Day 323 – Campeche
Today we felt like we would explore the port town of Campeche. The town has a distinct old world feel, with colourful buildings along the streets.
The historic town centre is surrounded by a large wall, that was built to protect the city from pirates. The wall has several fortifications that have been converted into museums or public spaces.
Maya Architecture Museum
We went to the Maya Architecture Museum / Baluarte de la Soledad. The entrance fee is 45 MXN / $3.43 AUD per person.
The museum was small, but packed with lots of interesting artefacts. The information was in both English and Spanish. The artefacts were from various sites around the Mayan world.
The Jade mask from a tomb in Calakmul was definitely the highlight. A friendly staff member struck up a conversation in Spanish while we responded in English. From what we understood, the tomb took 34 years to construct.
Parque Principal
The central park is surrounded with historic buildings and a Cathedral. The park is full of hundreds, possibly thousands of pigeons. We didn’t stay in the park for too long due to the constant fear of pigeon poo from above. We went inside the large Cathedral, which was impressive.
We then walked to the restaurant La MarĂa Cocina Peninsular, for a relatively pricey meal of local Mexican food. We asked for recommendations from the waiter, and I can’t remember what we had, but it was delicious.
As we enjoyed lunch, the heavens opened up and there was a solid downpour. We waited until the rain stopped. Then we walked to the coast. There were parts of the road that were completely flooded. We had to take massive detours in some areas just to cross the road. I thought the drainage would be better, since we were so close to the sea. Along the way we passed an area that appeared to house a large community of homeless people, which was sad to see.
Once we walked to the coast, we could see a nice angel statue and Campeche sign. There was no beach. The walkway was walled off from the water. After chilling for a while, we walked back to our airbnb and relaxed for the rest of the night.
