Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cinco de Mayo in Veracruz, Mexico (and how we both got here...)

So I think it is now out in the open...Ty and I decided I should fly to Veracruz from Houston, TX.  I didn't want him to go alone, but he assured me that our new friend Chip would be a lot of help and that I would probably cause more problems if I tagged along (being a girl in Northern Mexico, having an extra person on the bike, etc.)  Now that he is less than an hour away from Veracruz, I am confident that we have both made it through the most dangerous part of the trip.  I'm sure Ty will have several stories to post about his journey to Veracruz, but I will leave that up to him.  When I arrived in Mexico City, I had a 6 hour layover before boarding a 20 passenger propeller jet.  Did I mention that all of the other passengers were Mexican business men?  LOL  Atleast the two flight attendants on board were women.  It was a bumpy ride to say the least, but we made it safe and sound.  I managed to fanagle a cab at the airport to my hotel (which I was very glad I had reserved a room in advance...almost no one in Veracruz speaks English!).  The driver was very nice but drove like a bat out of hell, and he scared the cr*p out of me!  I arrived to a beautiful but rundown hotel located in the main square of Veracruz, called Hotel Imperial.  My room was a bit crummy to put it nicely, but I was so tired I slept like a baby anyway.  I woke up the next morning and made my way down to the lobby.  I starting speaking to the front desk woman (who actually knew a few phrases in English!) and between my tiny bit of Spanish and her tiny bit of English, I somehow talked her into giving me one of the nicest rooms in the hotel with a balcony overlooking the square for the same price as the other room...still not quite sure how I did that.  I had a lovely lunch of crab tortillas and corona and made friends with the hostess after a pigeon almost knocked both our heads off.  I made my way to the main pier, but it was so windy I decided to head back.  I decided that ice cream sounded good for dinner (excellent decision, might I add) and watched The Craft in Spanish (a bit washed out from the cute little mariachi band playing outside until all hours of the night) as I fell asleep in my beautiful room in the oldest hotel in Veracruz.
The next morning at 7 AM, Cinco de Mayo, I woke up to a marching band practicing for the parade in the main square.  I walked around the corner to Sandborns and stopped to enjoy some coffee and juice (best juice I have had in my life and served so beautifully...it also didn't hurt that it only cost about a dollar!). Veracruz was far busier today than yesterday due to the holiday.  A group of older men were sitting next to me on the patio, and, from what I could gather, they were talking politics and babies (one of the men's daughter was having a baby and they were all guessing whether it would be a boy or a girl).  They were so nice, and we actually made friends after a pigeon almost hit one of them in the head!  A lot of people must suffer pigeon-related injuries here...The pier was much nicer today, so I walked around the market for a while and saw some of the beautiful old buildings in the area.  I found Ty, Chip and myself a beautiful room in the hotel next door to the one I had been staying at (Imperial was booked for the night) and am waiting for the boys to get here so we can start the celebration!  Ty's side of the story to come I am sure...

 Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!! xoxo