Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico

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south by the Laguna de Términos, a large freshwater lake fed by several rivers. Between 1558 and 1717 Isla del Carmen was a pirate's lair from which buccaneers set out to raid the Spanish ports along the Gulf of Mexico. On the south-west tip of the 40km/25mi-long island lies Ciudad del Carmen (population: 100,000; fiesta: July 15th-31st, celebrating the expulsion of the pirates in 1717).

The town (its patron saint is the Virgin of Mount Carmel) was given its name by Alfonso Felipe de Andrade, the man responsible for driving out the pirates in 1717. Today Cuidad del Carmen boasts a thriving prawn fishing industry and has for some years been the major terminal for oil exports from the Gulf of Mexico. The cathedral of La Virgen del Carmen is noteworthy for its stained glass windows in particular. The small archaeological museum in the Liceo Carmelita is chiefly devoted to Mayan ceramics.