Day 3

After a quick breakfast we started our trek of the city. We went to several museums, bookstores and a preserved colonial house. We also walked to a neighborhood called San Roman to see the famous statue of the black Christ, the patron of Campeche for the past 500 years. The church and the statue are quite beautiful, but totally out of the tourist track. We were the only people there. From there, we walked to the malecon (waterfront board walk – actually paved with a bike path). They were setting up for this evening festival of the 3 kings (Jan. 6), which is a big deal in all of Latin America. There were 2 rows of tables already set up stretching several miles (thousands of tables) and they were putting table clothes on each one. Bo asked one of the people working on the set-up about the fiesta, and we found out that the start time is 6 pm, and that it’s called “Super Rosca de Reyes”. We didn’t know what it means, but later found out that it’s about a special bread served only on this day. We walked to a guidebook recommended place for lunch (La Pagoda)but the food was only fair (we should add that taste-wise it was no worse than our expensive dinner last night). Then we went to Maya archaeological museum in one of the fortifications (baluartes) and saw many artifacts from 1st century AD. We tried to walk the city wall but could not complete the circle because the wall abruptly ended. After a rest we set out to find a store that sold wine. After 30 minutes and following many suggested places we gave up and bough beer. After short rest, we set out looking for the mariscos restaurant recommended by our hotel staff (Las Palapas del Tio Fito). When we got to the waterfront, all the tables had loaves of special bread. Miles of bread. We were told that at &;30 the gobernador of the state will have a speech and after that, at about 8 pm they would start distributing the bread. We embarked on a walk to the restaurant which turned out to be 30 minutes. The seafood at Tio Fito was very fresh and good. It was difficult to get a taxi back because of the road closures. We had to wait about 30 min for a cab, which couldn’t even drop us off close to the Malecon. And when we got close we saw people with handfuls of bread. Some had whole loaves. When we got to the tables there was no bread in sight. But a girl took Bo’s hand and led her to a distribution point and she got a slice. The slices are big, 2” x 2” x 5” and filled with soft cheese. When Bo bit into her slice, she found a plastic baby Jesus. We started walking to the hotel but stopped for a brandy. Our pedometer showed we walked 12.2 miles today.