Return to Veracruz and Traveling Home

Friday, Jan. 10, 2014--Cordoba to Veracruz

My stuffy nose, irritated ear, and runny eye problem has progressed..  I'm not sure if it is the same thing that Wes had when we departed (We've been very careful trying not to spread his germs to me and I never had a sore throat or fever like he had), whether it is a bug I picked up along the way, whether it is allergies, or whether it is the beginning of the return of a sinus infection that I have gotten 3 times previously at about 7-year intervals.  Anyway, it is good it began at the end of our trip.  I am tolerating the symptoms well enough.
Because we were already familiar with Veracruz, we didn't schedule our bus to depart until 10:30.  That gave us time to go back to the zocalo in Cordoba and enjoy the morning sunshine while watching people.  Then we walked to the bus station with our luggage.  It is a short 2-hour trip between the two cities, but there is some nice scenery in the mountains.

We had reserved a room at the Hotel Nu behind the bus station before leaving Veracruz, so we only had to walk around the block when we arrived.  It is the best hotel (but not the most expensive) where we have stayed on this trip.  It is modern, quiet, has excellent bedding, has a flat panel TV with lots of international channels, has a swimming pool, etc.

After checking in, we walked to Costco, and I bought two 1-liter bottles of tequila--one that is a Kirkland brand and one that is a Herradura  brand.  The Kirkland brand is probably the best, since is it an anejo tequila.  But both bottles cost about $17 each including taxes.  The bottles have a deposit, so each would be a little cheaper for those who live there and return the empties.  We ate lunch while at Costco.

We rested a while after returning to the hotel.  Then we walked to the center of town for a last night in Veracruz.  We checked on the small square where there had been an orchestra and dancing before.  The tables were set up as if it would happen, but there was no band.  When we got to the zocalo, however, the bandstand in the center of the square had a large band on it, and people were arriving to sit in chairs that had been set up around a large dance area.  They weren't ready yet, so we walked to the malacon, the seaside promenade and walked watching the people there.

Back at the zocalo, the band was playing and people were dancing.  There were two couples who were especially good.  The younger one had a woman in a short skirt, super-high heals, and wearing a fedora on her head dancing with her partner.  Their moves were well-practiced and precise while also being a bit quicker than those of the older couples.  The other good couple was an older one.  The woman wore a floor-length, lacy, blue dress and the man wore a double-breasted suit.  Their movements were slower and more graceful looking.  With both couples, their feet were in perfect position between partners at all times.

Being hungry and knowing that we had to be up early tomorrow, we headed back toward the hotel looking for a place to eat.  On the way, however, we came across another stage in the center of the wide median on our street where entertainment was about to start.  There was a TV camera with projection onto a large screen.  A couple of radio (or maybe TV) personalities were serving as masters of ceremony for it.  The performers were all students (from very young children to quite old adults) of a dance studio there in town.  They performed dances of various kinds--rumbas in Cuban-style costumes, tangos in black and red outfits, Mexican folk dances in fluffy ribboned dresses for the women and mariachi-style costumes for the men, Hawaiian dances in grass skirts, etc.  We were hoping to see the Aztec dance.  The men had body paintings and wore short, beaded skirts over white underwear (with one having a feathered headdress), and the women wore similar skimpy wear with black under the hanging beads.  Unfortunately, by 21:00, they still were not performing, so we left.

We just stopped at a street stall and ate a quick torta for dinner.  Wes got a chicken one, and my filling was called red enchilada.  They were okay, but the quality wasn't the best.

Back at the room, we rushed to get packed and ready for bed. We had scheduled a taxi to pick us up at 4:30.

Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014--Veracruz to San Antonio

We had already bathed and shaved the night before.  When the alarm went off at 4:00, we just rushed getting dressed and closing our suitcases.  However, the phone rang at 4:05 saying the taxi was already there.  We really went into overdrive at that point.  It got us to the airport before the counter was open, and we were so tired from lack of sleep.  Wes commented that it is too bad our best hotel had been on the last night when we couldn't sleep late and enjoy it.  It had been quiet, and the beds had felt so good!

Getting on the plane, there were already two people in our assigned seats, and they had boarding passes with the same seat numbers.  The plane was only about 1/2 full, so I called the attendant.  She told us to take two other seats.  Then people came on with one of those seats as their assignment.  The attendant found out that it was a sold-out flight and went into overdrive at that point.  Wes and I were surprised to hear that it was sold out, because we had commented as late as just before boarding how few people were at the gate and how they would probably lose money on the flight.  Apparently, many people had arrived to check in with only 30-45 minutes left before the flight.  The attendant handled the situation well.  She started talking on the radio to the gate and told them to hold all passengers until she got a seat count.  Then she only let them board the number of people that could fit in the empty seats.  My guess is that they bumped the passengers who checked in late (which I think is the appropriate procedure considering that we were supposed to all be there to check in 1 1/2 hours ahead of departure).  Wes and I were relieved that they were't following the alternative procedure of kicking us off because we got onto the plane after the others who had the same assigned seats.  (That would have been especially inappropriate since United assigns numbers for when you can board based on inward to outward seating--window seats boarding first, middle seats boarding next, and aisle seats boarding last.  Because I always choose an aisle seat, Wes had hung back to board with me.)

It was very cloudy most of the way to Houston as we followed the coast.  I did see the Mansfield cut in a break of the clouds.  And just for a few moments, I saw Corpus Christi (the university, Flour Bluff with the Naval Air Station, and Padre Island).  There was a nice rainbow that formed on the top of the solid clouds for a while.  It started as a hyperbola just at the edge of the clouds after a clearing.  Then it became a complete circle for a few minutes before disappearing.

We had a long 5-hour wait at the airport in Houston, probably because that gave us the cheapest tickets when we made our reservations.  Traveling to Mexico becomes much more expensive during the Christmas season.  Three other planes left for San Antonio before ours.  We ate lunch at Subway, explored the various terminals (Terminal D is now almost completely dead and Terminal A, which for many years has been for non-United (non-Continental) flights has very little traffic and now has some United flights.  We found The Fruitaria, a new restaurant by a San Antonio chef which is located in Terminal B.  And eventually, it was time to board our flight--another completely full one.

In San Antonio, our luggage had already arrived.  They called our names and we picked the bags up and caught the shuttle to the Employee's Parking lot to drive back home.

It was a good trip.  We liked where we went.  We felt that the timing per place was just right.  The food was delicious with plenty of variety.  The outdoor activities and performances were very numerous and entertaining.  The sun was out every day.  The temperatures outside were in the 70s (lower 20s celsius) most days and in the upper 60s (upper teens celsius) on the rest.  We only suffered in relation to hotel room temperatures; often they were cold day and night.

Spening Update:  We spent a total of $702.10 over 10 days (not including our airfares).  That's $70.21 per day for the both us and $35.11 per day each.