Mexico Log Day 8

The days of Magical towns.

The Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) designation is awarded to those communities that over time have maintained their original architecture, traditions, history and culture. As well as to those that have been of great relevance to the country’s history.

This was the day that we were going with the family to Xico (pronounced Hico). We began our day with a stop at the cafe de la parroquia and had cafe lechero and ordered a bombas and enchilada suizas. I had previously had this dish on Isla Mujeres and it was one of my favorite dishes there. Sadly, these were nothing close to what I had on the island. Still, we had a blast as there was a gal ahead of us in line that we thought might be a model as she was tall, thin, had perfect posture. A young guy met up with her and the two more older gents met up with them at the table next to ours. We made up stories of who and what they were doing. People watching and devising stories of others lives is fun anywhere. This town has some of the largest espresso machines I have ever seen.

We went to the house and Syd and I went up on the roof for the view. We could see the pools in the yards, the park across the street and the skyline with the crazy building that looked like someone had fashioned it after a half played Jenga Game.

The road trip to Xico had us passing through Xalapa and Cuatepec – which is another magic town and deserves some time to see. We decided then that we needed another trip just to spend some time in this part of the state and explore. We did drive down some of the side streets to get a taste of the town, but alas, we had a destiny and needed to motor on. The region is very lush and beautiful.

We made it to Xico and it is the most magical of the towns. We drove through the streets a bit and then headed to the place we were staying at. It is a beautiful resort with farm grounds surrounding the well groomed multi palmed area. This area is abundant with cattle ranches and coffee/plantain plantations. The resort is called Agua Bendita. The plant life there was just amazing. The leaves on many of the plants and trees were larger than I had ever experienced.

We then went into town to have dinner at the Campanario restaurant. I was filled with wonder ever since entering this town. Combine the beauty of the land with the old world cobblestone streets and the historic buildings and streets, and this is a town that feels like it is a treasure from another time. One that the inhabitants know they are blessed to know and live within.

The restaurant had it’s own internal wall of lush plants, historic photos on the walls and as like everywhere in the state of Veracruze, a gal making the fresh home made corn tortillas. Most of our table had some form of steak after the standard appetizers and I had rellenos. We had a dessert tamal that like a sponge cake with light filling in it wrapped in corn husk.

It rained off and on during dinner and was sprinkling when we left. We drove a few streets over and walked up one of the main streets toward one of the churches of the town. We stopped and purchased coffee and mole and Paola bought us each a Chile sec

I went to a honey shop and bought some pollen stuff for Ted

We went into another coffee shop where they were roasting the beans and bought more coffee.

It was getting late and dark and the church at the top of the street was closed, so we made it back down to the cars and made our way back to where we were staying. We joined up with the family in their bungalow – which was really a bit more like small two bedroom house. They had a jacuzzi in their place which they filled for the kids to enjoy as some of us watched Thursday night football of NY Giants and Washington Redskins. Lalo’s father was once a professional soccer player, so sports was always available to watch with Don Lalo.

Enjoying the foliage at night was just another lens to see the beauty.