Currently en route to Campeche from Champoton...yes....that means today I am starting this post while riding on the bus. We are back in the same seats we had on the last bus...maybe they saw us coming... On the upside, we r right next to the bathroom in case we need it and on the downside we r right next to the bathroom!!
We had such a great sleep last night! Room was one of the most comfortable I've ever been in. Would it pass our 2 star standards? Maybe...on a good day... but in truth it was more comfortable than some of the 5 stars that I've stayed in. For what it lacked in opulence it made up for in foundational basics that in the end are really what make for a comfortable stay. The curtains kept it dark, it was quiet, the air con worked perfectly and there was no cold air blowing around in the room. The bathroom was large and the shower spacious. There was a brand new shower head and the water pressure was perfect. The beds were super comfortable and maybe best of all...the sheets smelled like,they had just come in off the line on a fresh spring day. Everything was spotlessly clean and we even had a couch and coffee table in our room. Right outside our door there was a pool and a swinging chair to relax in. Heh...why didn't we stay there longer??!! Oh ya...there are new adventures to be had an hour down the road.
After a full twelve hours of sleep we were hungry and in search of something for breakfast before getting on the bus. Yep that's what happens when you're buried in fresh sheets in the dark where the temp is perfect and the room is dark...you can roll over and go back to sleep as many times as you want to! We made our way to the mercado (market) and located a new taste treat. It is called a panocho and is basically two deep fried corn tortillas with chicken, tomato, and lettuce between them. It was delicious and I will look for that again! For dessert we found a pink custard filled donut of sorts from a vendor on the street. It too was good but not as good as the panocho was.
While in the mercado we were met with a man and two women who spotted us in the crowd as being "different" from everyone else. They were visiting home and now live in LA. The man couldn't believe we'd found Champoton and then was even more amazed that we were travelling on our own with no itinerary or agenda other than a final destination of Canada. He assured us that we would enjoy Campeche (next stop) and that there were some great little hotels in the Centro area. Nosotros muy suerte! (We are so lucky)
Bus trip is already 1/2 over according to the time on my watch. We just went through a toll station...many highways in Mexico have tolls on them. Glimpses of the water out our left hand side shows that it may be getting a little bluer again...hmmm...maybe we'll find that elusive beach at the next stop??? Basta por ahorita....luego amigos. (Enough for right now....later friends)
It's now just after 9:00 p.m. and since I signed off while still on the bus this afternoon...a lot has happened! We arrived in Campeche right on schedule at 1:30 and within minutes were packed into a taxi and headed in the direction of the Historico Centro. In conversation with our driver...we were able to get across that we were in search of a reasonably priced hotel that was representative of the culture and near the centre of the city (ie: not a Holiday Inn etc). He thought for just a minute and decided that we might like Hotel Lopez on 12th Ave in the Historico Centro. Now when I say Historico Centro...let your imagine run to it's furthest reaches and then go a little bit further because in Campeche the entire Centro is within the walls of the original fort! So we circled the walls of the old stone fort until we came to the land gate (there is a land gate and a sea gate into the fort). That put us right on 12th Ave and within seconds we were double parked in front of Hotel Lopez. I jumped out of the taxi and Lynda stayed with our bags and the driver as they circled around and around the block until I was finished "checking out" the Lopez as a possible accommodation for our stay in Campeche.
This story now leaves the taxi where Lynda is and comes inside the hotel with me. Keep in mind that my Spanish is minimal at best but heh...I'm game to try and remember the theme of this trip...to just roll with it. The desk clerk has no english which means that we're gonna have to rely on my spanish to make this work. I ask if they have a room with two beds...yes is the answer. I ask how much...and the answer is $750 pesos. (which really isn't all that bad when you see this place but we really are working to stick to our budget of 600/night). I ask if there are any other hotels nearby where the price is a little cheaper...and the answer is no not really and how much would I like to pay. I say $600 pesos is my maximum...and she hands me a key to go and look at a room that she might be able to give me for $650, so I do. It is a tiny room with two single beds but the hotel looks sooo nice and the location is sooo great that I decide the room will be fine. I go back to the front desk and say yes we'll take it but I have to go back outside to let my friend who is driving around and around the block know that she can get out of the cab. I do that and a bell hop retrieves our cases from the taxi. (yes...this hotel has everything!). Lynda and I come back in to sign in at reception and whether the front desk took pity or appreciated my feeble attempts at spanish or we hit the jackpot without knowing we'd even bought a ticket the end result is that we paid only $600 pesos per night and we were upgraded to a fantastic room with two double beds and tons of room. In fact as I type this I am sitting at a proper desk on a real chair! So here we are each paying $25 CAD per night. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why we decided to spend three nights here! LOL
Once we were settled into our room (unpacked since we're here for 3 nights!) we decided laundry might be in order. And since we're in such a posh place....lets just send it out to the service. En route to the pool (yes...we have a pool too!! ) I dropped our 14 pieces of laundry off at reception and for a total of 100 pesos ($8.37 CAD) it was returned to our room clean, folded, and no missing pieces before 10 pm the same day. I always wonder at how they do it at the laundry services in places like this. They get bags and bags of clothing and all of it comes back to the right place. When I compare it to the lost luggage (and my suitcase is much larger than a pair of my panties!), or when kids come home and say they lost their homework or their jacket or their whatever...it just reinforces my amazement at how they keep all this laundry straight...and keep in mind that much of it is washed by hand and hung on a line to dry so at some point some things must get mixed in with other things!
Anyway...our swim in the pool this afternoon was refreshing and since we had the whole pool to ourselves we made the most of it and lounged around reading our books for a while afterward. From there it was up for a shower and to get dressed to go out to explore. Exploring before 5 pm is kind of a waste of time as everything is closed for afternoon siesta time which I am growing to LOVE! We're just three blocks from the heart of the Centro and all of the little one way streets are spotlessly clean and have much wider than usual sidewalks. They are also really well signed (which isn't all that common) so it is really easy to get around.
There are so many things to see in this historic district so we decided on a tour via open air tram. It was all in Spanish but it was okay as we got the gist of what they were saying and the Mexican family from Cancun who were sitting right behind us were able to fill us in on anything we weren't sure of. One interesting stop was at a Benedictine Cathedral where there was a black Jesus on the cross at the front of the church. Neither Lynda nor I had ever seen that before so it was another first for both of us. According to the driver of our tram (who spoke a little english) that Christo Negro had come from Italy and it is not uncommon to see Christo Negro in southern Mexico.
Another of the points of interest on our tour was an open air restaurant where they serve food that is typical of this region so we made note of it's location and decided right then and there to wander back that way after the tram ride for dinner. That thought was easier said than done though and it took us some lengthy wandering before we met up with Joanna who was able to direct us to the spot. We had come close on our search but not quite close enough! Ironically, Joanna is an owner of another restaurant we considered going to but she recommended that we plan to come to her place either in the morning or for lunch as it is better then. If you can't take that advice from the owner then who would you take it from so tomorrow...we'll be heading to Joanna's for brunch. Tonight we supped on Enchilada's that had some kind o
While we were wandering looking for our dinner place we passed a street vendor who was making what looked like some kind of super thin rolled sweet pancake. I made a mental note of where he was so we could return there for dessert and sure enough...after dinner I walked right to him! If only I had been so capable with finding the place for dinner! Anyway...we ordered one of the rolled pancake things (20 pesos) and discovered that it is a pancake alright but a pancake that has some kind of cheese melted into the middle of it. That wasn't the sweet thing either of us had in mind but heh....we're gonna roll with it right? The little old man who was making the Flauta must have fingers of steel as he was able to roll that hot little thing right up on the griddle. It was so hot even after he passed it over to me that I could hardly hold onto the bag it was in! A half block further down the same street we came upon another vendor making the same thing only this one had nutella on his cart so Lynda ordered one from him. We had to laugh when in addition to the nutella he topped it all off with more cheese. These flauta things are definitely supposed to have cheese in them! In the end, Lynda's vendor was not nearly as practiced as mine was as her flauta looked amateur compared to the tightly rolled one I had. We finished off our evening back in the Centre of the Centro in front of the cathedral where we people watched while we ate our flautas. From there it was a short walk back to our hotel.
We're feeling very lucky to have found our little home away from home tonight as we settle back into our room. We got word from home today that the world lost a very special man this afternoon. He lived a long and happy life and we were so lucky to have had the opportunity to have him in our lives. I know I will miss him and my heart goes out to all of his family at this very sad time.
Hasta manana,
L & L Here are a couple of photos. One is of our hotel in Campeche (taken right outside the door to our room), another is of a street cart selling candy as we got on the bus this morning. The third is of a typical street vendor (motorcycle driven cart).
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