A small city located on the Gulf of Mexico, Campeche looks like someone dumped a large bucket of rainbow sherbet over the town.In the central area, each building is painted a different color ranging from purple to yellow with everything in between.It makes for a very beautiful view as you wander the narrow, winding streets.
We stayed only one night so didn’t get to explore too much but I’d like to come back at some point when it’s cooler and see a bit more of the town.The main square, as with most, is surrounded by shops/restaurants on three sides and a church on the other.There is a stage in the middle of the main square where live music is performed and on the night we were there, a lot of people had gathered to listen and sample some of the cakes from the street vendors.With the lit up church and the light-draped trees, the main square is beautiful at night.
Just a few feet from the main square are some remains of the old fortress walls (they encircle much of the central area and in some spots you can walk along the top to get a better view of the city) and a series of fountains which were lit up in the evening and displaying different colors and water formations.
I didn’t get much sleep that night (see my review of the Monkey Hostel to find out why), so for the first time in a long time I sat up and watched the sun rise and the city come to life.I’d forgotten how peaceful a sunrise can be and enjoyed watching the color spread in the sky behind the cathedral.To further take advantage of the quiet (and cool) morning I decided to get my wandering in early and proceeded to get lost among the windy, pastel colored streets.
The buildings in the central area are beautiful.They each have something that makes them unique.Whether it’s the color, or the shape of the roofline, or the carvings over the doors and windows, or the texture of the walls, they each have something to show that it’s different from its neighbors.
There seems to be a lot of rehabilitation going on in the city which is nice to see.I came across one whole section of street which was several blocks long which was pretty much all under construction.I couldn’t tell if it was both external and internal but it was nice to see things being repaired.It fits with what I was told about the government paying to repaint the city with its unique colors each year.
