Click on a photo to enlarge it.
Monday was a driving day, south to Isla Aguada. We thought it was a free road until we got to two bridges where we
had to pay tolls - large tolls! We wished we'd driven the long way around. But, of course, it was too late.
However, the campground made up for it. A wonderful setting, right in front of a white sand beach that lay in front
of wonderful turquoise water and shaded by palm trees! Quite idyllic. We stayed for four nights.
It was warm but at least there was a breeze coming in from the sea and we spent most of the time sitting outside in
the shade and Kirsten got the hammock out.
On Tuesday, we braved the sun and walked into the small town. It took us quite a while to find the bakery and we had
to ask several times. It turned out to be a house, not a shop - no wonder we had difficulty finding it! But we got
bread fresh out of the oven and picked up a few other things from the stalls. Fortunately, our fridge was already
quite full, otherwise we would have had problems stocking up as there really isn't anything here - except the beach!
Peter and Irene (who we met in Villahermosa) arrived on Tuesday and on Wednesday it was Kirsten's turn to be
hairdresser and she cut Irene's fringe. On the same day, a large caravan arrived - about 20 motor homes and so we
were no longer alone in our idyllic spot! Peter and Irene only stayed for one night, but they had to wait an hour
for the caravan to get into the campground before they could drive out.
That afternoon, Kirsten fell asleep in the hammock whilst Helen got out both batteries, cleaned them and topped them
up and then topped up brake, oil and transmission fluid, radiator and washer bottle. Kirsten came around to help
just as Helen was finishing up by checking the air filter, which had other ideas and sent one of its springs flying
and catching Helen's right thumb nail in the process. Ouch! So, the maintenance check was over!
On Thursday, we worked on the computer and on Friday, we spent most of the morning cleaning Winnie, before driving
to Edzná ruins. We managed to get in free with our student cards and spent 45 minutes racing around and climbing the
Acropolis as that's all the time we had before they closed at 5pm.
Edzná is relatively small and doesn't get many visitors but it was inhabited between 600 BC and the 15th century AD.
What lead to its decline and gradual abandonment remains a mystery.
We met a German couple and then chatted to them outside the gates for about an hour. This meant it was getting dark
and we needed to find somewhere for the night. We were hoping to find a Pemex, but there wasn't one. So we ended up
driving the 28 miles into Campeche.
We don't like driving at night and certainly not in fairly big towns like Campeche. The traffic was heavy and the
speed bumps were everywhere, plus they were huge. We ended up scraping our back end several times!! We stopped at
a large supermarket to stock up and ask directions for the information centre where we would be able to park up for
the night. We finally parked up at 8-15pm.
On Saturday, we walked around Campeche, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. We wandered around the lovely, quaint
buildings, all painted in various colours. The botanical gardens were a bit of a joke though - not much bigger than
Winnie! (That's no joke!) We also took a look at the wall surrounding the colonial city and the 18th Century Casa
numero 6, which houses period furniture. Campeche certainly has charm.
That afternoon we took a bus to the Fuerte de San Miguel, a fort that houses a museum displaying objects from the
ancient Mayan sites of Calakmul and Edzná. There is also a good view of Campeche from the top.
We got back at 4-20pm and drove further north and found a Pemex for the night. On Sunday we drove to Kabah and Uxmal
ruins which are both Mayan sites. We parked up at Uxmal and paid to stay there for the night.
We spent about 1.5 hours walking around the ruins at Uxmal which were first excavated in 1929, about 1,400 years
after they were first built!! At 6-30pm we went to the "Sound and Light" show. The music was original - a mixture
of classical and Mayan and was quite good. Unfortunately, the light show wasn't very inspiring - just a few of the
buildings were lit up in various colours. We didn't pay the extra for headphones to hear the story of Uxmal in
English or German, but we got the gist of the story in Spanish. (Well, actually, we were sitting next to a group
of Germans who did have the headphones and they gave us the abridged version at the end!!)
Uxmal "Sound and Light" show.
