Weekend to Veracruz area!

Last Friday for some reason we had the day off, so most of us took off for the area around Veracruz. We had to catch a lot of buses to make it to our first destination, Tlapacoyan. On the way there the roads are really windy and extremely tiny, I believe at least two of the girls threw up...Our bus collided with another bus and the bus drivers' mirror was completely ripped off. If you would see this road you would wonder why this isn't happening every five seconds, especially since no one really drives in their lane. Honestly it will be a two lane road with traffic going in both directions and three cars will be driving side by side. Anyway, the hilarious part is that the bus driver didn't even say anything. He just kept driving along like this happens all the time, no big deal. Then when we arrived at the bus station he and his buddies tried to attach their own 'mirror' to the side of the bus, but in the process it broke into several pieces. They even continued trying to work with the broken mirror. I don't know what happened in the end, but it was pretty dang funny.

In Tlapacoyan we went white water rafting. It was awesome! We were able to swim with waterfalls and do a little cliff jumping. It was beautiful and we all felt like we were in the middle of the jungle. It was sooo GREEN. To reach one of the areas where we went cliff jumping we had to walk through this cave type area and climb up some rock. It felt incredible to have rock underneath my fingertips again. I definitely miss climbing. The rafting lasted about four hours. I enjoyed every second of it!


After white water rafting we caught another bus, which took us to the town of Casitas. Literally a one road town. We spent the rest of the weekend there at the beach of Costa Esmeralda. I love this town. I met some old ladies that totally hooked me up with food and because they liked me and I talked with them for awhile they hooked everyone else up too. They made some awesome, but super greasy food. During the nights this taco guy would open up and I literally have never put anything better in my mouth. I am going to crave those tacos for the rest of my life. I got talking with the taco guy and I loved his green sauce, so he asked me if I wanted to learn how to make it. Freak ya! It was so simple too! Onions, green chile pepper, avacado, cilantro, and water. Very simple! During the days we spent our time at the beach. Not the prettiest beach I have ever seen, but very enjoyable. I found that if I talked to all of the vendors for a little while they would give me free food or drinks. It was awesome, and the rest of the group definitely appreciated it because they all got to try some of my free stuff. I tried some amazing corn bread and some fresh coca nut milk and coca nut. The coca nut wasn't very good and was so glad that I didn't have to pay for it. Being at the beach was so relaxing, I was able to play in the sand, the water, and read part of the second hunger games book.

On Sunday, a group of five of us headed to Tajin where there are some impressive pyramids. If you know me, you will know that I was in heaven. We went on the perfect day too because the day we chose to come was also the day where they do this super amazing ritual, but they only do it once a year, June 19. It was a purification ritual and there was so many people dressed in traditional clothing. They all got in a circle in front of the main pyramid: los nichos. Old ladies were walking around burning some kind of plants and sprinkling water on everyone. The speaker was speaking in Spanish and Mayan. After this part of the ritual they went to go cut down a tree and then they were going to drag it back to the pyramids and the flyers were going to climb up it and fly down it.We didn't have enough time to stay for this part of the ceremony. We had to go back to Casitas to pick up our suitcases and catch the bus back home.  Apparently this part of the ceremony is really beautiful and impressive, I'm sad I missed it. One of the guys told me that they were going to kill or maybe sacrifice chickens...I'm hoping I heard this part wrong. I loved these Mayan pyramids. I seriously could have spent the rest of my time here. It was breathtaking. I just don't understand how the Mayans did it. Incredible!

We we got back to Casitas around 1 or 2ish we gathered our things and headed for the beach. We just hung out there for a few hours and then we all took our buses and headed home. I left around 5, but didn't make it back to Tehuacan until 12:45ish. Long trip, but worth it!