In Mexico with a Sick Wes

Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014--San Antonio to Veracruz

4:00 a.m. is way too early to have to get up for going to the airport.  After only 5 hours of sleep, I was still very tired this morning when the alarm went off.  Anyway, we rushed and were in the parking lot of the airport by 4:40.  We were checked in and at the gate by 5:05 for our 6:00 a.m. departure.  It helped that we got TSA Pre-Check status which allowed us to go into a special line, not have to remove anything (belt, shoes, computer, etc.), and sent us through an old-fashioned metal detector rather than a body scanner.  Normally, you have to pay for Pre-Check.  My guess is that TSA is allowing it for free for passengers who give their passport information in advance when buying their ticket in hopes that people will become spoiled and will be willing to pay for it later when they are told they have to pay for it to use that lane.

Wes is really too sick to be traveling.  He sounds miserable and looks miserable.  He had a fever and sweats all night last night.  He has equilibrium problems.  He sounds very congested.  But he was determined not to lose the value of his air ticket.  I'm trying to keep him from touching surfaces I have to touch, and I am washing my hands a lot.

The it was 73 degrees F (22 degrees C) when we arrived in Veracruz with clear skies.  While landing, we could see several now-topped volcanoes in the distance including the one just outside of Mexico City.  The flight from Houston only had about 17 passengers on a plane that would hold about 50.  That's the lowest passenger load rate I have encountered in a long time.  Going from San Antonio to Houston, every seat in a stretch 737 was full, even though it was 6:00 on New Year's Day.

The airport in Veracruz is smaller than the one in Corpus Christi.  It only has 6 gates, and it is built on one level which is somewhat awkward.  They can't use jetways, so they have constructed tented walkways (sides and top covered in white canvas and/or netting) which passengers enter as they get to the bottom of the roll-up stairway.  Even more awkward was the fact that no other planes could be boarding or letting passengers off as they walked us from one end of the terminal where we landed toward immigration and customs at the other end.  It only took a few minutes for one immigration officer to process all of us.  In fact, the luggage started arriving on the carousel just as everyone had finished.

The route the taxi took into town reminded me of the southern side of Nuevo Laredo because of the similar businesses, the wide boulevard, etc.  But as we got into town, things changed.  Veracruz has lots of colonial buildings in the center of town.  It was quiet with most businesses closed due to the holiday.  But there were some very nice buildings we were passing.

As expected, the Hotel Amparo is not very nice.  It's passable, but it reminds me of the lowest level of hotels I find to be acceptable. It has cable TV, decent beds, and is clean.  The room hasn't been remodeled for decades, though.  And it has something else that we didn't expect to find--a couple of mosquitoes flying around.

We ate lunch at a nearby restaurant named Cochinita de Oro that has been in business since 1940 and was full except for one small table by the door. Actually, we both had breakfast.  That's what almost everyone else was eating at 13:00 on this holiday.  I had chiliquiles (tortilla chips in a tomato salsa with herbs and topped with sliced onions and crumbly white Mexican cheese) and Wes had fried eggs with ranchero sauce (cooked tomatoes, onion, and spices).  Both came with coffee, orange juice, black beans, and fresh corn tortillas.

After that, we explored the waterfront seeing the port area, walking along the malecon (promenade), sitting at a waterfront bench watching people, seeing the only part of the old walls of Veracruz still standing, etc.  By the time we finished that, it was 15:30 and we were so tired from having gotten up so early.  We returned to the hotel where Wes rested due to his illness and I relaxed while trying to stay awake so that I can sleep better this evening.

We went back out around 18:30.  Wes wanted to find a supermarket to buy some cola.  He was disappointed to find they only had a diet version in a local store brand and not in Pepsi or Coca Cola.  But he bought a 3 liter bottle and will be trying to get rid of his disease by flooding his body!

The Xocolo, the main square just a couple of blocks from our hotel, is the center of night life in Veracruz.  It is surrounded by hotels with outdoor tables for drinking and/or dining.  Hawkers are selling toys and other items.  It is also known for its live Cuban-inspired music with accompanied dancing which takes place almost every night.  This evening, there were only musicians playing to the people at the tables and no dancing.  However, we were still tired and were only out until 20:00.  The dancing may be later in the evening.

Next to our hotel is a small taco restaurant.  We stopped there to have a light dinner of four tacos each--two cochinito pibil (marinated, roasted pork with marinated onions and peppers with a very tasty sauce) tacos and two mixed asado (pork and beef) tacos.  They were delicious, and the woman was so helpful.  She took our plates to the side and put the appropriate toppings on the tacos rather than leaving it to us to decide what might fit.  As she returned the plates, she said, "Mexicano!" meaning Mexican-style.

One other interesting thing we noticed today was a good idea by a man trying to make money on the malecon.  He was renting out small cars for children to ride.  However, his gimmick which was making it successful was that he had remote-controlled cars.  The dads got to operate the remote control to move the cars while the children got to enjoy the ride.  I bet he rents lots of cars that he wouldn't otherwise rent just because the dads want to play with that remote control to make the car move.