Exploring East Coast

Cinco de mayo celebration here in Mexico afforded us another long week-end for touring. Hilaria, Alex and I were off to Papantla, Tecolutla, and El Tajin...all in the state of Veracruz. It also enabled me to learn quite a bit about an Indian group called the Totonacs. They have roots from the AD 100 to present day....they are know for their agricultural skills, especially growing vanilla. In fact, in June there is a whole festival dedicated to the vanilla crop and you can take tours of their plantations. Their language of Totonac is still spoken and taught in some of the schools. The town of Papantla is small and quaint with a couple of Catholic churches that lack the opulence I've previously seen in Mexico, more of a simple beauty.









I found the Papanteco people to be a warm, traditional and festive group. In the short time we were there they had a Danzon dance gathering Saturday night and native Totonac dancing and musicians on Sunday all in their Zocolo or park area.








Their claim to fame are the Volador preformers who launch themselves off a pole to the sound of flute music and suspend and descend upside down. Like the American version of bungee jumping but much more beautiful.








The trip to El Tajin was also an educational event. This type of archaeological area is unique in Mexico due to its design and it is quite impressive in size and condition of the structures....which total 15 different buildings. The largest is called Pyramid of the Niches...365 to be exact! One for each day of the year. In it's original state is was painted red and black and some of the color is still visible. It has undergone extensive restoration and was quite a site. Also, different from other areas is that you are not able to climb any of the large structures due to their delicate condition. Just touring around the area was inspirational.








Finally, we took the bus trip to Tecolutla for some fun in the sun....along with a few thousand of the local native people! It was like Waikiki beach, everyone was having fun and the beach vendors provided us with fruit flavored nieves (ice cream), shrimp cocktails, and several other types of fish snacks. Great way to relax and people watch.