Campeche, Why Not?

Campeche, the other state in the Yucatan Peninsula, has been the sleeper highlight of my trip. Popular book guides such as Lonely Planet & Lets Go, provide next to no information of the state, only descriptions of Campeche City and a couple of their archeological sites. Take my advice, if you are in the area, give the city a couple of days.
Tell us more about Campeche
OK.
The trip started in Escarcega, I arrived at 11 in the morn, and according to my rules, I should of stayed, but I had been a week and a half without the road and it was calling me with a Willie Nelson twang, "Kyllleee, I want you're 3 cool wheels of steel on my black asphaulty face¨
I replied the only way the stallion and the R2 unit know how.

It was about 95 degrees, I took it for about an hour, but when you're brain starts to cook, you look for sings like iguanas giggling at you from the shade, and burros winking scandolously at the bike, to tell you it is time for a break, so I stopped at the first pueblo, and was attacked by their women.
Like this but imagine a little bike instead of a truck.


Everywhere ¨Tope¨

Tope is a rough translation for speed bump, it really means anything put in the road to slow you down. It is said that for every Mexican ran over, the people put up a tope, and a lot of people are ran over here. According to Mexican road engineers, the tope should not exist, but due to lack of police enforcement on the roads, the pueblo puts them up to slow traffic down, or do they? It is very suspicous how most topes have a store by them, or a whord of peddlers at their side. I welcome the tope (I say that now that I don´t have a car), anything that makes you slow down and look around is good.

The pueblo of Revolution, a pueblo ravished by the man migration north, has left mostly women to run the show. They mainly sell fruit to tope bycomers, including this new fruit guy
The nut of India

I spent a couple of hours there chatting them up, eating thier fruit, I was tempted to stay, but the dangers of so many woman and so little Kyle in a pueblo can lead to the famous Mexican machete lynching, so I broke a hundred hearts and departed. NOt before taking pics, and when I whip out the camera to mark the ocassion, everyone wanted a pic, even the horses, and then with the horses.

Revolucion

I didn´t make it to far after this, my destination was still another 20 miles away, and it started to rain. Luckily I was by a military checkpoint. After a couple of bad jokes, we were good friends, they spent 30 mins waving down cars trying to get me a ride, one dood eventually agreed.

Military Points
Up and down the coast, mainly routes going north, Mexican highways are littered with military stops, I see an average of one a day. They pick out cars and buses by random and search ém through. They are checking for drugs and illegal immigrants (yes Mexico has an illegal immigration problem as bad as the US), so I advise the reader to not transport those particular items ever in Mexico, they are not afraid to put foriegners in jail.

I'm back to my beloved Gulf Coast, in the sleepy seaside city of Champoton. Got their late and left early, so apart from this photo session the only other impression I got from the town is it´s nonstop heat.

Champoton

Coastline, goodbye sweaty Champoton, hello sweaty Campeche coast. Little pueblos have dug themselves into the rocky shores of Campeche, they all derserve a look around, I did this is in Sebyaplaya. It´s 6 in the morning on Sunday and the market is bustling, apart from buying fruit, I buy a liter of my beloved Chocmil con Platano (Chocalte Milk with Banana, ooooo). Every open market in Mexico will never fail to have a stand that sells chocolate milk with the option of bananas, the perfect boost for the biker.

Seybaplaya

Leaving Seybaplaya with the perfect banana chocolate milk mix in my stomach, I powered through to Campeche City, Campeche. This is an amazing place. Why is Mexico keeping this town a secret? (It doesn't have a beach, so I guess it's a hard sale)
I don´t care, it´s better without all the tourist anyway. If the reader never has the good fortune to see the city of Cordoba or Seville in Spain, go to Campeche, they are VERY similar in structure. From 1771 till the late 1800´s Campeche made major fortification efforts in the way of bulwarts strewn about the city, many connected by giant stone walls, almost all of these still exist today. The forts are now first class muesems, the walls make for excellent strolls, and the historic center they protect, a living tribute to 17th century Spain. Anothe neat detail is the lack of Mestizo people in the population, everone here has strong Mayan roots, it feels like these Spanish buildings fell onto their coast, and left the Spaniards behind. I stayed 2 days, could of stayed a lot more, spent most of my time walking the city and its malecon (seawall/boardwalk), the best one I´ve seen in Mexico and had the pleasure of being there on a Sunday night, when the town's best bingo players take the plaza.

Campeche

I did make a side trip to the ruins of Edzna that lie just south of Campeche. It is a little difficult to get there, you have to manage the largest market I´ve seen in Mexico, but once you find the right people, it´s a breeze, and worth it....

Edzná

Trucking North again, heading towards Merida, Yucatan, via the ruin heavy Ruta Puuc, but some pueblo hopping must be done first. Pochu, home of traditional baking, that is what the sign on the highway said, so I stopped to see what is up.

10km north of there puts me in a slightly bigger pueblo, Hecelchukan, where I caught the LAST day of their town fair. To experience the real Mexico, you have to attend a pueblo´s fair, a quinceaños, a batptism or a wedding, they are nonstop days of dancing, eating, drinking, and making friends, that's all me baby.

Hecechakan

Today I have done the impossible, I washed my clothes, by hand, like I do everyday, and somehow I still washed my wallet.

Merida Blog coming soon, I'm on the coast again in Telucha Puerto and should be in Cancun within the week.