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Xalapa Travel Blogs

Background: The site of advanced Amerindian civilizations, Mexico came under Spanish rule for three centuries before achieving independence early in the 19th century. A devaluation of the peso in late 1994 threw Mexico into economic turmoil, triggering the worst recession in over half a century. The nation continues to make an impressive recovery. Ongoing economic and social concerns include low real wages, underemployment for a large segment of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the largely Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time since the 1910 Mexican Revolution that the opposition defeated the party in government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Vicente FOX of the National Action Party (PAN) was sworn in on 1 December 2000 as the first chief executive elected in free and fair elections.

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By sbonnette
May 23rd 2009

Taking advantage of the swine flu in Veracruz North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Volcano from the plane

We ended up having three weeks of canceled class because of the swine flu epidemic, and halfway through the first week I think I started going a little crazy and decided that the best way to deal with this whole swine flu thing was to travel! According the next day I hoped on the first flight out of Guadalajara to Veracruz, the state of Carnival, small people and witch doctors. I arrived on Monday and headed straight from the airport to the bus station to catch a bus to Lake Catemaco, which is apparently a little village next to a big [View Full Entry]

By annabellepk
April 30th 2009

Xalapa North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Xalapa

We made it to the state capitol of Xalapa, home of the Jalapeños, at night. We Parked the car on a hilly street with stone sidewalks higher than the tops of the cars in order to walk around and figure out where we were going. The raised plazas were beautiful at night! We found the hotel and checked in - this one was much nicer than the one we stayed in last night, but the same price. We were all thrilled to take our showers here and came out much more refreshed than we had in the past days. Pablo and [View Full Entry]

By ricknelson
April 8th 2009

Museo de Antropologia, Xalapa North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Head

April 8, Wednesday This was a day to split up and have a little "alone" time. I hopped on the bike after a fruit breakfast and rode across town to the BMW dealer. Luis tried to help me find someone that had a decent gps map of Mexico, as the Garmin had informed me that Mexico was not in North America, therefore it wasn't on the North American map that I had purchased. No luck with that, it would take Garmin sending me the smart chip by mail, so I decided to just keep on figuring out the routes as we've [View Full Entry]

By Barry Blount
February 17th 2009

I have returned south of the border. North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Hey Everybody, I don't know if anyone will even think to check this blog anymore, I know it's been a very long time since I last updated. I have safely arrived back in Xalapa after a wonderful break full of travel. I am excited to had unpacked my hiking pack which was crammed full of clothes for a little less than a whole month. It's very nice to be settled in with a schedule again to fill my days. School is starting back up very well. This term I have another set of three classes which include a translation course, the [View Full Entry]

By Barry Blount
December 3rd 2008

All Quiet on the Southern Front North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Hello Family and Friends, All has been progressing well down here in Xalapa. With two weeks left of formal classes I am beginning to receive the first real set of work I've been exposed to since beginning classes in September. So I have just been trying to remember what time management is like and get some things done in a timely fashion. We have to do a lot of reading for our written expression class, just works of fiction from famous Mexican authors, then write a literary review of them. Not all that difficult but reading in Spanish still drags things [View Full Entry]

By Barry Blount
November 10th 2008

Three Cats and a New House North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Hello Everyone, I know I have been very out-of-touch the past week or so. There have been many developments on my end including a change of residence from the home stay program to a beautiful new house with three other Canadian students from my school. Though I was not looking forward to living with three english speakers, an opportunity arose to move out of the house where I had been living since my arrival in Xalapa, with the three Mexican women and dog, and into a new place. The new residence is very beautiful, a two-story, 4-bedroom house place about ten [View Full Entry]

By Barry Blount
October 28th 2008

Basketball Game North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Hey All, A few friends here happened to hang out with a basketball team from Monterrey that was in the city for two days for a game against the Xalapa Halcones, the local semi-pro team. The players invited us to come to the game and left us six free tickets at willcall which was really neat. Here are some courtside photos from a fun evening at the university basketball arena. [View Full Entry]

By Barry Blount
October 22nd 2008

Xico, Veracruz North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

My host mother had to spend the day at a "junta", a teacher's convention more or less, in Xico. This small town, famous for it's waterfalls and lack of things to do, is located about 20 minutes from Xalapa. It's an incredibly beautiful town though. I tagged along for a little three hour walking tour while the teachers convened. [View Full Entry]

By Barry Blount
October 17th 2008

A Birthday and Fleeting Time North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Hey All, At the moment I'm sitting in the school library, looking out across the rooftops of orange spanish tile with a beautiful backdrop of blue skies and white clouds. This particular day has been very relaxing, just doing a little bit of studying for exams which are next week and listening to music on the computer at school. My birthday came and gone with little excitement but was pleasant none-the-less. The 13th fell on a Monday, so my family decided to have a dinner together to celebrate the day before, on Sunday when very little is going on. We had [View Full Entry]

By Barry Blount
October 7th 2008

A Fun Sunday North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa

Hello All, The week has started again and I'm back to lots of reading and writing for classes. But not before some relaxed weekend fun with the family. On Sunday the family went to a very "local" open air market, called mercados, on the outskirts of the city where they like to buy fresh produce. The people of the town close six very large blocks and all the local farmers, craftsmen/women and cooks sell out of tarp-covered stands and backs of pickup trucks. The street is packed with the locals and the smells of cooking tortillas and tamales followed us around [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » North America » Mexico » Veracruz » Xalapa