Campeche is sizzling hot, there is no cooling breeze off the sea here, the barometer is aiming for 36c today and Rosie and The Operator are out and about early in the coolness of the morning to visit the walled bastions that make this city and see the sights in between. Later in the day when it gets to warm to comfortably trek around we will hop in the car for a drive up the Malecon to visit some fishing ports.
It is truely beautiful out in the early morning, the air has a bit of dampness to it still from the night, a layer of thin cloud covers the sky blocking the sun and all Mexicans are up early as well. Maybe they too are taking advantage of the cooler part of the day. Everything is open nice and early in Mexico as well, no slug a beds like the Japanese, the Mexicans are always ready to make a dollar.
We walk past the Ex Templo de San Jose….this church is amazing! It is facing the street awkwardly positioned on a crossroad, no grand plaza for this beauty even though it is deserving of one.
Rosie is finding it hard to take a picture of it. It is a big blocky, solid building that has lovely yellow and blue tiling on the front slowly getting blackened by the exhaust smoke. And look, yes, that is a lighthouse on the top, complete with weather vane atop the spire.
This lighthouse was built onto the church spire in the early 18th century by Jesuits who ran part of the church as an academy of higher learning….until they were booted out by the good old Spanish in 1767 as heretics. The lighthouse of course faces the Gulf of Mexico and is right by the wall of the city.
As Rosie has mentioned Campeche back in the day was developing into a thriving sea port….this attracted undesirables and the city suffered various pirate raids. After a blistering attack in 1663 that practically destroyed the city. The remaining inhabitants of Campeche, with the blessing of the King of Spain set about erecting protective walls around the city. Built largely by indegineous labour with limestone extracted from nearby caves, the barrier took more than 50 years to complete.
The wall stretches for 2 km encasing the town of the day and rises to a height of 8 metres. The wall is hexagonal in shape and was linked by eight military look out bastions. The wall is not complete today, but you can see where it went quite easily, the seven bastions that remain have all been turned into little museums displaying town historical paraphernalia.
This is the Puerta del Mar, The Sea Gate which provided access from the sea when it was first built and opened onto a wharf where small craft delivered goods from ships anchored further out to sea. Now the gate is several blocks from the sea and the land in front of it leads to the Malecon and is undergoing development to become part of a great coastal walkway.
We walk to the Baluarte de San Pedro it has a pirate prison outside and displays inside (no English translations) and a dungeon (with a functioning heat pump) where the pirates were kept.
Up on top of the bastion, on the walls overlooking the city was the watchtower bell which was rung to alert the rest of the bastions of attack and also alert the towns folk to gather to arms.
The view of the town is lovely, looking over the rooftops to the Templo de San Jose and the lighthouse. Peeking through the slots where the cannon line up on the walls….why are some facing the interior? Rosie dosent get that.
The town is relatively quiet from the rooftop, the green of the city plantings and foliage compliments the blue sky and sky and coupled with the pastel pallet of the buildings, this town really gives you a lift and makes you feel excited about being out and about in it.
Yes, alot of it has been renovated in the old town but it has been done sympathetically and not perfectly….which adds to the authenticity. its a city that has a lot of….everyday use….so the authentic wear and tear is showing through and this also gives the town a real awesome feel.
Inside the Bauluarte de Santiago a small botanic garden has been planted with indigenous plants. It is small alright, actually, laughingly tiny……and it has an entrance fee, even though you can practically stand at the gate, peep in and see every corner of the garden.
We paid the NZ0.50c entrance fee as a donation to keep the place up and running and self supporting. Everything is quite formal here in Mexico, they love tickets.
We both got issued entrance tickets in this wee garden as a show that we paid. Its the same everywhere where you have to pay for something. EG; when you pull into a dusty yard that has a crudely painted Parking Available sign on it and the parking guy will give you a ‘printed ticket’ showing that you have paid, on the ticket is the price you have just paid…nothing seems to be a scam here in Mexico…..and they kind of go out of their way to prove it, especially with the whole ticket thing.
We head back to the Hostal and hop in the car, we are going for a drive along the 5km Malecon which is the towns leisure footpath on the edge of the edge of the Gulf of Mexico.
Dog walkers, cyclists roller bladers and later in the day The Operator jogging in 37c heat make their way along the calm blue waters edge. There is not a puff of breeze, the water barely has a ripple in it for as far as the eye can see and the light just seems to be totally brighter and more brilliant.
Mexican elections are being held at the end of the month and there is so much advertising up in every city we have visited. Here in Campeche they have gone to a whole new level and hired wee boats to moore along the Malecon with advertising boards on them facing the street. Any opportunity!
Large shopping malls and giant hotels have been and are being built along this strip of seafront, they certainly are gearing up here for a tourism boom. We come to a wee dock, where fishing boats are moored and pull in for a look around.
It looks like the job has been done for the day…men are standing in clumps around coolers, piles of fish guts already starting to stink as they lie near the waters edge where they have been dumped.
The old boats are bright on the water and the day is gleaming a tad over bright. On the other side of the jetty moored out in the bay is a boat that has seen better days, from a distance it looks like it is encrusted with barnacles…or maybe that is bird guano from the stowaways that sit on her.
We drive onward to the edge of town, there sits the Fuerte San Jose del Alto, this fort was built in the late 18th century and has been nicely restored including its moat and drawbridge.
It sits on a ‘vista’ spot overlooking town and the harbour but once you have climbed up onto the ramparts it is too overgrown all around the fort to get any kind of view which is a pity. It does have a great entry point though, nothing like a drawbridge over your moat at the front door.
Its lunchtime, we drive a little further around the bay to Restaurant & Bar el Faro del Moro. They are right on the Bay and the Restaurant is built on stilts right on the waters edge.
They have a couple of seating and dining cabanas further on down the wharf as well. The roof is thatched, the sides are open and the planking on the floor is uneven. We are so warmly greated it is amazing, the owner comes over and explains the menu and recommends a local specialty.
A couple of fans are bought over and directed at us and a cold beer is cracked. This is the tropical lifestyle Rosie was dreaming of….it was so lovely and relaxing, watching the still lagoon, occasionally a bird would dive in to catch a fish, or a fish would jump on the surface of the water. Looking into the murky lagoon you could see all the little fish hiding in the shallow shade….and we even saw a crab walking on the bottom!
We had a beautiful lunch in a beautiful place, time to head back to town….Our lunchtime beers did not even touch the sides…time to park the car and go and check out the town for a happy hour.
Wait a minute said The Operator there is one bastion gate that we have not visited, we have to go through them all. Really, grumbled Rosie..its right on the other side of town.
The good thing said The Operator is that it is right at the end of the street that has all the bars on…walk up to the end and pick a happy Hour for the way back. Now you are talking, will give me a good opportunity to scope out all the different places….he is good at keeping Rosie moving that there dang Operator.
Well this is the last gate. Geeeeez…..totally worth it.
Yes, Rosie is cranky, it is sooooooo hot. Rosie cant decide on what bar to stop at on the way home, we are a bit early to settle in as its only 5.00pm and there is hardly anyone about and the sun is still shining directly down the middle of the street, Rosie is really, really cranky and we are right up the other end of town.
Hold on, whats that noise? Rosie hears laughter and the clinking of glasses, some place is really going off. Next minute a Mariachi band is playing and people are starting to sing….Rosie likes the sound of this place….grump is abandoned and we are walking towards the noise.
It is quite intimidating in another country, where you don’t speak the language or really know what you are getting into….to push open those saloon doors and enter….especially when you know everyone inside is having a great old time because of the noise coming out. The Operator had a masterful plan…there has to be a back door. Genius.
We go around the side and there is an entry from an open portico that leads directly into the bar. As luck would have it, there are only two empty seats at the bar right at this end. Perfect. Rosie loves to watch from the periphery! If we went through the swinging saloon doors we would have emerged right in the heart of the jam packed side of the bar where there wasn’t a spare seat to be had.
Welcome to the Salon Rincon Colonia! This a bona fide Mexican Cantina, a type of Mexican Working Mans Club. They fill up straight after work with beer and tequila being the main orders of the day. The hours between 5-7pm are their busy times, and when I say busy times, the place was chocka block. After a few everyone heads home for dinner and they are normally closed by 8.00pm. We were the only out of towners in the joint and what a great experience we had!
The bar was a huge horseshoe shape, tables were off to the sides and a they had a large ‘ladies lounge bar’ out the back. Fans were twirling in a blur from the ceiling but it was still hot and loud in here.
In a cantina when you buy drinks….you get free bar snacks….stoked. It truely was a great atmosphere in here, groups were animatedly discussing the day and the current news of the day. Hands were gesturing, voices were raised, heads thrown back in laughter. The Mariarchi band was playing out the back in the ladies bar, then they sauntered through to the front bar near us and a cheer broke out.
The band was awesomely, ear splittingly loud….but so good. You cant help but smile and stamp your feet when this upbeat crazy fast music plays. Man, could these guys also harmonize when they sang. The crowd joined in, in snatches for the chorus….Rosie wished she knew the words.
In the cantina your bill is tabulated by the amount of empty beer bottles or shot glasses are in front of you. The barman places your empty bottle on his side of the bar in front of you when he gives you another. The Boss lady sat at the bar with a calculator and tallies the empties and presents you with a paper bill when you ask for it. We had a great time here! Although our bottle and shot glass tally was nowhere near these guys.
When we left the Cantina we wandered down the street that had started to fill up up with people coming out to enjoy the cool of the evening. Everywhere here is light hearted and easy going, there is never any trouble and everyone is friendly. We finally find our Happy Hour and reflect on what a great town this has been during our stay here.
Tomorrow we are embarking on an epic road trip that we are doing in two stages. We are making our way into the highlands aiming for San Cristobal de las Casas , with an overnight stop in Palenque to break the 9.5 hour journey.
