Cold Feet in a River of Time

Getting cold in Mexico?  
Ridiculous! And yet, as we stepped off the bus in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz state, that’s exactly what we felt: cold, damned cold in fact. In past years we’d chuckled a bit about how the Mexicans in other parts of the country often bundled up when the temperatures dropped just a few degrees into what we would call comfortable. But as we made our way to the handsome little hotel just off the main part of town, Posada Del Cafeto, we took stock of our respective wardrobes – light jackets, summer tops, quick dry pants, etc. and quickly realized that we might well have to put on every single thing we brought –including bathing suits - or spend the next several days shivering in the chilly mountain air.

Even our spacious tile-floored, two-room suite was an icebox. Air conditioning? Si. Central heating? Lo siento, no tenemos.  At night the temperatures dropped to the 30s – enough to make our teeth chatter like canastas. Walking to the bathroom was a bit like tiptoe-ing over blocks of ice. Nevertheless, Xalapa was a must see town and the gateway to several fascinating pueblos magicos nearby. We huddled over our tacos at The Best Taco Stand Ever – Tacos Chema – and dug in for our 4-night stay. Chema was recommended by the taxi driver who drove us into town from the bus station. He said it was a must go kind of place, and it was. Waiters dressed in crisp white aprons and wearing surgical masks took orders for tacos con chicken, two types of chorizo, and any number of other tasty meats whose names we couldn’t translate. Once delivered, customers walk back to the front of the little café to slather on white beans, spicy marinated vegetables, guacomole with jalapeno, etc. It was a race to see if we could consume the delicious tacos before they disintegrated on our plates. Either way, we won.

Eric's lips are blue in chilly Xalapa

Unlike virtually every Mexican town we’d visited in the past, Xalapa did not have the usual layout of a big central zocalo, church on one side, government buildings on the other that we had grown accustomed to. There were verdant green spaces bordering the central district and a beautiful park just a few blocks from the town center, but not really a space where large numbers of folks hung out doing their thing, other than Chema and a few coffee houses serving delicious Xalapa brews.

But there was a museum and what a museum it was! We wanted to see it as a way to prep ourselves for our visit to El Tajin, an archeological site further north near Papantla. We were intrigued by the history of the rather mysterious Olmecs and wanted to learn as much as we could about the evolution of that culture as well as the rise and expansion of the Totonac and Huastaco  and other Gulf Coast peoples who were the founders of El Tajin.

The ultramodern layout is constructed like a canyon slicing down into layers of time with side tunnels that open up into rooms filled with artwork, both large and small that clearly define the different cultures that rose and fell from about 1500 BC up to the apotheosis of the Spanish conquistadors of the early 16^th century who were believed to be returning gods. Adding to the feel of tumbling down a cascade of living history are outdoor areas adjoined each cultural period that exhibited statuary as well as the indigenous flora of the primordial jungle.

Counterintuitive as it may seem, the “top” of the museum is not the most recent history; it is the most ancient. The first things you encounter are the famous Olmec heads that glare regally and disdainfully at us lowly visitors. These people, originating in the southeastern part of Veracruz state at the site Tenochtitlan or San Lorenzo, were apparently the first Mesoamerican “super” culture numbering tens or hundreds of thousands of souls. As such, the Olmecs are considered Mexico’s “mother” culture. The most significant finds so far are the formidable Olmec heads. We discovered that, unless you see them together, it is hard to appreciate the individuality of each head. They are all likely representations of rulers from various time periods that are clearly distinct. The faces show heavy scowls and prominent parted lips showing teeth. And unlike art from later evolving Mayan sites, each face captures unique emotions and human qualities.

Honoring mothers who died in childbirth

As you coast down, down, down the museum “river”, you see more examples of art, tools and pottery from the Gulf Coast peoples like the Totonacs and Huastec who emerged, rose, and fell in epochs succeeding the Olmecs. All of these cultures clearly show individual differences in style but, at the same time, all seem to have a familiar humanity overlaid with a baffling alien-“ness”. It’s strange; the art is certainly not “primitive” in any way. Yet, it can’t be said to be “naturalistic” like, say, Greek statuary. Perhaps “representative” is the best word. You can see real human expressions – terror, pain, death, joy, laughter – but the figures seem to hold us at arms length. In one exhibit you see the statues of mothers who died in childbirth, considered heroic in these cultures, with their faces conveying the repose of death, yet they are cast in strange, totemic poses with highly detailed and ornamented dress. They are dignified but distant. In another exhibit you see figurine after figurine of delicate smiling “babyfaces” with odd, slightly inhuman bodies and limbs. Over there is a whimsical statue of an old man leaning on a cane.
Turn around and there is a fully cast statute of a victim literally being skinned alive, screaming in agony, it’s body encircled with hundreds of tiny scalpel-like incisions. How does one sympathize with such visions that are so powerful they can make you laugh out loud or give you a terminal case of the willies?

At the end of the day, we feel completely spent by the time travel through the museum. Fortunately Xalapa is beginning to warm up – just as we fork over pesos for jackets and sweaters!

On a final excursion day before leaving Xalapa, we book an English-speaking guide, Armando, and head up to the hinterlands to see a coffee plantation outside of town and a pueblo magico: Coatepec that is perched on a mountaintop nearby.

The coffee plantation is a wonder. We taste some truly outstanding coffee while Pepe, the owner and chief engineer, walks us through the coffee growth and production process. The requirements for good coffee, we learn, are complex and very technical. The plants themselves grow under the shade of banana groves and produce a fruit, the seed of which is the actual coffee bean. At present, the coffee production in Mexico is, unfortunately, declining due, in large part, to climate change and to a fungus that is killing off the indigenous coffee strains. Pepe shows us some of the new varieties of plants that are now being introduced that appear to be immune to the infestation.

For lunch, Armando takes us to Coatapec, which is a small, very tidy pueblo magico that has a healthy and varied artisanal trade. We sample locally made tacos dorados - cheesy thick tacos that truly melt in your mouth - and wash them down with freshly made jugo fruta.  We’re back in Xalapa in time for an afternoon rainstorm and decide that it’s high time we crank out a blog before we pack up and head north to Papantla and the prehistoric city of El Tajin.