The Walled City Campeche

A view from the walls

While we stayed in the city of Campeche we got to learn about its history and why they have parts of a giant wall around it. A long time ago in 1511 two men named Jeronimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero shipwrecked on the Yucatan Peninsula. They were taken in by a Mayan village. Guerrero married the chief's daughter and stayed there while Jeronimo got rescued by the conquistador Hernan Cortes. Campeche wasn't very populated, but natives that lived in the rest of the Yucatan Peninsula could rebel the occasional attack by Spaniards. Later in 1527 Francisco de Montejo tried to conquer the region, but the Amerindian defenses were too strong so he fled. Three years later he returned with his son, yet again the Ameridians were too strong. At last on his third attempt in 1537 he was successful and de Montejo established the cities San Francisco de Campeche in 1540 and Merida in 1542. 

A diagram of the city

Later when it was discovered that logwood trees that were near the city of Campeche could make a valuable red dye. Some Spaniards became wealthy by trading this dye. The dye was also tempting to the Caribbean pirates and thieves. The pirates and thieves attacked the city many times for the dye during the 17th century so the city's residents built a wall twenty six feet high around the whole city. The walls made a huge irregular hexagon an had four gates. Most of the wall still stands today including two of the gates. 

My brother. my dad and me on the walls

We stayed at a nice hotel in the city with a really cold pool. Most of our time there was spent wandering around looking for places to see. The second day we were there we went to a fancy priced breakfast, but the food was terrible. Two nights that we were walking around there was a light show at one of their many plazas. The third day we went to a fortress called Fuerte San Jose del Alto on a big hill overlooking the whole city and had a clear view of the ocean so it had a good vantage point. We also rented bikes for a couple of hours and road around the city's waterfront and got some really good fishes. 

Let's ride!

A view from the fort