This past weekend I headed over to central Veracruz. Spent Friday night in Poza Rica, not much worth noting about this town. It’s basically a distribution point for petroleum from inland sites to the port in the city of Veracruz. But from there, headed to Papantla, a small town about 35 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico in lowland rainforest. This region is the center of vanilla growing in Mexico and jewelry, artwork, and food products from vanilla are widely available. Papantla was a nice break from the colonial architecture of central Mexico and had a cute, yet simple central plaza complete with black squirrels, a nice market, and voladores. Voladores (see video below....make take a min to load) partake in a ritual dance common to the indigenous group of the area. This basically involves 5 men climbing a large pole. One sits on top and plays a musical instrument similar to a wooden flute while the others swing around in a circle as they descend to the ground.
Also close to Papantla, are the ruins of El Tajín. The main pyramid is known for its windows, of which there are 365. Set in humid rainforest with palm trees and nice green vegetation (a sight that is lacking in Puebla since it´s the dry season), these ruins are by far my favorite so far in Mexico.
