We walked along the waterfront and everyone was in party mood. People were just randomly dancing.
The way things work is that you purchase a seat beside the parade. We did this and then headed out for some tacos. By now it was about 7.30pm and we thought the parade mustn't be far away. We were wrong. It started at about 10pm!
Meanwhile, there was plenty of locals selling stuff to keep us entertained. Fairy floss was carried around on long sticks. There was plenty to eat - corn, pancakes, nuts and the usual revolting looking fake chips with chilli sauce on top. You could buy jewellery or shawls, all brought to your seat.
Just enjoying the crowds.
People wandered past in random costumes. They didn't seem to have anything to do with the parade!
Finally the parade started! The police and military formed the leading groups but this car wasn't a good example of their high-quality car fleet. The bonnet is chocked open with a water bottle, presumably to prevent it overheating!
The performers started to come past. Some were having a ball.
My camera was an attraction, although I don't know why cos their were thousands of phones recording everything. I got dragged out for photos a couple of times.
Some of the floats were incredible. Some looked like boats, trains or even buildings. Most people on the floats were really dressed up.
Many of the floats required so much power that they dragged these huge generators behind them!
This dragon was incredible. It even breathed fire!
Equally amazing was this Pegasus.
Many of the performers were still smiling, despite just having danced for kilometres.
We never did find out how far the parade had travelled but by the time it reached us, right near the end, many performers were hot, sweaty and losing enthusiasm. There were quite a few kids in the parade and some were asleep or being carried by parents by the time they reached us.
Not everyone was part of a group. There were random performers of all kinds.
This guy was really funny. Some people on floats were throwing freebies, like hats or t-shirts, into the crowd. This guy looked at me and made motions that he was going to throw this to me. He then opened it up and it was a huge pair of underpants!
When performers see a camera, they sometimes go all out. This girl didn't let the fact that I'm a middle-aged woman prevent her from giving her very exposed bum an extra-sexy wiggle for my camera!
This young girl was the same!
This float seemed to be promoting S&M?
There were some great costumes and dancing.
We got talking to people either side of us. They were all tourists from other parts of Mexico and some of them spoke English. John ended up sharing beers with one guy. Our new friend's brother-in-law was quite drunk but he was very funny. We aren't supposed to mingle with the performers but he did everything he could to get in on the action, particularly when it came to getting close to scantily-dressed women.
He had some moderate successs to start with......
The 18 month-old son of the family (this guy's nephew) started grizzling so this guy picked him up. He soon realised that not only was he was entertaining the boy but a bonus was that he could get closer to the women in the parade using the boy as an excuse. Amazingly, even though it was close to midnight by this stage, the boy had a ball. Early in the evening he had been clinging to his father - now he wouldn't leave his uncle's arms! The uncle got to pose next to heaps of women by using the boy. He even put the boy's hand on one woman's boob! The boy soon had a huge lipstick kiss mark on his cheek. It was so funny!
Groups dressed up as all sorts of things. These 'Greek' guys were lots of fun.
We staggered home at the wee hours of the morning. It was a good night!
We really enjoyed visiting the gorgeous old cafes they have here. They're like large cafeterias. They were built in the early 1800's but were largely renovated in the 1930's so they have cool decor. I didn't have my camera with me at the time so I've taken these photos from the internet.
Gorgeous old brass coffee machines lined the counter at the main cafe, De La Parroquia.
The cafe is reknown for the way it serves coffee. You order your coffee and only the coffee shot turns up in a glass. When you're ready, you tap the glass with your spoon and a waiter turns up with a kettle full of hot milk. He pours the milk into the glass from a great height, forming instant froth. It was great entertainment. I also loved the stunning tiled floor. Sorry for the poor photo quality!
This wasn't the only cafe like this but it was the best one.
We still struggled to find more info on Carnaval. From what we could learn, there was a parade on each day plus a concert at night. People queued up all day to get tickets for the concerts, but we have never heard of the local performers so we didn't bother.
There was plenty of music around the town, much of which wasn't particularly good but was played REALLY LOUD! One stage was only a short distance from our hotel and we almost had to put earplugs in during the day just so we could concentrate on things!
They had nice lights on the buildings near the stage though.
We spent most of our remaining time in Veracruz organising things.
So, looking back, we had skipped a few places near the Guatemalan border that we really wanted to see, plus spent days on buses, all to get to Carnaval then all we saw was one parade. Was it worth it? Probably not. But when we plan these things we can only take our best guesses as to how things will pan out. That's just the way it is sometimes.
While we were holed up in our hotel at Veracruz we worked out the next stage of our Mexican journey. We left Veracruz and caught a plane one hour north to a town called Tampico. I had trouble booking this flight online. It took longer to book the flight than to fly it! In Tampico we immediately caught a bus to Ciudad Valles. This is the least attractive city we've visited in Mexico so far. It was dirty and grungy and had all the appeal of a smelly sock, however it was the launching place for some pretty spectacular waterfalls and places of natural beauty. These places are all a fair distance from the town though so we either had to hire a car or take a tour. As we didn't know how to get to these remote places, we opted for a tour, even though they spoke no English.
The next day we joined two other couples and their three kids and headed off. Luckily for us, one couple spoke good English and were able to translate what the guide was saying for us. We were heading out to explore a waterfall for the day. (We also thought we were going to another place but it didn't eventuate. Oh well.)
We were equipped with life jackets (many Mexican can't swim so life jackets are compulsory, even for Aussies) and we all boarded a row boat. We all paddled, although the kids were more of a hindrance than a help. Much to our horror, the guide led everyone in fun songs the whole way. No enjoying the natural beauty in peace in Mexico! We had assumed that there would be few visitors here but, even though it was a weekday, there were heaps of people doing the same thing as us. When in Rome......
We paddled down the beautiful turquoise river. Small waterfalls ran in from the sides and we paddled under one. It was cold but fun.
The water has minerals in it that turns it this brilliant turquoise. Maidenhair ferns hung beautifully from boulders.
Our destination was this waterfall. To our disappointment, this was as close as we got to it.
On the way back we stopped at a place where we could swim inside a cave. There were lots of people there so John didn't swim but I thought I might as well give it a go. Everyone else was taking selfies in there so I thought I'd be silly and do the same thing! Seriously though, I felt stupid wearing a life jacket.
The cave was beautiful.
On the way back, we 'attacked' another boat and a water fight followed!
The smaller waterfalls were just as pretty as the large one.
There were other beautiful places to visit but we realised that without our own wheels they were quite hard to get to. We gave up and caught a bus onto the wonderful village of Xilitla. We loved it here!
As usual, the town square is headed up by the church. This one had a great set of bells on top.
This town is famous for one thing - Las Pozas. This is a huge garden that was built by an eccentric wealthy Englishman, named Edward James, in the 1940's. He used concrete to make all sorts of weird sculptures in the jungle. There's a heavy surrealist influence (he was a patron of Salvador Dali among others) so the effect is quite fantastical.
There were stairways that led to nowhere.
Some parts looked like a cross between Rivendell and Roman ruins.
There were beautiful waterfalls and pools you could swim in.
Church-type arches were a common theme.
A ramp to nowhere.
Thanks to the garden, much of the town has a surrealistic bent. There is a hotel built to look like many of the sculptures and many people were employed in the garden's construction or are employed there now as guides or security people.
We visited the museum and found it was full of sculptures by another of Edward James' prodigies. Again, the work was surrealistic.
The town itself was lovely, although very quiet. We were home in bed by 9.30 on Saturday night!
Our hotel was waaaaay down a steep road from the square. We got lots of exersise going back and forth.
There was the obligatory mural en-route.
Each day we saw this group of dancers. They seemed to be practicing for something but we never found out what.
Sunday is the big day here. The market happens in the morning. It was a fairly big market but even it was quiet, volume-wise, for Mexico.
At 1pm, the highlight of the week began - the dancing! Much to our surprise, the dancing here is completely different to every other place we've visited in Mexico. There wasn't any salsa to be seen. Instead, everyone stomped and stamped in a distinctive ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three rhythym to the lively part of the songs then just sort of muddled around in the quieter parts of the songs.
There was quite a range of dancing abilities in the crowd. There were old and young alike. Some people looked too old to walk but they could still dance! There was some amazing footwork going on by some of the better dancers.
Just as entertaining were the people in the crowds that gathered around. Sombreros are popular here!
There seems to be standard clothes here for the men. The cowboys wear cowboy boots, jeans, a flashy belt with a big buckle, a long-sleeved shirt and a sombrero. When they go out for a night on the town they wear cleaned boots (shoeshine guys are everywhere), jeans, a white long sleeved shirt and their best clean sombrero!
A huge mural on a wall beside the square showed the highlights of the town - the man and woman in traditional clothes (although we didn't see these here at all), a sculpture from Las Pozas in the background and the distinctive thumb-shaped mountain that we can see from out hotel room.
Each evening we looked for some local nightlife in the bars but they were almost empty. We watched on Sunday at lunchtime though as hoards of people poured through unmarked doors for a bit of a drink during the market. We wandered into a few in the early evening but they were emptying out and were very smoky. Then we spied an upstairs bar right on the square that was full of sombreros. Our biggest challenge was trying to work out how to get up there. We finally ventured up some stairs that looked like they were leading to someone's house and we found it. The locals welcomed us with open arms.
They only sold beer at the very basic bar, and I don't drink it, but someone was quick to point out that I could just buy something at the Oxxo (like a 7/11) downstairs. I found some sort of a vodka pre-mix and I was set!
We had a really fun time here. Everyone had a few drinks under their belts so trying to understand their slurred Spanish was next to impossible for us! This guy kept taking off his hat as a sign of respect to us, only he had terrible sweaty hat head underneath!
These three stooges sat in the corner and laughed at everything we said or did.
Up at the swish (ahem) bar, we talked to whoops - can't remember his name! on the left, who had spent 35 years in the US and spoke excellent English, Mario in the middle who was pretty plastered and Roy on the right. By 6pm they all went home! It was the best time we'd had with locals for ages.
The guy on the left is a rancher. He has about 100 acres of steep land and runs about 22 cattle plus some horses. If you look closely at the photo you'll see a couple of items on his belt and in his pocket. I've tried to zoom in on them but the photo's not clear.
On his belt is a pouch with a multi-purpose tool inside, but on the back of that pouch is a cattle ear tag! Hanging from his pocket is a keyring, which is the rowel end of a riding spur. Such a classic combination for a rancher!
Back at our hotel we met an American family of Mexican descent. They were here visiting family. We told them about a good restaurant we had visited and the guy asked if it was safe for them to walk there. If this town was any safer, everyone would be asleep! It's funny how even Mexicans born outside the country think things might be dangerous here.
We caught a bus the next day to a town called Jalpan. It was only a couple of hours drive along a decent road but it's the only time in Mexico I was scared - because the bus driver was falling asleep! I spent the last 20 minutes of the trip perched on the edge of my seat ready to jump up and wake him up!
Jalpan is famous for its mission church. There were a series of missions set up in this area in the 1700's and their churches are amazing. Check out the details on the front of this one.
In this photo a man is helping a disabled man to the church. The disabled man took perhaps four steps a minute. It was a long walk across that plaza. People here are so kind and caring.
We only stopped for a couple of hours here. We then got on the second of three buses for the day. Little did we know the treat we were in for. The road wound its way up then down through the most amazing scenery. We went from jungle to deciduous forests then ended up among dry and desolate yet spectacular hills. It was incredible!
The trip that we were told would take about 2.5 hours took over 4 hours but with views like these we didn't mind. We had to get off the bus at a crossroads and the driver made sure we got off at the right place. We were dropped outside a petrol station and luckily there was a local guy going to the same town as us so he got us onto the right bus. We had left at 9am and arrived at 5pm. We were happy to just stop for a while!
The town we had arrived at was called Bernal. We had come here to walk up the Pena de Bernal. It's either the third-largest or tenth-largest monolith in the world, depending on who you ask! Our room looked right at it.
At dinner that night, John's Don Julio 70 tequila came with a side drink of what we think was a combo of tamarind juice, tomato juice, salt and spices. Interesting and very nutritious!
The next day we got up early to climb the rock. You can't go right to the top without climbing gear but we could walk about 2/3 of the way. This place gets really crowded on weekends but we had it all to ourselves for the ascent.
At the highest point that we could walk to.
Going back down we passed a couple of people coming up but that was all. It was worth getting up early for.
The town itself has undergone a resurgence in popularity. It's only a few hours from Mexico City and closer to other large towns so a lot of people visit here on weekends. The beautiful old part of town has been renovated and the town is splashed with colour from bouganvilleas and jacaranda trees. There were some amazing cacti too!
It's strange the mix of things you get in a tourist town. There's the weird and the beautiful ....
We had another slog on two buses the next day but the buses are pretty comfortable and clean. Public transport in this country is amazing. Everyone gets around by bus and there are always taxis ready to take you elsewhere. We pulled into the terminal at one large town to change buses and there were 85 bus bays! Most of them had busses at them ready to head out to various destinations and dozens more buses were parked ready to go their bay at the right time. And next door was another entire terminal!
Cheers from the happy bus riders!
Heather and John
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