OR DON’T EVEN START ME OFF ABOUT THAT SHITHOLE.
Alert: This is pure moaning and I will cover the museums there and Edzna in my next post so as not to sully the good bits! The jade and historical sites are lovely. It’s just travelling at this time is so silly and hysterical and I forget that when I’m in Tulum, indeed I checked the travel for Other countries in my neck of the woods and was shocked at the new hysteria all over South America etc
leaving Tulum for my road trip.
Cleaned my lovely house and waved it a sad goodbye as I went with my new rucksack to the bus station. As is often the case in life it all started well and I had my pre-booked sea, numero uno just behind the driver, my favourite seat. Also, nobody was next to me so I could spread out my crapTop Tip: and generally have a lovely time. I had made a ham, tomato, onion and cheese baguette loaded with mayo, and at that point just a bottle of water for the trip. I had planned a lovely lunch in Merida and was going to have time to relax because, yet again I’d forgotten the hour time difference, and they wouldn’t change my ticket online at least. All was fine and dandy. I also had the forethought to download a new Netflix series as clearly ADO lie when they say they have WiFi. My new earphones shoved in I watched my foolishness for the duration. It was great because there was nothing to see out of the window, just the usual jungle-like stuff. With a normal break at Villdadanoid for their ridiculous “fumigation” of the bus and its luggage compartment. This, I should note is the only time I do actually put my stupid mask on. After the rest of the ride, I was keen to change my ticket to an earlier time but upon arrival, the young nasty ticket checker said no in uncertain terms NO! So I said I wanted to go to a restaurant for lunch and a beer. Mistake. As the words fell from my lips he snarled it was prohibited to drink alcohol before boarding. I thought nothing of it. It was clearly ludicrous passengers drink before and on these bus journeys and nothing has ever been said, but this little Nazi as I found out later had followed me to a small cafe where I had the forbidden nectar along with my salad and an iced coffee.
How to Kill the Mood Merida moron.
Top Tip: When faced with a miserable patch like this, stay strong it’s temporary. If you don’t have anything that you really want to see in a place just move on, it’s not worth your mental wellbeing to force a stay. On my Easter timetable, I was somewhat buggered and I should have checked the Campeche website and would at least have known that Easter was not going to be a lovely bright festival.
Returning back to board the bus the guy pounced on me saying he’s seen me drink a beer and I was not to be allowed on the bus. A lot of vicious repartee was to be had and his supervisor came up. I was nearly crying and saying I just thought they meant not to be taken to the bus. I had an iced coffee in my hand and yet even though his supervisor said to leave it he insisted that I buy a hot coffee. It was a hideous nightmare and very indicative of the power that’s gone to small dicked men the world over. I saw him give a little dance after, he was so happy to have ruined my day and totally freaked me out. Needless to say I was so shaken it has set me back to when I just got out of the UK.
Anyhow, I arrived in Campeche subdued but in high hopes, it was a green zone! It would be free and easy. Wrong. They are so anal and dour here you’d think that the Gestapo was round the corner.
The light in my hotel bedroom is terrible. I am very sensitive to lighting and immediately became very depressed I went out and asked for that bloody beer in a street of bars and restaurants, I know dear reader that beer had been my downfall all day, but no, I had to eat as well. So I had a shit load of guacamole and a beer in the howling wind outside. I tried thinking it looked pretty but my eyes were smarting so with the hurricane alley effect and the napkins kept flying off the table that I gave up. Trying to be positive I took a quick stroll along the promenade just to discover I really hated the whole fucking windy anal prohibition city. I had been expecting Easter parades and all sorts but just got a fucking intimidating atmosphere.
The Town with no Easter.
Here’s the thing. I was right next to their Cathedral and there were plenty of churches but you would never have realised it was Easter Sunday. Now Easter is a very important festival for me and I thought that there would be great pomp and ceremony and the streets decorated, but no, absolutely nada. They had written it out of history it would seem. Maybe they used this fake plague as a justification to slowly erase religion. I’m not specifically religious but do believe in goodness and kindness for all across the world whatever faith you are. I also enjoy ceremony and time to ponder great events and their meaning. What a huge disappointment this was to me See eggs post from last year
Just look at my Cartagena post to see the only other place I disliked so intently
I’m battling on and going with a collectivo to Edzna that wasn’t even on my list before after that it’s Palenque. (If I haven’t been blacklisted for being an alcoholic old bat)
The reason I’m on a downer again is I also had a bank drama here. It was one step too far I nearly threw a terrible fit when two times the machine went weird on me. The first time it kept my card for five minutes but the young helpers said that sometimes happens but thought it best that I try another machine when finally it released my card. Mistake. This time the machine went completely down and had computer warnings come up on the screen and a curser suddenly appeared. Things became very dramatic as we all pushed buttons desperately to no avail. I demanded she called for someone to open the fucking machine because we had heard it counting the cash. I got more hysterical when they said they didn’t know how long until the guy came from wherever (probably having a wank over some porn somewhere) and that I should call my bank and cancel the card. OOOOH. I got very cross then and demanded they send for the guy immediately because it was the bank’s fault and I wasn’t going to fuck up my trip by being without a card for at least a week and pay a fortune for the long phone call to London that would have to be made. Hell no THEY had to fix this. I can only think that I had pressed the wrong account type as they had a list at this bank, this still doesn’t account for the whole machine going down ffs
I must say, apart from the museums and my trip on a collectivo to Edzna, I spent most of my time feeling totally pissed off. My room was depressing and I had bad food and only when I discovered a coffee bar that was like a book library did I cheer up a bit. They were also the ones who made me a delicious sandwich for my departure the following day
I hate Campeche. It’s smelly too. It all looks so pristine but from time to time a drain will stink just like its rotten soul. I don’t know if it was just it’s a rather conservative town or what, but it left me cold and rarely have I been so happy to leave a place, and my much awaited Palenque would be my next stop. I’m getting ahead of myself, coming next is the art stuff there!
Old Bird Travels Solo! 