Letter from Mexico: The unexpected always makes more of an impact than the anticipated. Hence it's the Volkswagen Beetles that stand out on a first visit to Campeche City. A Unesco World Heritage site, the city, a mixture of colonial and modern architecture, is the capital of the Mexican state of the same name in the east of the country.
It's February and the sun shines fiercely out of an azure sky, once the wet morning mist has burned off, with temperatures in the low 30s. You expect that in Mexico.
There's a huge national flag flying from a 10m flagpole on the seafront road called The Embankment, which overlooks the Gulf of Mexico. You expect that show of patriotism. And the people - medium height, dark haired and eyed - are relaxed and friendly, just as expected.
But the Volksies? Every fifth car is a Beetle, and at first it seems incongruous. Perhaps the cars are in retirement, spending their last few years pottering happily around God's waiting room for autos. Then the locals explain the link: Mexico had the third largest Volkswagen production centre in the world, at Puebla, to the east of Mexico City, until 2003.
But it's human retirees, and people with time and money on their hands, that both the state government and the federal have in their sights.
Campeche is the location of a planned massive golf and holiday development, intended to generate tourist dollars from an influx of Spanish, American, British, German, Scandinavian and Irish visitors. The Campeche Golf and Marina Resort, on a huge tract of seaside land some 80km (50 miles) south of Campeche City, is the first shot in a campaign to extend the Mexican tourist market away from the traditional lure of Acapulco, on the western coast, and the newer high-rise haven of Cancun, to the north on the tip of Yucatan state. The launch of this splendid scheme was an all-out affair in mid-February, graced by no less a presence than El Presidente, Vicente Fox.
In scenes reminiscent of Apocalypse Now (or should that be Acapulco Nuevo?), the president and his security detail materialised in helicopters out of the blue, whirring over the long silvery beach beside the resort site. On the ground a white marquee had been set up to feed and water more than 200 international guests, developers, press people and property agents, as well as a brace of local dignitaries.
The guests were a safe distance from the helicopters as they landed, hurling vast amounts of grainy pale sand into the air, and terrifying the local birdlife.
After a straight-backed rendering of the Mexican national anthem by the locals present, President Fox gave a stirring address. "In 2000, we gained the opportunity for democracy, and are building a great nation, step by step."
He spoke about the good people of Campeche and the benefits that would accrue to them and all of Mexico from this $400 million (€336 million) project, which promises on completion 2,500 permanent jobs. This is excellent news for a state which has mostly relied on agriculture and is one of the poorer in a country where the average income is one-quarter of that to the north, in the USA.
Mr Fox has been in power since 2000, and in July Mexico votes in a general election that will mark his departure from centre stage - the head of state here can serve only one term.
The jury is less than enthusiastic about the performance of Fox, a tall angular figure sporting a fine moustache, with something of the look of the late Syrian leader Hafez Assad. It is generally held that Fox is a "decent stick", heart in the right place, but has failed to make thorough reforms and tackle the problems of corruption and social injustice that have bedevilled this country of over 100 million people.
As Enrique Krauze, editor of Letras Libres magazine, writes in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, he is something of a Mexican Lech Walesa figure, a champion of the people but ineffective in the corridors of power. And he left many of his countrymen less than impressed when he declared recently that, in the glorious new Estados Unidos Mexicanos, every home has a washing machine.
"Huh, a two-legged washing machine (la mujer de la casa)," snorted Hector, a journalist, and his colleagues, having a drink at one of the beautiful colonial haciendas in the centre of Campeche City.
But, although the lavadora claim might sound too much like a-chicken-in-every-pot politics, Mexico's economic indicators show some improvement, as Fox was at pains to point out to his international audience on the beach at Campeche.
There was about $19 billion foreign direct investment last year, gross domestic product grew by 3 per cent and tourism was a big booster, with 22 million visitors.
Whether this will be enough to ensure that his colleagues in PAN (Partido de Accion Nacional) can fend off the liberal left PRD (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica), or even the former party-of-god in Mexico, the PRI (Partido Revolutionario Institucional), is in question.
In Campeche City, the Beetles dart past red, white and green election posters, assuring passersby of the noble efforts that Alejandro Moreno or Roberto Lopez will put in on their behalf if chosen.
But if the big drive for tourism succeeds, it might be more the activities of John Bull, Paddy Gachfear and Klaus Baum, brandishing foreign currency, who could have more influence on whether they can trade-in for a newer, better model.