One day too many

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We have one more day in Poza Rica.

Unfortunately, the town has nothing to recommend it, other than being a handy jump off point for a visit to El Tajín and also our onward journey. It’s not even mentioned in our guide book - which is a sure sign of zero interest. Lonely Planet usually come up with something...even if it is something totally terrible? They have led us on many wild goose chases over the years.

Trip Advisor has five places on it’s list. The first three are shopping arcades. Then there is the new square which is described as a dangerous place, full of drug addicts and pick pockets...it’s the square opposite our hotel! Can’t say it looked too dangerous to us, even at night when we have been eating at the street stalls.

The final venue is the ‘Parque de Los Americas’. It’s not a park at all, but a viewpoint high over the city. Here we can view the former glory of this oil town. The place has a set of flagpoles which are rarely furnished with flags. It’s best to visit after dark when the city lights are twinkling. Reviews state: avoid, avoid, avoid...especially at night - it’s full of garbage and another magnet for alcoholics and drug dealers.

Well that’s Poza Rica ticked off our list then!

Feeling that we must do something, we go for a wander. All Mexican towns possess a minimum of one bronze statue and Poza Rica is no exception. From what I can see it has two, one of which is in the square outside our hotel...can’t think how we missed it earlier. As usual, the statue reflects the character of the town, so here we have three rig workers drilling for oil. It’s a pity the graffiti artists have been at work here too.

Next we are taking a trip to an ADO bus station marked on our map. It is only two blocks away, so much closer than the central station. I present our tickets for tomorrow but it is confirmed that the bus will not stop here. Oh well, that settles that then.

We continue down the bustling streets which are thickly lined with market stalls. The traffic is heavy but we manage to negotiate the streets as the pavements are packed. There are a number of fruit and veg stalls and we see the biggest cauliflowers ever. We decide to purchase pears, peaches and avocados for another healthy lunch.

Unfortunately we do not come across any shoe polishers today - a service we really could have used. I am guessing that as this is not a tourist town, everyone shines their own shoes at home!

We return to our hotel to find that cleaning is in progress so we read the local paper in reception...to the best of our limited ability - it’s all in Spanish. We are getting quite adept at interpretation though. There has been a protest march about something in town and a robber has held up a local Oxxo store. It’s not the one near our hotel...but that one could easily be next in the list! There is a photo montage of ‘Day of the Dead’ revellers along with some political bumf concerning the local elections. And no local rag would be complete without a sports page and a horoscope column. I need to compromise to improve my love life and Ian’s love life might recede if he doesn’t make more effort...nothing we didn’t already know then!

This evening we are eating at the posh place next door. I have a fancy for the salmon on their menu. We are served a posh starter of fresh bread, cream cheese, pate and quails eggs. It‘s never necessary to order a starter here...one always appears, you just don’t choose what it might be. It’s an age before our main meal arrives - it’s definately not a fast food joint. We begin to wonder if they have gone to the river to catch it! Still, it’s very relaxing with ambient music playing softly in the background.

The meal arrives with rice and salad. For some reason, Ian only gets rice, Again, you never know what will turn up with your meal. We both ordered salmon, but mine was the pain grilled option, whilst Ian chose the one in an orange sauce. I’m not a great salad lover and we tend to never eat it abroad in any case...just in case the water is contaminated!

We elected to sit in the table by the window. Bad mistake. Half way through our meal an old lady stops by and stands drooling whilst we guiltily finish our food. She is on hand to ambush us as we leave the restaurant. I give her some money...seriously, how could anyone refuse?

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