Campeche

Campeche is the capital city of the Mexican state by the same name. The city was founded by the Spanish in the 1500’s on top of an existing Maya village, but they kept getting attacked by pirates and buccaneers (familiar names like Francis Drake, Henry Morgan and Jean Lafitte are just a few of the sea captains and privateers who attacked the city) so in the late 1600’s they built a wall to surround the city. Much of the original wall is still intact, and the rest has been restored.

Monkey bridge over the highway on the way to Campeche. Monkeys feel vulnerable on the ground, so unbridged highways restrict their movement.

Gate into the walled old city of Campeche.

Fountains dancing to music against the walls of Campeche.

The city is a contrast of modern and colonial architecture. The road we took leading into the city is lined with high end automobile sales centres, and high rises can been seen from the malecon along the sea shore, but step within the old walled city and you are surrounded by old colonial architecture.

Mural in the parking lot where we stayed. See the car in the lower right hand corner to give some scale to the painting.

We spent two nights set up in a secure parking lot just outside of the walled section of the city. We walked into the old city one night to enjoy dinner at a very nice restaurant, in part to celebrate 3 months on the road. Three months…if we do take a full two years for this trip, that meant that we were already 1/8 of the way through, and that statistic made us both feel a little sad, like it was going too quickly. That being said, when we think back to some of the things we saw early on in the trip, it seems like such a long time ago. I guess that is one of the beautiful things about a long road trip, what it does to space and time. The past blends with the present, and time both rushes by and stands still, albeit unnoticed, as the intensity of daily new experiences easily allow you to live fully engaged in the present moment….deep.