Hola! Nous revenons en français...Chacun son tour. Et puis j'ai le bonheur de dire que j'ai retrouvé mon relecteur...! :-) Notre départ de Xalapa vers la ville de Mexico (Mexico DF) était prévu pour lundi le 9 avril. Après notre voyage à Orizaba et à El Pico au déut avril, il ne nous restait que trois ou quatre jours à Xalapa. Depuis l'automne passé je parlais de notre voyage au Mexique à une collègue qui allait au même gym que moi à Rouyn. Elle m'a dit que sa cousine vivait près de Xalapa et elle m'a donné son numéro de [View Full Entry]

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Hola!! We are not professional photographers, but here are a few snapshots of our trip to El Pico and Orizaba. I love the light in these pictures. Click on each picture to get a larger view. [View Full Entry]

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Hola!! This entry is about our wonderful trip to El Pico de Orizaba. We went there on April 2, 3 and 4. The highest mountain in Mexico is Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl citlalli = star, and tepetl = mountain), known to friends as Pico de Orizaba, or El Pico. Towering over the border between the states of Veracruz and Puebla, its height is 5,636m (18,490 feet). It is the third highest peak in North America. It is in fact a volcano, currently dormant but not extinct; the last eruption occurred in 1687. On a clear day we can se [View Full Entry]

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Hola! The week ending on Easter Sunday is known as Semana Santa, or Holy Week. It fell on the first week of April this year, when we were in Xalapa. The majority of Mexicans are observant Catholics and Semana Santa is taken very seriously. Schools take two weeks of vacation and many people go to the beach at this time. When we were in the little village of San Agustinillo on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca in 2004, its population of about 300 swelled to amazing proportions during Semana Santa. It was crazy! The quiet village was overrun by loud, [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to the world, Dafna! My new niece, born on 2nd April, 12 days early, in Kfar Saba, Israel, weighing 2.6 kg. Congratulations to Simon, Didi, Uri, and all the family! And these orchids are for my mother, Marcia, proud grandmother! Netta [View Full Entry]

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Hola! The places we visited in Mexico would give us very high scores in a game of Precolumbian Scrabble, with names like Xalapa, Xico, Oaxaca. For some reason, the indiginous peoples of Mexico preferred the latter part of the alphabet for their placenames, and Zempoala is a prime example. We decided to visit the Totonac ruins at Zempoala one cool cloudy Wednesday. It was one of our day trips that we got ready for the night before. Steve had prepared us a breakfast of sandwiches and crunchy vegetables to eat at the bus station the next morning so that we [View Full Entry]

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Hola! One sunny afternoon we decided to visit the Clavijero Botanical Garden. Located just south of Xalapa, this 20-acre garden is a regional botanic garden committed to the study and conservation of native flora and especially threatened and endangered species. The Clavijero Botanical Garden boasts an amazing display of plants native to or grown in Veracruz. Different sections are reserved for different types of trees, plants and flowers: one part of the gardens explains coffee cultivation, another has trees and plants found in the higher altitudes, in others we find fruit trees o [View Full Entry]

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Hola! I hope you weren't expecting a real ode...after all, we are on holiday and I am officially off-duty for any type of literary creativity... But I had to mention the fascination with shoes that Veracruzanos seem to have. Every block, even in small towns, has at least 5 or 6 shoe stores, and they are full and busy! Somebody told us about a little town 32km away from Xalapa called Naolinco. The hour's bus ride winds its way through spectacular mountainous terrain punctuated by abrupt cliffs and deep depressions. This beautiful small town was once a Totonac [View Full Entry]

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Hola! Beauty comes in all forms, and Mexico is no exception. One natural beauty is the town of Xico (pronouned HEE-co) and its surroundings. Xico is about half an hour's bus ride from Xalapa, and the road winds through lush green hills of coffee plantations and banana trees. It was a hot sunny day when we went there, and we set off by foot in the general direction of the Cascada de Texolo which, according to our literature, was a short walk from town. As midday approached, the "short" walk became longer and longer as once again we were reminded [View Full Entry]

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Hola!! Cette entrée vous réveillera car il s'agit de café, celui de la petite ville de Coatepec à quelques kilometres de Xalapa. La ville est surtout connue pour son café des montagnes (café de altura), mais aussi pour ses orchidées (celles que vous avez vues entourant ma nièce). Nous sommes allés visiter deux fois, une fois la ville elle-même et une fois au Musée du café un peu en-dehors de Coatepec. Nous voulions faire un saut aux informations touristiques et comme d'habitude, la gentillesse des Mexicains a fait en sorte que nous y sommes restés presqu [View Full Entry]

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