The walk from J-P’s place to the bus station was an easy 5 minutes and we were soon on the first-class bus for the 2.25hr journey to Campeche, another Pueblos Magicos town, on the Gulf of Mexico.  The bus station was quite a way out of town, but the taxi was cheap, about £2.  The Hotel de Paseo Campeche was OK, our room was a proper suite with a separate sitting/dining area with small kitchenette and separate bedroom. It was a bit tired and in need of a refurb but it wasn’t expensive and had a lovely view through the balcony doors across to a park with a huge outdoor event area.  We were less than 10 minutes walk to the Malecon (promenade) and about 10 minutes to the centre of the old walled town.

Colin and Jan had sent us photographs of a couple of places they had eaten in a couple of years ago and we found a restaurant with a large balcony with views across to The Cathedral……superb.  The food was also excellent and we finally got the owner to alter his margarita recipe to our liking – extra liquor and no sugar syrup……..yes, who on this planet puts sugar syrup into a margarita?…..his barman.  Anyway, he finally got the message and suddenly we were back in business.  We ate there the second night too and Cheryl had the camerones al coco (shrimp dipped in dry coconut and flash fried).  Oh my word, they were just delicious.

Our days were spent exploring the town and the Malecon which is so long that we didn’t manage to walk from one end to the other.  The pelicans offered plenty of entertainment as we just enjoyed the sea, the breeze and the walking.  One evening was a bit windy so we ate at a different place and wished we hadn’t but you can’t win ‘em all.  Cheryl also turned her ankle as she came out of the loo.  The waiter was lightning quick to help and bring a bag of ice to help reduce the swelling.  Next day we did something that we very rarely do, a touristy city tour in a strange little trolley bus.  It was mainly due to Cheryl’s ankle being tender and the tour was excellent and meant we could see many of the places we wanted to without too much walking.

We also decided to get some laundry done which, in theory, should have been straight forward.  Not so, as we hadn’t factored in that our 3 day stay included a Sunday when the laundry was closed.  We had no choice on but to pay extra for an express wash which was to be collected Saturday.  Hardly express as it took until 7.30pm so we picked up the laundry en route to dinner.  Only when we got back to the hotel did we realise that they lost a pair of Cheryl’s trousers and a long sleeved t-shirt.  Not good, we were leaving early on Monday to travel on to Uxmal.  A few WhatsApp messages later and they had found the t-shirt which was delivered to our hotel but no sign of the trousers.  We travel light, and we are headed for a very cold climate in the mountains so losing these trousers was a disaster.  We kept in touch via WhatsApp, asking them to keep looking.   

On our final evening we decided to return to the restaurant with the fabulous view and both have the camerone al coco plus margaritas of course.  Despite the fact that they are just shrimp they are incredibly filling but then they were huge and you do get 5.  Restaurant boss was so pleased to see us again he gave us a free margarita each which probably wasn’t a good idea but then it would have hurt his feelings if we said no.

Did we mention logistics have been a bit tricky?  We needed to book the special train journey in the mountains we had planned in a few weeks time which was to be the highlight of our trip.  Given the uncertainty over Covid possibly stopping things we had been reluctant to book it too early as it couldn’t be cancelled.  Despite being one of the top railway joorneys in the world (featured on Bill Nighy’s programmes) we’ve had to work hard on the research about the train as up to date information has been hard to find.  Eventually we worked out the limited winter schedule and what trains we were allowed to book as tourists.  Tickets were available online, we were going to splurge and go first class but there was no availability.  Business class was there so we selected the two journeys we needed and went to pay.  That’s when Cheryl had another tantrum as there was nowhere to input address details and so the card failed……AGAIN!!!!!!!     ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

Eventually, through pleading with the online chat facility, we were able to get the tickets reserved and an invoice emailed to us which we then had 5 days to pay in person using cash at a Banamex bank branch using the payment details provided.  OK it was a lifeline, but with our limited Spanish, our onward travel plans and the fact that all Mexican banks seem to have a mile long queue outside this was going to be difficult.

We loved Campeche and wished we had planned a longer stay.  We took the bus back to Merida to change bus to go to Uxmal, another ancient Mayan site.  When we got to Merida we stocked up with beer and stuff as the area we were going to stay in near the ruins was another tourist trap with limited options for eating and no local shops at all. The onward journey by second class bus meant a wait for around 2 hours and would take about 2 hours.  We decided to see what a taxi would cost, first guy said 800peso (about £30), the second guy 1000peso and then a third guy gave us a price of 600peso. (about £24).  We accepted and settled down for a comfortable drive of just over an hour to our next hotel.

Uxmal is quite a difficult archaeological site to visit.  You have three options, an organised tour which is expensive and too rushed, or you stay in nearby towns and pay for a taxi, or you stay in the few overpriced resorts near to the entrance.  Cheryl picked up from reviews that a couple of the resorts are owned by the same company and that if you booked into the cheaper one, due to Covid they weren’t using it and there was a strong chance you would be upgraded to the more expensive one.  The gamble paid off and we received a message confirming the upgrade to the ‘posh place’ which charges £150/night.  We had a beautiful room overlooking the pool with a huge jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.

We had dinner in the expensive but very good restaurant and the margaritas were excellent.  A small tour group arrived and sat in the main restaurant area, and their guide set up a projector for his lecture.  We were actually sat outside eating on the terrace but we could hear every single word of the talk.  He was American, so he was very loud and, oh boy, was he so bloody boring!  It was all about the ‘Math’.  A lot of ancient civilisations used the same mathematical proportions when constructing their buildings, and there was a magic ratio of 1 to 1.68, blah blah, square root of two, blah blah, and on and on he went.  There was another couple on a table close to us and we all got the giggles as the serious lecture continued.  Eventually when the lecture ended the couple joined us for a chat and a few jokes about the dreary lecture. He was an 84-year-old American and his wife was Mexican, and we had a very interesting chat about their life in Mexico.

Our included breakfast next morning was an amazing feast and entrance to the site was a massive 2 minute walk from our room!  The site itself was excellent with hardly anybody around which is pretty much what we had read.  When we went to Chichen Itza we were queuing for the 8am opening along with the rest of Mexico.  Here, we sauntered across around 8.30 and walked straight in.  Serene, well preserved without being OTT and we left about 11am to cool off before coming back at around 3.30pm when the whole place was even quieter.  It was so peaceful, we saw more iguanas basking in the sun than tourists. We had 2 nights enjoying this very tranquil place before taking a taxi back to Merida Airport for our onward flight to Guadalajara. 

Meanwhile, staying in touch with the laundry the naughty trousers turned up and they said they would send them to our hotel.  We explained we had moved on and gave them the address in Guadalajara but we weren’t confident we would see them again.