Veracruz

Jalpa, Roach Motel

The next morning we removed ourselves from our sleeping bag cocoon and without brushing our teeth (it was too filthy for that) packed our bags and fled.

We weaved our way through this fairly unattractive town before finding ourselves in a beautiful upscale neighborhood. Spying a lovely local market we stopped and picked up breakfast fair. For me, mango juice and a fresh made bread pudding square. While parked outside a local man introduced himself in perfect English. As a fellow rider he was interested in the bikes and our travels. We must´ve looked a sight as he offered to take us to his home so we could shower and brush our teeth! We thanked him for his kind offer but decided what kind of bikers would we be if we showered.

We left Jalapa glad to be free of parasites and looked forward to our ride.

The roads were still twisting but it was dry and bright out so we attacked the curves where only a few hours before we on the defensive.

Only an hour into the ride we descended into a semi-tropical world. Palms and flowering trees were flying past us as we made good time. Veracruz is filled with rivers as well and we crossed many of them. We finally had made our way to the tropics. The rest of the ride was uneventful but so much fun. You need a day like this after the way the last ride ended to reaffirm why you´re doing this.

We cruised into Veracruz just before lunch and wound our way through the city streets looking for the zocalo (city square) when we saw two familiar faces. It was the Swiss couple we met back in Zacatecas. They told us where they were staying and that the hotel had secured parking. That was enough for us.

This hotel was way upscale for us for at $35 a night was almost double what we´re used to paying. We felt like being pampered. I mean it did have a toilet seat. The seaside view wasn´t bad either.

Veracruz is a cool old town. Kind of like a grande dame who´s aging well but still past her prime. We spent all our time wandering the malecon and haunting the zocalo which is a lovely square ringed with palms, benches, restaurants and hawkers selling everything from Cuban cigars for $10 a box to Rolex´s for $5. What a deal!

Two days of relaxation was enough and we had to hit the road. Our next destination would be Palenque and it´s Mayan ruins.

Stay tuned, I´m getting caught up. Pictures are still coming, it´s just kind of hard to find the time to find internet cafe´s and type and then deal with pics.