at a local church. The name of the church is “Iglesia de San Roman”. The church has a black Christ made of ebony wood. There is a festival once a year celebrating this Christ. The black Christ crucifix is 453 years old. I was told that the locals believe that this black Christ is associated with miracles. The trolly then dropped us off at our hotel at around 5 PM.

We then all decided to walk back to the Malecon to watch the sun set over the Gulf and take some pictures. A boring red perfect sun set over the horizon as I clicked away.

It was then time for dinner. Campeche is famous for fish. Ivan, our tour guide, led us to a local restaurant. The waitresses were all dressed up in local clothing. We all ordered fish. I had a grilled fish platter with lobster, octopus, shrimp and a fillet. Olivia had the grilled octopus. The octopus was the best I ever had. I couldn’t stop eating it.

We then walked back to the main plaza. At 8 PM the City was showing a video mapping presentation on a block of a old colonial building. The video was shown on the face of the buildings as cars drove by. The video was of the history of Campeche set to music and beautiful colors. I couldn’t believe my eyes as the scenes were shown. There were videos of Aztec people with local wildlife and then pirates attacking Campeche and finally Cinco de Mayo and all the costumes about that custom. A very special treat to end a very special day .

Campeche is a beautiful jewel. I will miss it when we leave tomorrow and wish that we had more time here.

Love

Larry