Originally from Boulder, Colorado, I have lived in Xalapa, Veracruz, for the last 27 years. Xalapa (hah-LAH-pah) is truly the place of my dreams. Nestled in lush coffee growing hills, with a micro climate averaging 68° F (20° C) year-round, it’s the capital of the Gulf of Mexico state of Veracruz.

Xalapa comes from the Nahuatl (Aztec) language meaning “springs (of water) in the sand.” Sometimes, you’ll see it spelled Jalapa because “X” has several sounds and the Spaniards spelled Jalapa the way they thought it should be. Pickled serrano chiles are known as jalapeños because Don Mario Jimenez began commercializing them from here.

Xalapa is also known as the “Athens of Veracruz” because of it’s strong cultural influences of three major universities, a multitude of preparatory and technical schools, insitutes, art galleries, folklore groups, outstanding anthropology and science museums, and the world renowned Xalapa Symphony Orchestra.

In the surrounding area, you’ll find many interesting villages to visit such as: Coatepec and Xico (lots of coffee and where the movie “Romancing the Stone” was shot); Naolinco, famous for its “standing river” (waterfall!); Las Vigas in the pine covered mountains with delicious jamón serrano (cured Spanish ham) and beautiful vistas; and Carrizal with it’s thermal baths and white water rafting. There are dozens of other small towns with unique attractions that would take a thick book to tell about.

I live right downtown in Xalapa, even though the traffic is often annoying in this active colonial city of over 600,000 inhabitants. I rarely use a car since the taxis only cost around a dollar! Why hassle finding a parking place when a taxi will drop you off right where you want to go? Then later, for a little more money, you can call a radio taxi to meet you at the door. And for you “walkaholics,” like me, who love to explore new sights and sounds on foot, Xalapa is the place to come, with it’s narrow and often very steep streets.

My jalapeña wife, Lourdes, who has put up with me for 25 years, will send me out to get a loaf of bread from the corner store with the admonishment “Now don’t be to long because I’m really hungry.” When I show up about an hour or so later, of course she’s furious, and I give her the lame excuse that I met ” Fulano, Mengano y Perengano“(“Joe, Dick and Harry”) that I just had to chat with.

Let me tell you, Xalapa is the place to make lasting friends where you can meet for a delicious cup of capuchino or Americano at the myriad of cafés and restaurants this city has to offer. My favorites are Café Chiquito (on Bravo street) or Café Latino (next to the main post office). You can tell by my ample girth that I love Mexican food–my favorite restaurants being Mi Nueva Banderilla (by Los Lagos); El Diamante (at El Callejon del Diamante) attended by owner Don Sergio with his delicious horchata de coco drink; La Casa de Mago (Morelos 46 around the corner from the hotel La Posada del Cafeto); and the fairly new La Cocina de la Abuela attended by Doña Blanca who makes fantastic mole.

For 25 years, I’ve owned and operated a photography and video business, Studio ROY, which has allowed me to become very closely involved with the community. Lately, I find that I’m taking the 1st communion pictures of children of parents of whom I took their 1st communion pictures! My weekends are always hectic, with bautizos (baptisms), primera comuniones (1st communions), quince años (debutant balls) and bodas (weddings). Many of these involve foreigeners — Canadians, Germans, Italians, Poles, etc. who have married Mexicans. Sometimes I find myself speaking three languages in one conversation.

If you’re sports oriented, Xalapa lends itself to mountain biking and hiking, with it’s paths through the coffee plantations. A 25 kilometer trip I love to take with my collie, Kaiser, is to the town of Pacho Viejo and Pacho Nuevo where my friend, Marisa, has her ex-hacienda. In the near future, I will write an article about her place, which is like stepping back 100 years in time.

Another trip I enjoy is to Rancho Viejo where George Vinaver, a Frenchman and ex-photographer has lived for over 30 years and grows delicious macadamia nuts. There are also several rainbow trout farms nearby where you can have a mouth watering trout cooked in aluminum foil on charcoal with a leaf of acuyo herb. It makes me hungry just thinking about it!

For the really adventuous types, you can go white water rafting down the Rio Pescados from Jalcomulco or the Rio Filabobos (near Misantla) with it’s recently discovered Totonac ruins There are a dozen or more tour companies anxious for you business and ready to help you have a wonderful time exploring these areas.

There are several tennis clubs (Club Britania is one) in Xalapa, an excellent horse riding academy, as well as excellent sports facilities at the Universidad Veracruzana.

If you’re looking for creative pastimes, the Patio Muñoz, almost in front of my studio, offers painting, sculpture, jarana (Mexican small guitar) and jarocho (Veracruz) dance classes. Xalapa has an active artist community, with painters like Fernando Vilchis and his very famous wife, Leticia Tarrago(her brother is a world famous violinist). With the excellent Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, probably one of the best in all the Americas, and the Universidad Veracruzana School of Music, the opportunities for studying a musical instrument are abundant. There are also many private classes for pottery and other crafts.

There are many fine hotels in the city.

I hope you can visit us soon so you can understand first hand why I love my adopted land so much. As president of the Xalapa Rotary Club, cordially invite any Rotarians to join us. Please feel free to contact me if you have specific questions (mention where you found out about me), and I’ll be glad to help out as much as I can.

The sights, sounds and smells of Christmas in Mexico are wondrous, and Xalapa is no exception. Sparkling lights, music, cohetes (fireworks) and hot chocolate mix together to fill your senses. All Saints Day (Todos Santos) in early November ushers in the Christmas season and from then on a torrent of events seem to happen at the same time. Wandering around the city, you’re bound to stumble upon a fiesta almost every day during the month of Diciembre. Following are some of the holiday traditions celebrated in Xalapa.

12 de Diciembre

December 12th marks the Día de Virgen Guadalupe, when Mexico’s revered Mother of Christ birthday is celebrated. In Xalapa long processions of pilgrims begin on December 10th with Coronas (crowns) from 3 to 6 feet tall made of bright, beautiful flowers lovely crafted by local artisans. Most of the processions are made by different sindicatos (unions) such as the electricians, taxi and bus drivers, city and state workers as well as barrios (neighborhoods), often causing hour long traffic jams as they slowly parade down the main streets singing songs of homage to the Virgin Mary on their way to the Capilla de Guadalupe in the barrio del Dique.

La Rama (The Branch)

A custom familiar mostly to the state of Veracruz, La Rama is a tradition that begins on the 16th and continues until the 23rd of December (along with the Posadas and Pastorelas: please see other Mexico Connect articles) and is usually done by youngsters from age 6 to 16 who take a branch from some tree or bush, adorn it with tinsel, ballons, Spanish moss, silver stars or bright ornaments and perhaps a farolito (paper lamp). They then go from house to house in the evening singing songs accompanied by a tamborine, bottle caps on a wire as rattles, or perhaps a guitar and the ubiquitous glass FANTA bottle as a maraca, all in hopes of receiving an aquinaldo (bonus) consisting of money or perhaps mandarin oranges, apples, sugar cane, toys, or candy.

The song begins:

Buena noches decimos señores,
la rama les viene a cantar;
les viene a cantar sus honores,
¡A ver qué le puede usted dar!

Good evening, we say, gentlefolk,
the branch comes to sing to you
it comes to sing with honor
to see what you can give us.

Then the verses continue:

Naranjas y limas
limas y limones
más linda es la Virgen
que tadas las flores.

Oranges and lemon
lemons and limes
the Virgin is prettier
than all the flowers.

En un portalito
de cal y arena
nació Jesucristo
por la Nochebuena.

In a small stable
made of lime and sand
Jesus Christ was born
on Christmas Eve.

A la media noche
un gallo cantó
y en su canto dijo
ya Cristo nació.

At midnight
a rooster sang
and in his song said
that Christ was born.

Arriba del cielo
está un portalito
por donde se asoma
el Niño chiquito.

Up in heaven
there’s a little stable
where he’s looking down
on the little boy (Jesus).

Zacatito verde
lleno de rocío
el que no se tape
se muere de frío.

Green grass
covered with dew
he who doesn’t cover up
will die of cold.

Denme mi aguinaldo
si me lo han de dar
la noche es muy corta
y tenemos que andar.

Give me my bonus
if you’re going to give it to me
the night is very short
and we have to go.

When the group has finished the verses, they wait a moment so that the owner of the house can open the door and gives them the much awaited aguinaldo. Once they’ve received it they sing the following farewell:

Ya se va la rama
Muy agradecida
Porque en esta casa
Fue bien recibida.

The branch is now leaving
very thankful
because at this house
it was well received.

However, if the owner doesn’t come out to give them the aguinaldo, the group sings:

Ya se va la rama
Muy desconsolada
Porque en esta casa
No le dieron nada.

The branch is now leaving
very sad
because in this house
they didn’t give it anything.

Or they may sing mischievously:

Ya se va la rama
Con patas de alambre
Porque en esta casa
Se mueren de hambre.

The branch is now leaving
with feet of wire
because in this house
the people are dying of hunger.

Since Xalapa is a university city, many of the music students get together and sing La Rama in wonderfully stylized versions through the downtown streets. Of course there are other verses in the different regions of the state of Veracruz. Many years ago the tradition of La Rama continued until January 6th when the Reyes Magos (Three Kings) arrived to see the newborn Christ, and of course leave gifts for well behaved children.

As with many traditions in Mexico, La Rama was an extension of Aztec rituals, in this case versúchil, a festival in December commemorating the rebirth of nature. The flower of the maguey (agave plant), which is quite large, was used instead of the branch which is used today. La Rama we know today began in the Sotavento area of Veracruz, especially in the beautiful riverside town of Tlacotalpan where a strong Afro-Caribbean flavor was added, then extended to the port city of Veracruz and then to Xalapa about 50 years ago, promoted by Doña Rafaela Murillo in its present version.

El Viejo (The Old Man)

Another wonderful tradition typical of this region is El Viejo started in 1875 in the Port of Veracruz as a social protest by workers, with clanking cans and loud drums. They asked for Christmas bonuses outside the home of a rich factory owner who was celebrating his Christmas Eve dinner. The tradition lost it’s political aspects and became more what it is today when a Korean who lived in Veracruz dressed up like the old man representing the old year in a Japanese almanac that he had. He would parade through the streets on the last day of the year followed by a little child representing the New Year, along with a noisy group playing guitars and güiros, banging pans or setting off cohetes and singing the following verses asking for their aguinaldo:

Una limosna
para este pobre viejo,
una limosna
para este pobre viejo,
que ha dejado hijos,
que ha dejado hijos,
para este año nuevo.

An alm
for this poor old man,
An alm
for this poor old man,
who has left children,
who has left children,
for this New Year.

Today the Old Man is usually accompanied by an Old Woman carrying a baby doll; the actors being generally university students dressed up with incredible masks and old clothes, followed by a group of students going from store to store in downtown Xalapa asking for their aguinaldos. It’s a fun tradition where you gladly give your loose pesos and tostones (50 centavo coin) to this happy crowd ushering in the New Year.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed a little of Xalapa’s Christmas. There are many more traditions I wish I could have written about in this article, but I’ll try my best to write more very soon from this wonderful corner of Veracruz. ¡Hasta pronto!

Known affectionately as “Juanote” (Big John) to the inhabitants of Xalapa, Juan Herrera Vasquez ( 1924-1989) was a unique personality who was a humble cargador (mover), just as his father was, yet he had a deep passion for classical music. His knowledge of composers and their works were astonishing – as well as his collection of over 300 records He would be the person you would inmediately look for to move that heavy and cumbersome dresser, table, or grand piano which no one else could handle.

My first encounter with Juanote was in September 1972, the third week after I arrived in Xalapa for the first time at Doña Alicia Hurtado de Mendoza’s home where I was living as a pupilo (student boarder). She had a very heavy safe which belonged to her late husband who was the paymaster for the Junta de Camino (Highway Department) in the 1930’s and 40’s, and his son wanted to take it to Chiapas to sell. A pickup truck was parked in the patio driveway with the truck bed next to the steps leading to the living room where the safe was kept. We were three young, healthy and strong bucks boarding with Doña Alicia, so we immediately volunteered to load the safe to show off our stuff.

Our first attempt to lift the safe was with grunts and near hernias without raising it an inch. We then began dragging it across the floor which brought a cry from Doña Alicia that we were scratching her lovely tile floor and that we should give up our efforts since Juanote would be along very soon. I was intrigued as to who this fellow might be and even more so when I opened the door for him ten minutes later.

A loud knocking from the bronze “hand” of the large wooden door announced his arrival. There he was standing in front of me, about 175 cm (5′ 10″) tall, yet seeming much taller. With a gigantic hat, his mecapal (leather forehead strap with rope) slung over his shoulder and wrapped around his waist, he asked if “Doña Alicia” was in. I answered him of course, then showed him to where she was waiting for him next to the safe. Juanote respectfully took off his hat, and greeted Doña Alicia in a gentlemanly manner. He then walked around the safe to “size it up”. He took off his mecapal, unwinding it from his wrist, and tied the ends of the rope to the legs of the safe. Asking us to help him to keep the safe from swaying, he adjusted the leather strap of the mecapal to his forehead, leaned slowly forward and lifted the safe about 10 inches off the floor. As we watched open mouthed in awe, Juanote slid his feet across the floor, carrying the safe without it swaying in the slightest. Reaching the hallway of the patio where Doña Alicia’s son’s pickup was parked, Juanole gently lowered the safe onto the truck-bed, and of course the pickup’s rear dropped completely down under the safe’s weight.

After that Juanote was the maximo to me.

He lived only a block away and I ran into him frequently, always returning a hearty “hello” as he was carrying a dresser, a large box, a big birthday cake, or whatever he had been asked to move. His most remarkable feat was to carry an upright piano by himself. At least a dozen people have told me they remember clearly Juanote’s exploits as an expert piano mover.

I remember many Friday evenings at the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra concerts where I would see Juanote arriving early, sitting very attentively in his accustomed seat, wearing his carefully ironed and mended shirt and pants, almost new huaraches (sandels with tire treads for soles), and, of course his huge hat. He could tell you the complete biography of any composer and a detailed description of their works, as well as provide a critique of what they had composed. Not only Bach, Beethoven and Brahms were familiar to him, but Grieg. Manuel Ponce, Moncayo, and others were part of Juanote’s extensive knowledge of classical music.

The pictures illustrating this article can only barely convey who Juanote was, filled with a joy and honesty and highly respected by rich and poor alike.

The first Englishman to set foot in Xalapa was an unfortunate fellow called Robert Barrett. That was back in 1568. Some 432 years later, another Englishman has set foot in this delightful city. But Richard Nathan considers himself a lot more fortunate, even though he arrived here after walking nearly 4,000 miles (6,400 kms). A strange twist of history connects the differing fates of the two Englishmen in Xalapa.

Nathan set off walking from Guysborough, Nova Scotia, on August 18, 1999. 271 days later, on May 14, 2000, he arrived at his destination, Barra del Tordo, a tiny fishing village about 50 miles (80 km) north of Tampico. His inspiration to do this marathon walk came partly from a story involving, among others, the unfortunate Robert Barrett. But some of Barrett’s comrades had better luck, as a result of which Nathan discovered the tale that inspired him.

Robert Barrett was part of a small English fleet, under the command of his cousin Sir John Hawkins, which came to grief in a battle with a significantly larger Spanish fleet at San Juan de Ulua, the port of Veracruz. Barrett was captured in the battle and, along with other English prisoners, he was taken to Xalapa. About 200 Englishmen escaped from Veracruz, including Hawkins and his even more famous cousin, Francis Drake. But they were forced to abandon most of their ships, and virtually all the survivors were crammed aboard one ship that had no provisions and was badly in need of repair. To make matters worse, the ship got caught in a hurricane, and Hawkins quickly realized that with 200 men on board a leaky craft, his chances of making it back to England were virtually non existent. And so, on October 8, 1568, 100 men very gladly elected to be marooned on the beach, at a spot close to where the Rio San Rafael Carrizal flows into the Gulf of Mexico, past the village of Barra del Tordo.

Barra del Tordo wasn’t there in 1568, but Tampico was – the northern outpost of Spain’s Mexican Empire. So, in dire straits, the majority of these English castaways walked the 50 miles down to Tampico, in the hope that the Spaniards would be merciful, which they weren’t. Twenty of them, however, decided not to gamble on Spanish charity, but to walk instead into the great unknown wilderness to the north. Their gamble was to reach the north-eastern seaboard of America, where they might come across a seasonal cod-fishing boat and thumb a ride back to Europe. In September 1569, just as the annual cod-fishing season was drawing to its close, David Ingram, Richard Twide, and Richard Browne reached Nova Scotia and found a French cod-fishing boat. As to the other seventeen? It seems they found some pleasing Indian ladies along the way and decided to heck with walking!

Nathan’s Odyssey was a reverse version of this earlier trek. He made this switch partly because of climate. He started in August, which would not have been a good time to be walking through Tamaulipas and Texas.(April and May were hot enough!) In this, he was true to the journey of the earlier Englishmen, who also had the good fortune to miss the killer heat of northern Mexico and Texas. But, he also wanted to end his journey in Mexico, at the spot close to where we know, from Hawkins’ records, that the English sailors were set ashore. (The precise spot in Nova Scotia where their journey ended involves a lot more guess work) And, by finishing in Mexico, Nathan would then have the opportunity to stay in the country and learn its language and its culture, while he was writing a book about his adventures and its historical inspiration.

Nathan’s adventures took him from Nova Scotia across to Maine and then through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and finally across the border into Tamaulipas.

Several of Nathan’s friends were concerned about his safety walking the Mexican part of his journey, the 280 miles from Matamoros to Barra del Tordo. On some occasions in the US he’d been hosted for the night by friendly strangers. But on most nights, he camped out, pitching his small tent somewhere off into the woods. In Tamaulipas, there are no woods, so it is virtually impossible to camp out in the wilds, away from the view of potentially dangerous strangers. Though he had little fear about his personal safety, he did take extra precautions during the three weeks he was walking through Tamaulipas. For example, in towns such as San Fernando and Soto La Marina, he stayed in a cheap motel. Out in the open country, he ended his days at a ranchito or a tienda and asked the owners if he could set up his own tienda in the safety of their compound. He was never refused. In fact, on most of such occasions, the family invited him into their home for supper and breakfast.

Fears for his personal safety were also allayed thanks to his companion, Ulises, a lively Springer Spaniel mix. Nathan had started his journey alone, but he’d wanted to get a dog as a companion and bodyguard. Ulises was given to him by the Humane Society of New York, who very obligingly dropped him off just south of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Ulises had been just one day away from being put to sleep when the Humane Society rescued him from a pound in Manhattan. Now, after more adventures than any dog could dream of, he is enjoying life to the full in Xalapa, where he can be seen each morning, taking a stroll around Los Lagos.

Nathan has just completed his book, which he is calling Walking with Time. He has an agent in the United States, and is hopeful that the book will be published sometime in the coming year. Ulises is also planning to write a book, Tails of Brave Ulises, which will probably be for readers aged 7-9, who seem to be his biggest fans. Both man and dog will be returning to the US sometime in the New Year. But, there is a strong possibility they will return to Xalapa, where both have found much happiness.(It would be very hard to say a final farewell to the spectacular view of Pico de Orizaba!)

BIO: Richard Nathan was born in Yorkshire in the north of England and studied Philosophy at Trinity College, Oxford. He has traveled extensively in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, and has worked as an antiques auctioneer and a high school English teacher. He has been a resident of the US since 1985, and has lived for most of that time in Los Angeles.