Jalapa, Veracruz

Thursday, April 2, 2015
We are finally back in Xalapa.

Best ice cream ever. Tepoz Nieves

We really loved it here last time we were in this city. Our Holiday Inn Express Hotel provides a hardy breakfast for us to indulge ourselves in. Eggs, refried black beans, chilaquiles (here you are provided with the chips, red or green sauce, two types of cheese and diced onions. Since you make your own they are not soggy.). You are also given free reign over indulging in the many tropical fruits, juice, coffee or tea, making your own toast and over the limited pastries. Meat eaters are provided for also. It just feels so good to be able to have such a great buffet for breakfast and choose your own meal.

We both have paper work types of things to do over the next week. We are not just goofing around in Xalapa, we have to get some stuff done. I'd like to be able to work on some art project and even do some shopping.

Going for lunch is not such a big necessary thing if you had a big breakfast but we went anyway. We went to a restaurant we were at on another visit to this city - surprise, surprise. We are creatures of habit aren't we. La Fonda is a restaurant with a seemingly secret entrance. It is just that the entrance is on the side, not the front. Just inside cooks stirring up comidas in big clay pots. You could eat on this level but the majority of seating is upstairs. We sat on a little balcony overlooking the street. The service was excellent, the food ok but for the price of 60 pesos per person it was good. I discovered I can not longer eat the little sort of salads that are served with comidas (just chopped up iceberg lettuce without dressing). Now we have done it, ate too much for two meals.

We walked around the main park, Parque Juarez. We saw two police officers with a dog, part of the K-9 unit. Yes, they call it that here, too. The dog was a Belgian Malinois. It was obvious he wanted attention and maybe even wanted to play. He was not very scary at all. I wanted to pet him but thought it might be disrespectful since he was supposed to be working.

The front desk phoned up and give us the option of moving to another room. There is going to be a big party at the Hotel Saturday night and they figured the noise would filter up to us, making us rather unhappy guest. That was very thoughtful of them. We moved from the first to fifth floor with the help of a bellboy. We both felt the hotels thoughtfulness was extraordinary.

We just realized today that it is a holiday here in Mexico. We went back to pick up our laundry but the lavendaria is not open. Hope we have better luck in a day or two.

Friday, April 3, 2015
We again woke up being able to go downstairs to a professionally made breakfast buffet.












I start with the fruit because that is likely the lowest calorie and highest vitamin content item.

After working for awhile we decide it is time to walk to get the laundry. Plus we went for a walk after breakfast. There is a very cute pooch that lives in the downtown area, a Yorkie. He was hanging out inside his home but with his head between the window bars. What a cutie! I like to walk by where he lives, maybe I can pet him again. By the way the laundry was not open, again. Wish I had figured that out the day we dropped off the laundry. I am in bad need of some of those clothes.

Most of the day was spent doing paper work kinds of things. Life can not be all play, just mostly play. At least we are getting some work completed. I got all the blog posts caught up for our Previaroadtrip blog. We are in a city with Tepoz Nieves ice cream. I have to admit we went their for lunch, yes, ice cream for lunch. We did split a mango, too, so lunch was not all sugar and cream.

We decided to go out in the evening for something different. We saw a place that served wine and thought that would be a good spot, sort of back behind Parque Juarez. This Italian type of restaurant was right across the street from the Diego Rivera museum. It was in a sort of a triangular space with two roads coming up to meld into one. It was, however, quiet and not in a polluted area. We sat for our meal at a table outside. It is much cooler here then on the Yucatan Penninsula. We split a generous portion of fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp. For dessert we had crepes filled with cheese and a black berry sauce over top. We tried something different for a drink. It was a red wine with a type of fruit juice mixed in, floating fruit completed the drink. It was called Clericot and is a drink taken originally from the British to Central America in the 1800's. It is very much like what the Spanish call Sangria or Mexicans call Sangrita. It did not have much of a '"punch" but was a nice addition to our meal.

I think I am either turning into or already am what you might refer to as "the crazy dog lady". While we ate supper in a cosmopolitan city, in a foreign country, in a funky location I focus in on a dog. It was a sheep dog out on a balcony waiting for his family to return to him. He did not have it so bad. The upper deck door was open so he could either be outside or in. He was a good example of the breed in both looks and behavior. He only barked a few times. I actually noticed there were lots of people out strolling their dogs in the evening.

We completed the evening with a great John Cuzack movie - High Fidelity. If you have not seen it you are in for a treat.

Saturday, April 4, 2015
The weather here in Xalapa, Vera Cruz is much cooler and more humid than most places we have been in Mexico.

It even ends up raining for a bit in the late afternoon, evening on this day. It is more comfortable than the Yucatan. I do like the heat but when it is constant it is just as hard to deal with as constant cold.

We have that wonderful breakfast buffet again. Then we get ourselves back up to the room to complete office or blog work that we have been ignoring. It is nice to get things done and accomplish something. Not that I have any thing negative to say about traveling around and not having visible goals in mind. We do have goals then, too, obviously. Goals like driving to a certain area, etc.

Part of the afternoon was spent in exploring some shopping areas in Xalapa. First we had to check on our laundry which was again not open. We are now hoping for a Monday transaction with our freshly laundered clothing. The Liverpool Mall is huge, two layers high. We had already seen lots of the mall when we realized that just around the bend was a whole other section as big as the first part. For any of you knowing the Metrotown Center in Vancouver, BC, well this mall in Jalapa was around the same size. The mall was totally bustling with people as was the huge food court. It is interesting to compare prices. it is also interesting to have a certain products in mind and see if a store has it. Relating to things I would want or look for, the mall did not have huge steam irons, or brands of sewing machines I would want to purchase. They do not carry furniture that I would call "rustica" which is the kind I really like. They do have modern and classic furniture and you could equip your home with almost anything your heart desires. I noticed the good kitchen pots were very expensive. The furniture seemed pricey to me also. They had Pier One Imports items which were pricy. There were more discounted items then I remember in Liverpools in the last visits, in previous years.

The drive to the different areas showed a wonderful city. Tree-lined streets and lots of flowers. Flower shops had special arrangements out for Easter. The boulevards had blooming trees and bushes. I saw lot of Gerber daisies in bloom on one, long boulevard (sorry, couldn't get a picture).

Sunday, April 5, 2015
Happy Easter everyone!

We plan to phone some family and friends as our way of celebrating. There are likely lots of festivities in Xalapa if we were to look for them but we have work to do today.

We phoned Fern, my Father's friend. She was not home when we called, likely at church. We phoned my Sister, Charlene. We discussed what we might bring up to Canada when we drive up there to visit in less than a month. We phone my best friend up on Gabriola Island, Alix. It was a very long over due call. It was so nice to talk to everyone. After that we were all talked out and did not get a chance to call Fern and Dad again - another day.

It was a rather uneventful day for a holiday. We often used to have family come over for a dinner. We just hung around the Hotel and did some computer work that we needed to get done. We went out for lunch at the sister restaurant to The Gran in Vera Cruz. It had a different atmosphere than that restaurant.

My Sister got a new phone. We did some texting which was great. It is so much more instant than e-mail. We found out that Kelly my niece and her sweetie, Joel, drove from Lethbridge, AB to Estevan, SK to visit for Easter. Sounds like they all had a good Easter!

Monday, April 6, 2015
Happy Birthday Precious Kenny!

Yes, Ken is having a birthday today, his 55th. Guys usually do not mind having their age put out there. I would be mortified. Why are women like that? Being able to celebrate each birthday is really a privilege we should be embracing. We should not be cringing at growing older. Ken is not that into real celebrating but I want him to feel very special just like he is.

We ate too much at breakfast as usual. It is very hard not to eat too much at a breakfast buffet. We slept in today, too, almost missed the buffet. We were not the only ones. There was a steady steam of people coming down to eat even after we arrived. The fantastic waiter at the buffet was missing, must be his day off. He has a spring in his step and always a smile on his face. Believe me it has been very busy and just hoping during the Easter weekend. Still he smiles, wishing you a good day and is so gracious even though he is the only waiter when all the tables are full. Many waiters would be grumpy, unpleasant and down right rude under the pressure. Not him, he is a rock amongst waiters and is so deserving of tips.

Checking to see if the laundry is open to fetch up our clothes has almost become a comedic routine lately. We went again today. One the way we stopped by the home of the little Yorkie. He was out with his little head stuck out of the window bars looking as cute as is possible for a pooch his size. He allowed me to pet him, talk to him, touch is feet and generally make a fool of him. I would like to house sit a pooch like him to get a better idea of whether or not I want to commit to the likes of him. Right now I am convinced I want a Yorkie, but I need to know the breed better. Continuing on our little journey to the laundry we find the place open - what a surprise after so many day of being closed. This was the most expensive laundry yet, but clean clothes were badly needed. Ken had to carry all the laundry home as they put it in one bag.

We worked on our separate projects for the remainder of the afternoon. Our break was a trip to Tepoz Nieves for ice cream. My new favourite flavour is Anis. Imagine the best ice cream ever being only a few short blocks from your home, well that is how Tepoz Nieves is for us right now. It is pretty hard to resist, plus it is Ken's birthday and an ice cream treat is a great way to celebrate. We even sat in the the park across the street to eat this bit of deliciousness.

Once it was near supper Ken picked a place he like to eat. He picked the little Italian place a couple of blocks from here (likely really Mexican but they serve great spaghetti). Baked spaghetti with garlic toast was out supper. Ken ordered an individual pineapple pie. That was a tasty treat especially with the ice cream on top. 

Tuesday, April 7, 2015
We are actually realizing we do not need such a big breakfast.

We are a little sick of the breakfast buffet. Don't get me wrong, it is great. We have just had it too often. The usual waiter was working today. He is just so happy all the time.

We did paperwork sorts of things for most of the late morning and the early afternoon. We both accomplished what we had hoped to get done today. Having not eaten in hours I was a little shaky and out of it. Why do I let myself go without food for so long? I was enjoying what I was doing and did not even realize I was hungry, plus that my blood sugar had dropped. We decided to go eat at the Parriqua. They have excellent lechero (a little coffee, lots of warm milk) but it was too late in the day to have any. We walked to the Diego Rivera Art Gallery but they had someone else's work on display. Now if it would have been Diego's work we would have stayed and taken a thorough look. It was someone else's, not to our taste, so we continued on with our plan of going to the Mall.

We went to the Liverpool mall again, the Xalapa Las America Mall. Ken is picking up gifts for people. He has been very judicious in his choosing. Next we go to Chedauri, then Superama. Superama was like a Mexican version of Wholefoods, sort of. At Chedauri we also picked up a few things for our trip tomorrow.

Our last day in Xalapa, Vera Cruz seemed to come upon us all too quickly. I could have used another week of relaxing in this amazing town and, of course, in this luxurious Hotel. San Miguel is our next destination, so it is not like we are moving on to a less than desirable place.

For supper we had something very authentic from the region. The restaurant was across the street from the little Italian place we have been frequenting. This was my first time this trip to have tamales - cheese and spicy vegetable (queso and rajas) and cheese and bean (queso and frijoles). Ken also had a chocolate one which was something like very moist cake. Then to drink we had vanilla atole. The atole we had was like drinking custard...best we ever had.

The rest of the evening was spent packing up all our belongings. I had to do some switching about to allow for the cooler weather we will be encountering in the near future. I also made up a bag together of items to donate to a Value Village north of the border. A fellow assisted Ken in putting the boxes on a rolling cart. Then this guy rolled all our belongings out to the parkade, going down two elevators. Man we unpacked a lot of stuff. I feel much more organized.

We were both pretty tired at the end of the evening.

Ken eventually found this rum, but in Estevan Sask.