Day 19 - Wednesday, February 21, 2018. We were up at 5:50 am, flagged down the metro bus to Centro, walked to the CAME bus terminal to catch the 8 am ADO bus for the two-hour trip direct to Campeche.
Much of the Yucatan has a “Third World” feel to it. There is poverty, lots of abandoned and deteriorating buildings and houses in both rural and urban areas, an old infrastructure, and the plague of litter. But not Campeche; it is modern, clean, colorful, well maintained, and definitely “First World.”
After being dropped off at Campeche's modern ADO bus station, we took a taxi to the historico de centro (central historical area). We immediately noticed that in Campeche, stop signs were only a suggestion. Campeche has always been a rather prosperous town and plagued by pirates. I always thought that pirates just raided commercial ships, but apparently, they also raided seaside towns. The city built a wall around the original downtown To combat this. This wall is still there. Nestled inside the wall is a beautifully preserved historical and colorful commercial city center. Nicknamed the Rainbow City, Campeche’s walled-in city center is picturesque. Each smooth plaster-faced building in different pastel colors. The preserved old shops are low key with little signage, and the area is spotless. We zigzagged the entire square mile of the historical district which pleasantly lacked the crazy chaos of downtown Merida.