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June 27, 2021: Day Six

Today was my last normal work day.  The rest of my time until August 1 will be either straight-up, do nothing vacation or study.  This may sound dorky, but I am looking forward to the study time.  Francine has about ten days off between now and August 1, so she'll be working most days.

We went to the mercado San Sebastian near the apartment for some sopa de lima (Lime soup) which is touted as a thing to eat here, but was pretty much a better, home-made version of what's called Tortilla Soup in your average USA Mexican Restaurant.  It was quite good and remarkably filling with all those tortillas floating around.  We also went for coffee and flan afterwards, but we won't mention that.

New total map, adding in Campeche

Today, when work ended around 4, we hit the road.  At the suggestion of our AirBNB host, we took the bus to Campeche, about 2 1/2 hours away from Mérida.  We arrived here just around dinner time and our hotel desk person suggested a place for dinner.  Our hotel is adorable, 7 rooms with small cafe and a gift shop.  The restaurant we went to was very good, but a bottle of wine and two drinks later, it was the most expensive meal we've had here by far.  In Mérida, you can carry out wine left over in the bottle.  We found out in Campeche, you cannot.  So, we were required to drink the whole thing.  Again, all sacrifices made in the spirit of exploration.

Hotel Balam-ku, Campeche

Also different than Mérida, Campeche is corona Yellow.  The only noticeable difference so far is that masks are not required and the cantinas are open.  Most folks are still wearing masks.  If you don't know what a cantina is they are a little hard to describe.  Think if a disco and a mexican restaurant had a baby:  that's a cantina.  We considered going, but thought better of it with a work day tomorrow for Francine.  Maybe tomorrow.

Our Campeche hotel gets a 100 on Walkscore.  I've never seen that before.   Francine has a half day tomorrow, so we are looking forward to adventuring.  Its a nine minute walk to the mercado in one direction and a nine minute walk to the zócalo (center square/cathedral) in the other direction,  and a nine minute walk further on to the malecón (boardwalk, sort of thing...hard to explain) so tomorrow will probably not be a big step day.  However, the sidewalks are odd.  They are so tall (maybe 18" in places), that there are actually steps built into them.  They are also narrow (as are the streets). So, even on our shortish walk to dinner tonight there was a lot of up and down to avoid less able-bodied walkers and such.  Interestingly, in a place that's so remarkably flat, we go up and down quite a bit.  Here, I'm thinking that's going to be even more so.

Crazy Campeche sidewalks/step aerobics

And so ends the seventh day.

Steps:  4,762.

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