Campeche Would Impress Most Americans

Monday, Mar. 28, 2011--Campeche

Although I was out of the room early, it was already warm. The choices of times to visit here are the present dry season (hot and humid) or the rainy season (hot and humid with rain parts of most days). Fortunately, my room is air conditioned. That may not be true for where I will be tomorrow!

The town was more alive today. I arrived Saturday after most businesses had closed for the day, and Sunday was like Saturday night. Today was the first "normal" day for me to be here. It's much nicer having all the neighborhood shops, schools, restaurants, etc., open. I still did not find a place for breakfast, however. I guess that people here have breakfast at home and that tourists have it in their hotels. My 3-days-for-the-price-of-2 special here at the Hotel Francis Drake did not include breakfast.

Headed for the bus station to buy a ticket for my trip tomorrow. It was a good idea, because there were only about 7-8 seats still available on the 11:00 bus to Palenque tomorrow. While at the station, I gave away my TIME magazine to some tourists who were waiting to depart.

Stopped for lunch on my way back from the station. Decided to find out what a tranca is. The definition is a bar like on a window. Well, it proved to be a LARGE torta (versus a regular torta). It was a larger bun than what I have gotten before. Along with it, I had some freshly made orangeade (like limonade, but made with oranges).

During the heat of the afternoon, I did more research for hotels in places I will be visiting on the trip. I am especially concerned about the Easter holidays, so I concentrated on trying to find places then. But I also followed up on correspondence I had gotten related to hotels in other places. I updated the itinerary with hotels that I have now confirmed for a couple of new places.

Since I hadn't eaten much (some tortas and some peanuts) since getting here, I stopped at a place near my hotel for comida at 17:00. I got a plate with a large, thin piece of flank steak, salad, refried black beans, and a squash-corn-onion vegetable mixture. It came with tortillas, and I got a bottle of tea. It was tasty, but I get better Mexican food at home. The price was only slightly less than what I would pay at home, too--$4.40.

I made it for the sunset tonight. Many people were on the seawall. Most were walking or jogging. One group was exercising. Their schedule called for tae bo on Mondays and Thursdays, zumba on Tuesdays and Fridays, and aerobics on Wednesdays. It was nice to see that 1/4 of the participants were men. In Asia, it's mostly women in these public exercise activities.

With the sun down, the breeze along the waterfront felt nice. I walked further south into an area that has been developed in recent years passing a convention center, a multi-screen cinema, a Wal-Mart, a casino, and lots of franchise restaurants (VIPS, McDonalds, KFC, Churches, Applebee's, etc.).

Most Americans would be surprised, I think, of what cities in Mexico are like today, especially those who have only visited border cities or have not been to Mexico for several years. Campeche is a clean, modern city. It has restored its historical downtown, built new infrastructure, and modernized over the years. Much of it is in as good a condition and is as attractive as San Antonio or Corpus Christi, and some of it surpasses those cities.

Spent my final night hours at the main plaza reading and watching people. A young man beside me was singing and playing a guitar. A group of young people were singing and dancing (exercise-style) on a stage. On the way back to the hotel, I passed a building with a group of young people dancing to Latin music. It looked like an enjoyable way to burn lots of calories.