Leaving for Mexico Tomorrow (New Year's Day)

Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013--San Antonio, TX

I've been packing this afternoon.  It's easier to do for a short trip.  Wes and I will be going on a 10-day trip to Mexico tomorrow morning:

3 Days in Veracruz  (Hotel Amparo--Not the best, but great reviews for location and value)
1 Day in Xalapa  (Posada del Cafeto)
4 Days in Puebla  (El Hotelito)
1 Day in Cordoba  (Hotel Palacio)
1 Day in Veracruz

These are places neither of us has visited before.  Veracruz has appealed to me since I saw the film Danzon in the early 1990s.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101658/ and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101658/reviews  and  http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/danzon/  (Trailer link on this last one)  Also, I've been interested in Veracruz because it is somewhat the Corpus Christi of Mexico--a smaller city on the Gulf of Mexico with a large port.

Puebla is an old colonial city.  It's only about 3 1/2 hours by bus away from Veracruz.  After researching where to go other than Veracruz, Puebla won out over Tampico because of being larger, being higher in altitude (an alternative to staying at the coast), and having more choices of things of interest to tourists.  Once we settled on those two cities, we realized by looking at the map that another advantage was that we could make a circular route by bus that would allow us to stop at Xalapa on the way and Cordoba on the way back--two smaller cities with enough to interest a tourist for at least a day.

Unfortunately, Wes arrived today with a severe cold.  At least it isn't the flu which is raging in Texas and in Corpus Christi in particular.  It consists only of a sore throat and nasal congestion (so far).  But it is bad enough that it has tired him to the point that he is drowsy today.  I'm glad he made the drive safely, because he sat in a chair nodding off for 2 hours after his arrival and before I convinced him to go to bed and sleep.  Anyway, it means that the first part of our trip will be affected by the way he feels.

All of our hotels should have free wifi, although one may have it only in their lobby.  Anyway, I will try to post regularly to let you know what we have been doing.