Day 25: El Tajin and Papantla, Veracruz, Mexico

Up with the sun and out to breakfast at Plaza Pardo. On the south side of el zocalo with balconies overlooking the morning park scene we had a wonderful breakfast of mini corn tortilla sandwiches filled with chorizo and with beans on the side. A cup of café con leche and a plate of sweet orange-pink fruit that I cannot name got us started before the main course arrived. El zocalo draws many people at any time of day but at siete y media there are the students on their way to school and workers on their way to work.

Something that we have observed throughout our time in Mexico is that there is a frequent presence of heavily armed guards whether they be military, policia or private security. At the military checkpoint where I was stopped the other day, several of the soldiers had huge automatic rifles; on the way into Papantla yesterday, J saw a guard outside a gated mansion with a similar weapon; this morning as we ate breakfast we watched policia in the back of pickup trucks with yet more large weapons; as we left breakfast we watched as a armored car pulled up and the guard stepped out with a giant shot gun.

After the view from above at breakfast and deciding we would spend the whole day in the area, we returned to the hotel and communicated to the woman at the front desk that we wished to stay another night but we wished to move from the first floor to el piso cima.

The rest of our day was spent at the ruins of the ancient Totonac city of El Tajin. Pictures tell the rest of the story.