Overcast weather put a damper on ocean time but it was a fun celebration with lunches on Friday and Saturday, then a beachside walk when the weather brightened up and a seafood dinner on Sunday. Restaurant El Timon Electric Blue cocktail and botanas Strawberry Daiquiri Giant sirloin burger with bacon jam - we split it! La Parilla del XIX Two rounds of great botanas came out today. Seafood stuffed fish They bought out fun hats and a surprise cheesecake! Windy and empty beach Back to El Timon Mixed seafood ceviche, shrimp cocktail and botanas

We have been buying produce and general shopping in our local neighbourhood markets rather than the bigger supermarket, and the quality and pricing are awesome. They are also not as busy even at premium times! 220 pesos/$16 CAD As a rough estimate, this fruit at Superstore would have been around $26. $2 CAD (approx $5/kilo) Boneless chicken breast is more than double per kilo at Superstore. Vegetables are inexpensive and you don't have to buy a big bag of something to be economical when it invariably goes off before you get through it!! 42 pesos/$3 ...

Progreso has pleasantly surprised us this time. On our brief visit in 2017, we found it to be "too quiet", reliant on cruise ship tourists and restaurants were limited due to 8pm closings along the malecon (embankment). It has clearly been impacted by Covid but today seems much more lively, and the malecon has been remodelled and pedestrianized. We are staying about 20 minutes east of downtown and have found most everything we need in our neighbourhood. The first couple of weeks we have rediscovered the downtown and fully explored our local neighbourhood, Ismael Garcia. The rental home is really unique in design and has pool but we have not been driven into its chilly waters yet. Beach and Malecon Around town Food

Dining in Campeche was quite a different experience. Many restaurants offer foods unique to the region without much of the variety you find in more touristic places. It took a few tries but we eventually found some favourites. Lechon (slow roasted pork) and panuchos (puffy tortillas) are two of the regional classics we enjoyed. Calle 59 is the place to find a bit of everything but probably later at night - we tended to go at lunchtime or early evening and many restaurants we closed. Calle 59 El Rincon - Beer and botanas Beets! Shrimp cocktail here is more brine than rich sweet tomato! Bodega 59, Chilena 59 - great bar food Luz de Luna, K'ntinflas, La Choperia - great local fare

We already knew that Campeche was going to be on the quieter side without an abundance of tourism but did not expect to find that on Christmas Day pretty much every restaurant in our neighbourhood would be closed leaving us wandering around like hungry street urchins! It was also grey and overcast! Luckily the one place we did find open served had decent food and friendly service. Our trusty Asian restaurant was also opening for evening service so all was not lost. Not even the church was open! Relleno negro tranca with guacamole Tacos de lechon Picking up takeout in the rain. By New Year, the temperature was back up to pleasant and although we didn't stay out till midnight we stayed out until dark and enjoyed the beautifully lit scenery. Gin con frutas rojas Pretty lights of Calle 59 Busy church Trying to order a late night pizza? New Years Day was completely silent! Delicious bowl of birria broth at El Borrego