Campeche

Morning began with an after breakfast walk on our own along the seaside promenade. It was good to get out and walk at pace, and the weather was gorgeous.

We set out with our tour leader toward the main plaza of old Campeche, but stopped briefly at a coffee shop that sells a drink made from Chaya. Sometimes billed as "Mayan spinach," the plant, which grows wild in this region, is supposed to be full of vitamins and antioxidants.

Unfortunately, it's rather tasteless, and is usually mixed with a fruit juice of some kind. Ours was mixed with pineapple, and it wasn't bad. But we only had a small taste, not a full order.

At the plaza we began a trolly tour of Campeche. We rode an open air bus, made up to look like an old trolly car, and listened to a pre-taped narration in both Spanish and English. It wasn't as bad as it sounds.

We saw several neighborhoods or "barrios" of the old walled city, and learned something about how they got their names. Campeche has been adding sculptures and monuments at a fast pace over the past decades.

We made only one stop, and a church that houses a "black Jesus" above its altar. Supposedly the ship that brought the sculpture from Spain survived a storm at sea, and it was chalked up as a miracle attributed to this piece.

Returning to the plaza, we paid a visit to the museum of Mayan antiquities. We had a local guide at the museum who did an OK job, but it was too much information to process.

The most important piece in their collection is a jade death mask that was quite extraordinary.

The local guide also took us to the top of the old city wall in a portion only accessible from within the museum. We were actually able to stand on top of the Gate of the Sea where the waterline used to be, just outside the wall. The water shore is now at least 100 yards farther out.

The included lunch today was at a seafood restaurant, and it was quite good!

After lunch, the group was released to free time. On our own, we visited a free cultural museum which was a house along the central plaza that had been restored and refurnished as it was in the 17th century.

It really would be a pleasant place to live, even today. We were surprised at how comfortably cool it was, even in the heat of the day and without air conditioning. The Spaniards knew how to build for the climate.

Briefly, we stuck our heads into the cathedral. Of all the cathedrals in the world, this is one of them. Nothing terribly distinctive.

Finally, we visited an arts and crafts cooperative that markets products created by local artisans. Some of the items were very interesting, but also very pricey. Other items were reasonably priced, but too awkward to bring home -- such as furniture.

By this time, the day was becoming hot, and we needed a siesta. We spent some time lounging beside the hotel pool.

We have noted as military presence at our hotel. Army trucks, some with machine guns mounted, have been manned and parked in both the front and back parking lots. Other soldiers walked the perimeter. Inside, officers in fatigues were everywhere, most with general's stars. Apparently, a conference between generals of the Mexican and the Guatemalan armies was taking place in our hotel. The Guatemalan border is less than 100 miles from here.

At 5 p.m. we met our tour leader for an optional walk to a free museum about pirates of the Caribbean -- not the movie ones, but the real ones.

The reason that Campeche was a walled city was because it was constantly attacked by pirates. Piracy was a military tool of European governments opposed to Spanish and Portuguese domination of the new world.

Governments such as France, England, and the Netherlands actually "licensed" pirates to harass Spanish shipping. They were mercenaries of the seas.

We watched a very nice sunset from the promenade, then we returned to the old city for a beer and a snack before returning to the hotel for the night.