Speedbumps and sleeping at Campeche

Wedesday 19th and Thusday 20th of July

We had a very long drive from the archeological areas. The road was full of speed bumps, called “topes” in Mexico. These god forsaken obstacles are all over the place. Apparently, Mexico has a law permitting civilians to put “topes” in front of their house if they feel like it. Thy come in every size and color, some even seem disguised on purpose so you can’t see them until is too late. Add to the situation all the extra weight from luggage and stuff. The result, every time we passed through one of these the car’s bottom grinded excruciatingly every time. Multiply this by all the hundreds we’ve been through already, and that would start to explain the symphony of screeches and squeaks coming out of the rear suspension.

After a long day, Campeche seemed like a really good place. It’s a small and clean colonial town with friendly people and narrow streets at its downtown. We arrived at around 11pm without a place to sleep and not really in the mood for camping, especially after our experience in Tampico. We drove around and asked for hotels. We visited about 4 or 5 and all of them were full. Lastly, we settled to look at a hostel, like the kind you see around Europe for backpackers. We spot it a couple of times but we were uncertain to how clean or safe would one of those be. So far we were spending around $55 per night in each hotel we have stayed. Turns out this hostel, named the Monkey Hostel, was only 80 pesos a night (about $7.5) per person. It was clean, it had a laid back environment and it was filled of interesting people. You did have to share the room with 6 other people and the bathroom was also shared. They also had free internet, books, a shared space to socialize, a guitar (awesome idea!), table games, and a fantastic view... just check out the picture! It was perfectly located right on the main plaza with a great view of the park and the town chapel. Check out the video for a guided tour of the hostel by me, just click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy809Gjy5Os .