Arrested Development - Ex-Pats Mexico

We make it a habit to stay in the beautiful little town of Fortin de Las Flores, Veracruz between Orizaba and Córdoba when we drive from Lake Chapala to our home in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas as we have found a nice B&B that will take our dogs and also because Fortin is such a pleasant town filled with gardens and commercial flower growers. The B&B is known as Las Magnolias and we recommend it to any of you passing that way.

It´s about an eleven hour drive from Lake Chapala´s Lakeside to Fortin if you keep it on about 120KPH most of the way. It is particularly pleasant to arrive in this part of Veracruz after negotiating the traffic in Mexico City between suburban Santa Fe and Puebla on what is known as the interior circuit directly through the heart of the megalopolis. After that and the somewhat nondescript high Puebla Plain, approaching Mount Orizaba and the abrupt descent into the lush valley in which the towns of Orizaba, Fortin and Córdoba are located is a real pleasure. One finds oneself rapidly descending from about 8,000 feet to Fortin which is at about 2,500 feet. Much of that journey is made even more spectacular by the presence of the Orizaba volcano, Mexico´s highest peak. The valley containing these western Veracruz towns is extraordinarily lush and beautiful with fields af sugarcane, bananas and coffee. If you have no dogs, you may want to stay in the town of Orizaba which has some very nice hotels including a colonial style Holiday Inn that, so far, is my favorite Holiday Inn in Mexico. Orizaba has a thriving nightlife and lots of restaurants so you should enjoy an evening there.

If you stay in Orizaba, be sure to take the free road between there and Córdoba since it is quite beautiful and the cuota is a bit of a bore.

If you have the time, be sure to take a motor tour of Fortin where you will spot some of the most beautiful gardens you will see in Mexico and the great thing about this is that some of the splendid old gardens are protected by see-through fencing rather than high walls which hide so many great gardens in Mexico.

From Orizaba to destinations in Southeastern Mexico the roads are generally quite good and you have a straight shot but there is much more to see in Veracruz State if you take your time.

More about that later.

I wish you had pictures to go with that enticing story.

I wish you had pictures to go with that enticing story.

I must learn to do that Rolly.

We were down in that area just a little while ago, and stayed at a B&B between Fortín and Córdoba called Las Bugambillas. After a little R&R our friend drove us to Coscomatepec, which is about a half hour north. We rented a townhouse and stayed the better part of a month. The town sits under Pico de Orizaba, the third highest peak in North America. The volcano looms over the town and is capped with snow even in August.
Almost every day it rained, something we seldom experience here in the Rockies. The clouds would begin to gather in late morning or early afternoon, and usually sometime between two and four the dam would burst and the street in front of our house would become a river. In a little while everything would be washed clean, so I hardly ever had to sweep our street and sidewalk.
Once in early September it rained solid for two days, making us glad we had thought to bring our brollies. They at least kept our upper parts relatively dry. Anyway, after the storm departed and the skies cleared Pico was covered with a blanket of snow down to timberline. What a sight. Back in Salida that doesn't happen 'till mid winter. Of course the mountains are only about 14,000 ft, and that's nothing to Orizaba's 18,450 ft elevation.
The town is built on a hill too. Taking the laundry to be washed involved hauling it up a street that even 4-wheelers had to get a running start to make it to the top. Sure did get us in shape fast, as going anywhere meant climbing at least one hill.
When it was time to leave we spent three days going around to all our new friends and bidding them tearful farewells. We were just getting warmed up and in the swing of things, and we had to go. Didn't seem fair. We will have to go back. lizzy

PS Rollie, we too have pictures and I promise to post some if and when I ever figure out how. L

Enjoying your photos, Liz.

Provides a strong visual landscape backgroung to your written description.

Especially like the close-ups of faces of both strangers, and people that you got to know during your visit. Oh, yah. And photos like 'Lizzy in her element.'

Suggests you're a plant-person:)

Great pictures Liz, I love the one from the plane of Orizaba at dawn.

I, too, thoroughly enjoyed your pictures and discussion of your visit to Veracruz State. We have had no time to visit this wonderful place during our travels between Lake Chapala and Chiapas as, until about mid-2007, we were too busy remodeling our San Cristóbal home but now, with more time on our hands, Coscomatepec is on our list of "must-sees". This looks like a fabulous town and the looming and magnificent Mount Orizaba is a magical presence.

There are lots of magical towns in Veracruz state, a place where off-autopista wonders are well hidden form those simply traveling through on the cuota. When I have more time, I will write of our visits to some of those places but I will try to learn to post pictures as did you guys to make the postings more enticing.

Thanks, guys. We thoroughly enjoy taking them. Bob takes most of the portraits.

You're right, Wen. I am a plant afficionado. They threaten to take over our house, especially in the winter and I have a hard time controlling the impulse to plant things just to see what will come up. Makes it hard to live in a place with a 3 or 4 month growing season. Lizzy

one of Lizzy's fotos - many nice ones BTW

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3208/289 ... f3a3a3.jpg

Ah, yes. That's the tienda of the tea vendor at the Monday tianguis in Cosco. It must be early still, as there aren't many people around yet. By mid-day the place will be thronged.

There's no municipal market in Cosco, and the campesinos from the surrounding villages come into town to shop on Mondays. Believe me, it's not the day to take the wash to the lavanderia. There's no way you can get it back before tomorrow as their business trebles with the influx of visiting villagers.

Set-up begins about 3:30 in the AM as the vendors start hauling their wares up to the tianguis and setting up their shelters. At first the sound of metal pipes being dragged up the cobbled streets made getting up for our morning tea the only recourse, but we soon became inured to the racket and slept until the sun came up. Lizzy