(Post 226 of 263)

Like in the rest of Mexico, Monday is the day that most touristy things are closed in Campeche. So I didn’t have big plans for my first day. I just wanted to get orientated, figure out a few things to do on Wednesday and Thursday, and also have some good food!

My hotel, H177, was in a prime location, just north of the Plaza Principal, Campeche’s main square, and right off of Calle 59, a pedestrian street lined with cafes, restaurants, and bars. On a map, it looked a bit far from everything, but once I was there, I couldn’t believe how my hotel was always just minutes away, so I could pop in and out during the day.

The first stop Monday was Origen, a cafe just around the corner. The menu was a bit egg-heavy, but I had no trouble putting together a delicious breakfast!

I ambled for a bit. Like other centro historicos in Mérida, the house are all stuck together and colourful.

While at Plaza Principal I found a tourist attraction that was open, a tram tour! I was told to come back a little while later as they were having trouble filling one. So I headed out to the malecón. While beautiful, I found it very difficult to access as you have to cross a four-lane avenue with only a few pedestrian crossings.

By the time I got back to Plaza Principal, there was a tram-load of people, so off we went. Our first stops were to travel through the ancient barrios of San Francisco, Guadalupe, and San Ramon. After the city was fortified, the mestizos and natives lived outside the fortifications in these barrios.

The tram tour was excellent. A problem with these open-air tours is often you can’t hear what is played over the loudspeaker, which was the case despite the audio quality being very good. But they also had an excellent English narration by a native English speaker, so between the Spanish and the English I was able to understand everything.

Next up, I needed ice cream by the water! I was told this is THE place for ice cream in Campeche, but while my cone was pretty good, I think that El Michoacano had better ice cream (I ended up there three or four times!).

Next up was to visit the Bazar Artesanal, where you buy directly from artisans, with the purpose being an earring restock!

The two butterflies are similar, but I like having one set as studs and the other as dangles. The sting rays are so cute. And ones with the blue gems are incredibly lightweight. I forget what kind of metal and gem they are, but I never thought I could have earrings like that that would not feel like I had rocks attached to my earlobes. The top two pairs were in my usual earring budget of $50 each, but the other two were a splurge at a total of $600! Remember, I live in pesos, folks, so those are pesos, not dollars! 😉

After a brief rest at the hotel, I headed for lunch at one of Campeche’s top restaurants, Maria Cocina Peninsular. A cold Pacifico really made me feel like I was back in Mazatlán!

I had to ask for picante at every restaurant I ate at. Most brought me commercial sauce, usually El Yucateco, but Maria’s had this gorgeous creamy homemade habanero sauce. I enjoyed it with my beans and totopos and asked for a topup to go with my lunch!

Lunch was some of the best coconut shrimp in my life, served with an incredible tomatillo marmalade that definitely needed a little heat to cut through all the sweetness. This was my first time being served potatoes (and roasted radishes!) with this dish rather than rice. I definitely prefer rice, but the salsa came to the rescue.

Their espresso did not disappoint.

I went back to my hotel for a bit. I had an excursion the next day for sure and maybe one on Wednesday, so I decided to try out Campeche Rappi to get some food to avoid paying the Oxxo markup. I was able to connect to a Chedraui and get a loaf of bread and some peanut butter, plus a few other items, for my picnics. I even remembered to order sandwich bags and a butter knife!

Night comes early in the tropics, so it was dark when I headed back out. There was a pirate show I was eager to catch, but I ended up not being able to see it as there were never enough people for it to be put on. Still, I enjoyed wandering around in the evenings, with the area either bustling or dead calm.

Well, I wandered so much and so late that I eventually did want dinner! To my surprise, I wanted pasta, something with shrimp. I had a look at menus as I walked up the pedestrian street and this restaurant had a shrimpy pasta on the menu.

My garlicky white wine shrimp fettuccine with feta was incredible. I even liked the spinach chips! I was a bit shocked to discover that my wine was nearly the cost of my dinner, though!

It was then time to head back, enjoy the amazing shower water pressure, and get an early night as I had to get up at 6:30 to be ready for a pickup at 8:00! It had been a great day and I was exhausted from all the sun and exercise, plus the rich food, so sleep came quickly, a sign of a day well lived.

(Post 225 of 263)

After 33 long months, I’m back out into the world seeing new sights! I even managed to take some time off for a proper vacation. Being pretty burnt (and financially tapped) out from another year of renos, then adding in that the pandemic is still raging outside of Yucatan, I decided I didn’t want to go to far or commit to too much. A quick jaunt two and half hours to the city of Campeche fit the bill.

Saturday, my house and cat sitter arrived so that I could leave without too much worry. Sunday, I took the 10:30 bus out of town.

We arrived in Campeche at about 1PM. It took a moment, but I finally got a cab to take me to my hotel in the centro historico.

I’m not going to get into a lot detail about the history of Campeche — there’s plenty of resources out there — but the city was founded by the Spaniards in 1540 and the amount of original colonial Spaniard walls and fortifications remaining in the city have made it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What is now the historic centre was fortified against pirates, with Spaniards living inside the walls and the natives outside in what are today the barrios of Guadalupe (whose church is 500 years old), San Francisco, and San Roman.

I checked into my hotel. I got a really good deal through booking.com, all those bookings from Europe still counting for something. The room is small and not much to look at, but it is clean and quiet, the bed is comfy by Mexican standards, and the shower water pressure is positively luxurious. At only $4,000 for four nights in a prime location, it’s a veritable bargain.

My room does not have windows to the street (intentional — I sleep better in interior rooms), so I did not realize that it had started to rain while I was unpacking. The streets were flooded and it was a nightmare to get around as the high narrow sidewalks were crowded and there were no bridges across the flooded streets.

I eventually made it into a drier area and started to wander. I just wanted food at this point, but couldn’t help but marvel that Campeche looks a lot like my first home in Mexico, Mazatlan. I immediately felt comfortable here.

I eventually made it to the main square where I spotted a tour agency. I figured I’d get food and then come back to ask about tours to local ruins. Well, luck would have it that a gal from the agency intercepted me as I crossed the park. We ended up gabbing for what must have been a full hour and I booked a tour for Tuesday all day. She also told me where to go for lunch, so my next stop was Santos Taquitos y otros milagritos (holy tacos and other little miracles, LOL!). OMG, this place was well named.

I started by ordering a horachata that was perfectly seasoned and not too sweet.

The highlight of the menu is 3 tacos for $130, each presenting an iconic dish of the area, all served on handmade tortillas. I ordered (top down):

1) Camarones al pastor — al pastor-style shrimp cooked just like the pork version with achiote

2) Camarones al coco — coconut shrimp with strawberry sauce (!)

3) Cochinita pibil, Campeche style, a pork dish I frequently eat in Merida. I was told that it would be different here, but I didn’t see a difference, other than not being excessively greasy.

They were so good I had to order another round! I switched to this dark beer that had chocolate in it! I’ve had several beers with espresso but never chocolate. I was amused that this brewery is about 10 minutes from my house in Merida!

Round two were, from left to right:

1) Shrimp ceviche (shrimp ‘cooked’ in lime juice)
2) Fried fish
3) Pan de cazon, which is a Yucatan staple that originated in Campeche. Cazon is dogfish, a type of shark. This was the only taco I wasn’t crazy about as it was a bit too fishy for my tastes. But at least I could say I finally tried this iconic dish!

I then wandered down to the malecon and an interesting park across from it, but was worried about the rain so I meandered my way back to my hotel.

The tour operator sent me information on evening shows, so I went back out after a nap to see if I could get a ticket for one of the shows. I discovered the hotel is around the corner from a wonderful pedestrian street full of restaurants and bars.

Despite it drizzling the show went on as scheduled. It was a light and sound extravaganza about the history of Campeche. Absolutely stunning. We started off having to climb up to the top of the fortification (up a steep drive and then down narrow steps) and were surprised by pirates along the way. Then, we went into one of the gated areas to watch what was essentially a pantomime. The story of Campeche played out over a loudspeaker with excellent sound quality — I could understand everything but for a few words I’d never heard before. The production values were stunning, including firing guns and scaring all the guests!

Heading back to a hotel, I popped into a quiet bar playing my kind of music (‘80s and ‘90s rock). The beer selection was disappointing, but a Victoria still hit the spot.

I ambled to the end of the pedestrian street and caught some Christmas sights at a market.

It was a very good first day in Campeche and I looked forward to getting properly orientated Monday morning.

(Post 224 of 263)

I’m still struggling with the inlay I had done in September. 🙁 After the the correction to the inlay, I felt better for a bit but then developed terrible sensitivity to temperature changes, especially cold, against the two back teeth on that side. The tooth didn’t hurt per se, I could chew on that side, but the sensitivity was enough to make my eyes water and affect my food choices.

What was confounding the issue is that I’d had a major modification made to my retainer at the same time as the correction, so who knew if my problem was with the inlay itself or with the fact that the retainer modification to move my jaw was making all my teeth ache (and giving me terrible headaches)?

I had a retainer-related appointment on Tuesday and debated whether to complain about the sensitivity. I really do not want a root canal! I thought, maybe I can tough this out one more month till my next appointment, to eliminate the retainer as the culprit, but then I remembered where I live now. So I told my dentist. He had x-rays done of the entire side of that mouth (enough x-rays that I got charged a “whopping” 150 pesos for them!) and everything looked good. He said, “There’s one last thing we’re going to try before I suggest a root canal.” He sent me home with this:

He explained that unlike other brands of tooth sensitivity toothpaste that just numb the teeth, this one actually creates a barrier that builds up and sticks over time. I brush twice a day and it’s been working a treat, no pain at all now!

And more happy news: I think the end of my orthodontic treatment is finally in sight!!! My jaw placement was much improved and I got the official okay to only wear my retainer at night and when home alone — I do not need to wear it when out and about in the world, even if I’m out all day! 🥳

(Post 223 of 263)

The highlights:

-Alma knows she’s home and I’m happy she’s here.

-I am enjoying being back in the kitchen.

-The kitchen scammer learned that he messed with the wrong woman.

(Post 222 of 263)

I must tell you about my wild tale of life in the modern world.

Today, I had to pick up my new phone today at Galerías and also an order for sausages and ham from The Sausage Lady at Slow Food market, just north of Gran Plaza.

The two places are about a 15-minute walk apart.

I thought I could go pick up my phone, stop at Costco for my meds (only that because this being Buen Fin weekend it would be a madhouse), and then get my food.

Well, I woke up at 5AM with a singular thought: What time does Galerías open? 11AM! And Slow Food closes at 12PM! There was no way in hell I could get my phone and then to Slow Food in a one-hour window. Going to the Apple store for who knows how long (nearly three hours, it turned out) holding a big bag of heavy frozen stuff was not an option. I really did not want to go to Slow Food, go home, and go back out to Galerías.

Then I remembered my cleaning fairy was going to be here today.

So I went to Slow Food at 10AM, got my order (and a few other things), and then called my shopping an Uber (Flash service)! In a few minutes a guy showed up on a motorcycle, took my package, and headed to my house. I was able to track his trip in the Uber app. When he arrived, the doorbell rang on my phone, so I was able to see him give the bag to my cleaning fairy! She had instructions to put the bag straight into my deep freezer, so knowing my shopping was safe, I was able to head to Galerías, by way of Costco’s pharmacy, without any concern.