We Actually (and Finally!) found El Tajin!

Up this morning about 6, as we wanted to get on the road by 8 am. The actual miles between Xalapa and Poza Rica aren’t that many, it’s just that there’s a mountain range in between, and it takes a lot longer than one thinks it should! In fact, we needed to head back south, towards Veracruz first, before turning east towards the coast and then north, towards Poza Rica. In all, it took a little over 3 hours, but the drive was fine – excellent toll roads most of the way. The interesting thing about the roads is that in some places there are only two lanes – but fortunately, there are wide shoulders, as there are lots of trucks, and people tend to drive close over the line towards the edge of the road, so that other people are able to pass easily and safely. I know the highways are marked “no passing” but, as in many countries, those are just suggestions, really!

R took this leaving Xalapa!

Beautiful mountain range along the coast!

The scenery along our route was wonderful. Very lush but not much agriculture, though we did eventually see crops – corn, sugar cane, even some dates..

At any rate, the roads were good, and the driving was fine. We got to our hotel, Hotel Poza Rica Centro, a little after 11. We were just hoping to leave the luggage, but as it turned out, our room – lovely suite (408), actually, was ready. So, we left the car at the curb and joined our luggage upstairs, where I changed into – get ready for it – SHORTS! After absolutely freezing for this entire trip – as none of our places had any HEAT – we now find ourselves in some lovely and warm weather! Yay! And, this place not only has heat that really works, it also has air conditioning that also works! Staggering! And our lovely suite is all of $85/night! Incredible! Thank you so much, Booking.com!

We headed back downstairs and into the car and headed for El Tajin, the largest archaeological site in the State of Veracruz … which we had one *&^%%$$^ of a time finding!! Honestly! First of all, Emmy, our normally reliable GPS, led us to a sort of gravel pathway … down which we started. I got a really bad feeling about it, but there was nobody around to ask … after we drove through – and I mean literally – a farmer’s front yard – complete with burro, horses, goats, and turkeys – the cows were in the backyard … I was certain we were going the wrong way, but of course, absolutely no phone signal at this point, either! Fortunately, a young man came by on a motorcycle, and we asked him – and he told us that most definitely, this was NOT the way to El Tajin, and pointed us (we thought/hoped) in the right direction…

Wrong road to El Tajin...

But loved the turkeys!

And the cows!

So, back to the main road. Drove into Papantla and stopped at a gas station for instructions. The gal said go 4 topes (speed bumps) and turn right … which we did … truly, I’m telling you, we spent the next 15 minutes stopping to ask people which way El Tajin was, because there was absolutely NO signage or indications whatsoever. Finally, after we passed through Papantla, we were able to get a signal, and R found the site on his cell phone, and we followed its directions – and after yet a few more kilometers, we arrived. Incredible. In total, I saw one – just one - sign in Papantla, and that was it until we turned into the driveway. Wow.

Okay … so we eventually made it. Now, for the description. After the disappearance of the Olmecs, the coastal plains saw the rise of the Classic Veracruz Civilization now called the Totonac. El Tajin was their largest city, comprised basically temples and ball courts – 17 ball courts have been uncovered so far. It began as a regional center about 100 AD and lasted until approximately 1200 AD. Their most famous ruler was 13 Rabbit, who ruled during the 10^th century. Apparently the Totonacs were interested in two things – human sacrifice and the closely related Mesoamerican ballgame were at the core of El Tajin’s ritual life. Its most well-known building is called the Pyramid of the Niches, which contains 365 niches, one for each day of the solar year. Eventually, in 1519, they were the first indigenous group to ally with Cortez against the Aztecs.

Temples all over the place!

There are niches everywhere, not just on the Pyramid!

One of the 17 ball courts so far uncovered

Story of a ball game!

Pyramid of the Niches -- 365 of them!

Pyramid of the Niches from the front

The really interesting thing about our visit today, is that even though we didn’t get there until almost 1 pm, we really had the place almost to ourselves for most of our visit! But when we were getting ready to leave – after 3 pm, a fair amount of people were just arriving! Interesting – siesta, we wondered – or did they just have the same GPS that we did?? The final interesting thing we found was that it took us well over an hour to find the darn place, it took about 20 minutes to get back to the hotel! Hmmm….

We had a lovely dinner tonight at the hotel’s restaurant downstairs, about 5:30 pm. I started with cream of corn soup, which was excellent, and R had their poblano soup, which he loved, that had just about any vegetable one can think of: corn, onion, zucchini, mushrooms, green beans and – of course, poblanos. (I thought it was a bit spicy, but he disagreed!). For mains, I had their spaghetti bolognaise and R and their spaghetti with tomato sauce. Both were excellent. And, for the first time since we’ve been here, I ordered their Oreo cheesecake for dessert – but the piece was so large – and R was NO help at all, that I was only able to eat a small portion of it. Oh well!