February 1-3, 2020
Our last stop in Mexico was Orizaba, a little mountain town near the tallest peak in Mexico, the Pico de Orizaba. We weren't planning to climb that mountain (since it's a 6 day trek) but were hoping we could find some hiking of some sort in the area.
It was a slightly drippy morning when we arrived (the first rain we had seen) but it mostly held off while we explored. We couldn't check into the hotel yet, so we stored our packs and went to find the walk along the river that I had read about, and all the guidebooks talked about. I was expecting a dirt path, and found something very different indeed.
There was a paved path along each side of the river extending for several kilometers upstream.
At intervals along each side were animal enclosures that were part of a zoo/rescue operation. Free to look at with posted information about the species inside. All the animals were rescued or born in captivity, many were old or injured. While not the best enclosures I've seen, they were more than just an empty concrete cage which was nice.
We spent a couple hours walking up the river and down the other side looking at everything from parrots and snakes to leopards, monkeys, dromedaries, ostriches, a hippo and tigers.
After getting into our hotel room it was time for a nap, and then we ventured out into the actual rain to find some food. We grabbed some tacos at a small joint, and headed right back to the hotel. The weather made it not inviting at all to linger outside. We found some crazy Jackie Chan movie dubbed in Spanish to watch on TV, and called it a night.
The next morning we had breakfast at the Palacio de Hierro, or Iron Palace.
It was designed in the 1800s by Gustav Eiffel (yes, that Eiffel) and shipped in pieces to Orizaba to be reassembled. It was pretty in a slightly strange way, the walls reminded me of the inside of a shipping container. But now we can say we ate breakfast in a place designed by Eiffel. And that's not nothing.
A quick stop at the tourist office gave us our destination for the day, the 500 Escalones, or 500 Stairs that were a little ways through town. While at first that didn't sound appealing at all to me, we were promised a waterfall, so we went for it. My Google Maps stopped working that morning, so some help from a local got us on the right bus and off at the right stop armed with directions for how to reach the escalones.
We found a funny little park just on the other side of the major highway through town, which seemed to be built around old (maybe still working?) hydroelectric equipment.
There were posted guards, which argues for it still working. Trails led down to spillways and massive equipment, but there wasn't really any information about what things were. It seemed to be popular with trail runners, and with 250 stairs down and back up I can see it being a nice place to get some exercise.
We took it easy and enjoyed the view. There were a couple things that could be considered waterfalls, but mostly that aspect of the park was underwhelming.
We caught the bus back home a while later and Dad took a nap while I wandered around town some more.
I scoped out restaurants, found a previously unexplored street where they all seemed to be hiding, and decided on one for us for dinner. It had wonderful food, and turned out doubly auspicious because they had the Superbowl playing.
We watched almost all of the first half before our food was gone and they were locking up for the night. We figured we'd just have to google the rest of the game, and headed out.
Just across from the restaurant was a big park (also previously unexplored) which had a great light-up fountain spouting in time to the music playing, and also a ton of small children racing around in little electric cars.
There was no rhyme or reason to where they were going, but most were going full speed all the time. I figured it was pretty accurate practice for when they grew up and started driving real cars.
We swung by the bus station and bought our tickets back to Veracruz for the next evening. And caught part of the halftime show on the screens in the waiting area. Sitting there to watch the rest of the game wasn't appealing at all, so we went to get ice cream instead. Or rather, I did.
Then walking back towards the hotel, found the game was on all the screens in a TV/motorcycle/cell phone/refrigerator store. We ended up standing on the sidewalk watching all but the last 52 seconds of the game through the window.
They pulled the shutters down and turned off the lights in the store before Kansas City could take a knee the last couple times and officially win the game, but we saw the good parts. And Dad got to watch the Superbowl in a way he never dreamed he would.
The next morning we packed up our packs, stored them at the hotel, got breakfast, and headed to the Teleferico, or cable car that went from the town plaza up the small mountain next to the city.
It was just a 5 minute trip up to the top (not a very tall mountain) where we found signed walking paths that looked like they got very muddy when it rained. We were up there shortly after it opened, so there weren't enough people yet to make it feel crowded.
The trails weren't long, but had some pretty good views down into the valley.
There was a lookout tower to walk up, and since it was the clearest morning we had seen yet, we could see the top of the Pico de Orizaba poking above other mountains.
We had time to leisurely explore at the top. There was the ruins of an old fort, a small military themed museum, and some good photo ops.
When we had seen all we wanted we hopped in a cable car back down with pretty much zero line. A very satisfying last adventure in Orizaba.
The bus back to Veracruz was uneventful, and we just walked from the bus station towards the water until we found a likely looking hotel, inquired, and booked a room. It was getting on towards evening, so we flagged a city bus back up towards the main part of the waterfront where we figured we could find a restaurant and maybe some tourist shops for souvenirs. We found both. The first evening we were in the same area, but none of the stalls were open. This night it was a veritable craft bazaar all along the sidewalk. We took a look at everything, bought nothing, then found the main plaza (which we also managed to miss the first time around) which was ringed with restaurants with outdoor seating. Dad got to try the flat chicken dish I had for our Superbowl dinner, and I got spaghetti. I guessed the sauce started it's life as tomato soup, but it was good and filling. We had another cultural moment as every couple minutes someone else would walk by our table offering us things to buy. We turned down watches, perfume, food, electric lanterns, cell phone chargers, cigars, shoe shines, multiple types of handicrafts, and the services of a mariachi band over the course of our meal. Dad got a kick out of it.
After finishing we found a couple of things we wanted to buy for people back home among the souvenir stalls, and headed back to our hotel to prepare for an early flight out the next morning. I think our trip was wonderful. Dad got to experience a whole new culture and everything that comes with it, and I got to share with him a whole new culture, and some of the reasons why I love traveling so much. Success.
