Xalapa, Chachalacas, Veracruz

Xalapa, Chachalacas y Veracruz

Missy came to Querétaro to join us on our trip to the State of Veracruz to visit Katie and Martie. Colleen and Becca made the trek from Mexico City for the weekend of fun. We journeyed through the Great Salt Lake of Mexico to the city of Xalapa, and watched the landscape change drastically from dust storms to lush green.


There’s only one road into Xalapa and there was major construction, so we were stuck for at least 45 minutes up in the mountains.

Vendors took advantage of the traffic jam and we were offered cookies in the shape of pigs, pound cakes, lollipops and loose cigarettes.

We finally arrived in Xalapa and went to our friend Martie’s art opening, which was specially designed to attract the general public, who don’t usually make it to galleries. Martie and her assistant created artesanal paper and constructed a map of Xalapa with photos of some of the many, many taxi drivers who crawl through the streets.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant with live performance. We were initially told that they had no room, since we hadn’t made reservations. But then we were seated at the stage!



The dancers were incredible and the guitarist was mind-blowing. We discovered after the show that the dancers had started taking lessons about a year and a half ago. Check out this video of the show:


I don’t know what this means, but it made me think of my dad, the Manchurian expert:

Saturday morning we headed out to Coatepec, a beautiful colonial town that is now a nice suburb of Xalapa, for a papermaking workshop with Martie. It was held in the courtyard of a beautiful building with a signal tower.

We were told that there was a system of signal towers extending to the coast, so that when ships used to arrive in the port, people could head for the city of Veracruz with their coffee beans and other goods.

We each got to make several different kinds of paper using:
Cooked down local fibers
Recycled cotton fibers
And a version of Japanese thin paper using cooked down nopal (cactus)


Then we visited the nearby home of fellow Fulbrighters:

And had delicious paella and risotto at a nearby restaurant. The Spanish mainland influence was strong.


On Sunday we headed to the coast to enjoy seafood and walk along the beach in Chachalacas (which was recommended to us by our taxi driver the day before). The restaurants were built right up to the beach.

We had delicious fish and shrimp, and marveled at the toothless shark.

As we were serenaded by a local musician, who sang of being a pirate from Veracruz (Katie, our music expert, had requested that he sing “Veracruzano”).

The beach was very casual.

We walked for kms.

And sometimes had to avoid ATVs and dune buggies that were headed for the dunes.

As we drove to the port city of Veracruz, we saw lots of sugar cane and smelled the fields burning.

Veracruz the city was rocking. It is a major port that calls itself the oldest city in the Americas.

It has the feel of the Carribbean and was super lively on a Sunday night.

We saw dancers performing, and later musicians playing the complicated beats for the local danzon. The audience carefully stepped to the rhythm that was anything but straightforward. Katie informed us that first you count to 11 and then to 13, or something like that. It was beautiful to watch.

The music was interrupted (the musicians and dancers paused and patiently waited) by a parade that looked like Mardi Gras, yet it was a week before Palm Sunday. Katie and I asked some of the performers what the occasion was, and were informed that it was in honor of the president of the Carnaval committee.

The following morning we saw the Navy Band headed out for their Monday morning parade.

And then we went to breakfast at the landmark Gran Café de la Parroquia, where they clang a spoon against the glass as they bring the coffee to your table.

They have an incredible 1920’s coffee maker from Italy. I had eggs, beans and fried plantains to continue the Carribbean theme.