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| One last darling picture from Playa |
The morning of our departure from Merida we had a traditional breakfast prepared by our kind hostess
Eugenia - eggs with chaya, avocado slices scooped out of a grapefruit-sized
Yucatan avocado, warm tortillas & fresh squeezed orange juice. Her
boyfriend, a honey wholesaler, dropped by for interesting conversation after
which we went a block down the street to a liquor factory for a sample of an
anise-flavored brandy. We bought a small bottle for our hostess, gathered our
things and headed out of Merida for Campeche.
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The Church of Guadalupe a couple of blocks from our home in Campeche.
It was here where we met the landlord & were directed to our lodging.
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Campeche is a walled city on the Gulf coast. Within the original city walls the
two story buildings are brightly painted in yellows, blues, oranges & red
hues. It is very beautiful. The main square has a gazebo surrounded by Ceiba trees,
which offer much-needed shade from the powerful sunshine.
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| Shana in Campeche's main square completely decorated with religious & secular Christmas decorations |
The humidity in Campeche is very
high (over 90%) with intense sunshine, but luckily there was a constant breeze while we walked around the small
city center from one guard station to the next. There were two hundred years of
pirate invasions before Spain gave the money to build the protective city walls
& guard stations. The walls also divided the people at the time, white
Spaniards lived inside the walls while the Mayan & other slaves were out.
Now most of the beautiful buildings house shops and government offices.
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| Great kitchen, great cooks |
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| Our garden out back, a lovely place to enjoy a cup of coffee |
Our
lodging in Campeche was delightful, a darling colonial townhouse with a nice
garden area only eight easily-walked blocks from the main plaza.
Our first
morning while Shana got ready Keith & I walked to the park and were quickly
mobbed by middle-school-aged students preparing for their holiday presentation
to the parents. They invited us to attend, which we did the following evening. The
program was quite horrible really.
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| Can you find the two gringos in this picture?! |
Across
from that park was a preschool where we watched four Superheroes entertain the
3, 4 & 5 year olds for their Christmas party.
It was adorable. The students
loved Spiderman, Captain America, Elsa & some princess named Ana, which we
couldn’t place. They had a guess-that-tune contest, a dancing lesson &, of
course, broke the piñata. One of the teachers shared a piece of candy with each
of us after helping the little ones gather their individual stashes in little
Santa bags. Each child wore a red shirt & Santa hat, but I think we three
had more fun than any child there, we giggled the whole time. It’s really fun
being a kid in Mexico.
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| What fun we all had at this party with a DJ, super heroes, pinata & darling, well-behaved little ones! |
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Campeche's Catheral
They were setting up for a big weekend cultural program. |
Our
last meal in Campeche was enjoyed on the second-story patio overlooking the
main square.
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| Shana with her pirate friend |
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| In Campeche, Yucatan |
Today,
Thursday, we left our nice lodging in Campeche for the two-hour drive to
Izamal, a small town with an enormous ex-convent/church that Pope John Paul II
visited during the 1990s. We will attend a light show tonight & visit the
church & small Mayan ruins tomorrow. We are staying in a jungle paradise
with our own little house. It was so quiet when we arrived that we napped after
a simple picnic lunch.
We
have two more full days before we put Shana on the plane at the Cancun airport.
At that point we will turn in our rental car & become backpackers on the
bus.
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