El Tajin and Tuxpan

This past weekend (24-26 of April), we had an obligatory meeting for all the exchange students in the district in Tuxpan, Veracruz. Tuxpan is some 11 hours from Mina, so we left at 4 AM and didn't arrive until 2 PM the next day. We (the exchange students from Mina and Coatza) were the first to arrive, and so we got some extra time in the pool before the others arrived. That was all we did that first afternoon, sit around the pool at a hotel, eating and talking. Around 8 that night, we were given shirts and sent out with our host families for the weekend.

The four of us were assigned to stay with some Rotarians from Tuxpan, who have sent both of their children on exchange to Brazil. The younger, a girl, is still there now. I am on the left, Oliver (Wu Pin-Han) from Taiwan, Denis from Belgium, and Lukas from Brazil is on the right.
The first night, we went out for dinner to a meat roastery, where they gave me a big salad covered in hot melted cheese, and plenty of (Queso Fundido? - cheese, melted or something) with guacamole and tortillas. They also had delicious deserts.






Saturday we were bussed out to the ruins at El Tajin. They are Totonaco ruins. Tajin is the god of rain and thunder, equivalent to the Mayan Chaac or Nahuatl Tlaloc. Instead of writing down what the excellent guide told us (most of which is in the wikipedia article) I am going to talk about the romantic ideas I get from these places. I suppose the whole "European explorer stumbling into a vast, overgrown ancient city" thing is fairly stereotypical, but it is still striking. I also wonder how a city like this is abandoned, and after that, how it is percieved by the descendents of its inhabitants and the inhabitants of other Totonaco cities that survived it for hundreds of years. I can't think of any contemporary example that compares. It seems rather post-apocalyptic.









After a short tour of the ruins (these sort of events are always hurried and brief, because exchange students are typically somewhat apathetic to them, and always move slowly and tire quickly), we went outside the site proper into the impromptu trinket market outside. There is a small amphitheatre with a huge pole, use for the Voladores de Papantla ceremony. Incidentally, the marketpeople all sold vanilla and coffee, which are grown there. I had tried to get the whole dance on video, but apparently didn't actually press the shoot button. So you can find something on youtube, I'm sure. It is very impressive, as the pole is extremely high and sort of sways a bit with all their moving around. One of the dancers actually dancers and plays his little flute/drum while standing on top of the pole (imagine doing this on top of a telephone pole, but with a much taller pole).

We were returned to our host families then, and stayed with them a few hours to rest and bathe, and then were delivered to a disco on the river in downtown Tuxpan. Stupid discos. It seems like practically all the exchange students smoke now (though probably only 75% do) and the music is bad and too loud to carry on a conversation. I sat with the son of a Tuxpan Rotarian and shouted the whole night about politics and videogames.



The next morning we were brought to a Naval Base, the center of communications for the Mexican Navy in the Gulf. They showed us some propaganda videos and gave us tours of some rather unimpressive frigates. They also gave us some pastries and agua de jamaica at the end though, so it was cool.

After that, we walked to a hotel and ate and talked until it was time for our buses to leave. We were also sent on a completely boring and non-plussing boat tour while we waited for our food. The food was delicious, though; green chili peppers (not spicy ones), onions, and corn cooked in some sort of white sauce, to be eaten in tortillas.

Winston from Taiwan.

They handed out white surgical masks for us to wear on the bus ride home, to protect us from the swine influenza. I guess I don't need to explain that because it is a big deal in the news? They have canceled the Ruta Colonial, the second of the two big trips we take, and no permissions will be given to travel at all. School is canceled until May 6, too. Probably more. I have little to do.