Nearing Three Kings Day

Saturday, Jan. 4, 2014--Veracruz to Xalapa

It was nice to leave our outdated, noisy hotel this morning.  We've made a reservation at a different hotel for our last night in Veracruz on the 10th.  This morning, we walked to the bus station and used our pre-purchased tickets to head to Xalapa.  The trip took a little less than two hours and brought us up from the flat coastal lands into the mountainous hills.

Xalapa is beautiful.  I had heard it was a very nice town.  I had also heard that it rains a lot, which is the reason it is such a green city.  Fortunately, the sun was out today while all the green plants looked luscious everywhere we went.

A taxi brought us from the bus terminal on the outskirts of town to our hotel, Posada del Cafeto, in the center of the city.  Fortunately, the hotel is on a quiet side street.  And it is a beautiful old complex of buildings around courtyards.  Our room is at the back facing a tall wall covered with climbing plants and with tropical plants growing between the sidewalk and the wall.  The only disadvantages we have observed are 1) that the room is cooler than it is outside due to the thick walls and the fact that it is shaded from the sun, and 2) when neighbors checked in upstairs, we could hear noises from their room.

We walked to the center of town to explore it and to find something to eat.  It is a clean city with nice colonial buildings.  It's also lively.  Within one block there were three marimba players supported by other musicians entertaining the public.  Plaza Juarez, the main square in the city, is a multi-level park with fantastic views from the side of a mountain going out over the southern portion of the city.

Eventually, we settled on a restaurant that served giant sandwiches--about 25 cm which is 10 inches!  We should have just ordered one and shared it.  But we didn't realize the size until after we had placed our order.  Wes ordered a Cubano which was pork, yellow cheese, etc.  I got the Lomo Especial which was ham, pork in a spicy sauce, yellow cheese, white Mexican cheese, etc.  We shared them so that we each got half of both sandwiches.  We were so full that we didn't eat in the evening.

We spent much of the afternoon at the Museo de Anthropologia which is considered to be the second best anthropology museum (after the one in Mexico City) in the country.  It is a HUGE museum built cascading down the hillside with about seven large exhibition rooms covering mostly the statues and ceramics of the various ancient cultures of the Gulf of Mexico region.  It is truly a wonderful museum and has so many exhibits that is exhausting to try to see them all in one visit.

In the evening, we were back in town to watch the people.  Monday will be Three Kings Day, so families are out.  The parents are shopping for gifts for the magi to bring to the children tomorrow night.  And children are sitting on the laps of the magi to tell them what gifts they would like to receive and to have their photos taken.  Three Kings Day here is much like Christmas in the US.  Bakeries are selling the special cakes that are eaten (and have a doll of a baby Jesus hidden inside them).  People are preparing for the traditional meals of tamales, cake, and chocolate.  Everyone seems excited and happy.

We've only had since 11:00 a.m. to explore and enjoy Xalapa, but it has been plenty of time.  We can appreciate the atmosphere and the beauty of the city, and we have seen its main tourist sights.  We will head tomorrow to Puebla.