Campeche, Mexico

Last weekend was a school holiday, called the "Long Tropical Weekend" (which gets my vote for best holiday name ever) and we took the boys to Mexico.

We pulled them out of school a bit early to catch the 3:00 Thunderbird ferry to Corozal. We were met there by a transfer driver (sort of like a long-distance taxi) who took us through the Mexican border and to our hotel in Chetumal. The next morning we picked up our rental car from the Hotel Noor and drove west.

The Yucatan Peninsula is surprisingly large. Chetumal is in the southeastern corner of the peninsula, and Campeche is about halfway up the west coast. It took us six hours to get there! We passed many security checkpoints along the way, some staffed by Federales, others by the Policia Municipal, and still others by the military. The landscape was pretty flat just outside of Chetumal, but as we headed west, became increasingly hilly and we gained a fair bit of elevation as we neared Calakmul.

At Escárcega we turned north and arrived in Campeche just before sunset. We stayed at the Hotel Castelmar, an old military barracks that was converted to a hotel. It is such a cool place! The walls are tremendously thick, the doors are made from ornate tropical hardwoods, there is a central courtyard, and each room has a balcony. They even managed to fit a swimming pool into the building!

Our hotel

Courtyard of the hotel

Amy and Liam on our balcony

We chose Campeche as one of our destinations for this trip because of its history. Campeche was founded in 1540, and quickly grew into a prosperous sea port. Before long, this prosperity attracted the unwanted attention of PIRATES (including John Hawkins, Henry Morgan, and Edward Mansvelt). The city was attacked so frequently that in the late seventeenth century the Spanish throne consented to fund the construction of a wall surrounding the entire city.

Map of the old city and the wall

The wall is truly impressive--it includes eight bulwarks or bastions (seven of which have been preserved), is about 24 feet high, 15 feet thick, and features four gates:  the sea gate, the land gate, and two lesser gates on the remaining two sides of the irregular rectangle.

The buildings encircled by the wall have all been painstakingly restored, and walking through this portion of the city feels very much like traveling back through time. The ornate doors, iron work, and architectural details seem a bit European, but the color combinations and tropical climate make for a festive atmosphere. There were also some very interesting sculptures placed throughout the old city.

We saw many ornate doors

The boys posing with one of the cool sculptures placed throughout the city

Amy and the boys with another cool sculpture. There are faces within the hands of the bird lady.

The Cathedral was really beautiful at night

Our first evening there, we attended a "re-enactment" at the land gate. There were actors dressed in period costumes, some as Spaniards, others as pirates, Mayans, priests, dancers, and various others. We got to walk along the top of the wall and look out over the city from the gate, which was really cool. The balance of the presentation was a super-duper cheesy video (!) that was projected on the wall, and the costumed actors would (sort of) act out some of the bits that were being narrated in the movie. And of course, the whole thing was in Spanish. In fact, just about everything was only in Spanish--there don't seem to be many non-Mexican tourists in Campeche, so my advice if you are contemplating a visit is to bone up on your linguistic skills.

The Land Gate

The Land Gate from outside the walls

Cannons, cannons everywhere

Walking atop the wall

We drove south a couple of miles to visit the Fort of San Miguel. This fort was built slightly after the wall around the city, but with the same goal of protecting the inhabitants and the bustling commerce. The fort is also in remarkable shape, and we were able to explore the entire thing--across the drawbridge, down into the moat, all around the curtain wall, climbing on the cannons, you name it. There was not a barrier or a "no climbing" sign in sight, and naturally the boys took full advantage.

The inside of the fort is a (rather ironically) a Mayan museum, and we saw many very interesting artifacts. Of course, like the rest of the city, everything was in Spanish, and there were no English speaking guides, so I only kinda-sorta knew the story behind each of the artifacts. Many of the most interesting pieces came from Calakmul, a very large Mayan site in between Escárcega and Chetumal.

Obligatory cannon shot

Another cannon shot

On the drawbridge!

After we toured the fort, I bought coconut ice cream for Amy and the boys...

...from a guy on a motorcycle.

 Apparently, American tourists--particularly of the fair-skinned, blue eyed variety--are so rare in Campeche that we really stood out. In fact, one woman was so enamored of the boys that she asked Amy if she could take a picture with them and her twin girls. Of course we said yes, but I think Lochlan's expression nicely sums up our family's reaction to the request.

My boys are celebrities in Mexico

On our last day in the city, we took advantage of the numerous restaurants and had a delightful lunch where we were serenaded by two fantastic guitarists/singers. They asked what we wanted to hear, and not knowing a single Mexican song, I punted:  "Uhh...conocen los Beatles?" So naturally they played a very Mexican version of....My Way, by Frank Sinatra. It was awesome. That night at dinner, we also found some Mexican craft beer (first craft beer in six months!) and it was muy delicioso.

They played it THEIR WAY

Craft beer!

Horchata!

Overall, we were very impressed with Campeche. It was frustrating at times that we did not really understand much of what we read or heard, but that is more a reflection of our poor Spanish language abilities than a lack of information. The old portion of the city is also a bit Disney-fied, which we discovered during a nighttime sojourn outside the walls. But everyone was very friendly, and we all enjoyed the palpable history of the place and the pervasive presence of PIRATES!

Pirate

Pirate

Pirate

Ammo...in a pirate's chest

Even the hostel is named after pirates!