Mexico's Xalapa a Different Tourist Destination
City Offers History, Colonial Buildings, in Place of Glitzy Facade
May 12, 2009
Xalapa, the capital of Mexico’s state of Veracruz, has limited airport service. Any would-be travelers from the United States face a stop or two along the way before arriving there.
There are no English language newspapers to be found on newsstands alongside Xalapa’s own Diario or other dailies from Mexico City or Veracruz.
Cable TV systems in even the city’s most modern hotels offer only Spanish-language fare with the exception of an occasional old U.S. movie in English with Spanish subtitles.
These are good things, because they are representative of an atmosphere that keeps Xalapa (usually spelled Jalapa in the United States) authentically Mexican.
There is no gaudy Las Vegas-south strip of high-rise chain hotel-casinos as in Cancun, no tequila-shot beach front bars like Cabo San Lucas or some of the other West Coast resorts.
Colonial Architecture and Cobblestone Streets
There are, however, cobblestone streets, a symphony orchestra that often plays in the courtyards of the city’s public buildings, 18th century architecture, pine forests and a university on a lake in the city of 400,000 which sits at 4,500 feet in the heart of Mexico’s coffee-growing country.
The recession, fears of swine flu and the danger of narco-gang shootouts, largely in border cities, are combining to keep Americans north of the Rio Grande. But once the economy starts to level off and the swine flu scare passes into history, they’ll be looking south once again to Mexico.
They would do well to look 200 miles east of Mexico City to Xalapa as a place to spend a week or so. Perhaps the best reason is to see the Museum of Anthropology of Xalapa http://www.xalapa.net/antropologia, which traces life in the area which is now the state of Veracruz back more than 3,000 years.
It tells its story chronologically, starting about 1200 B.C., with a 9-ton Olmec head in front of the main entrance, and continuing through the development of the Totonac and Huastec civilizations, up to the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century.
Anthropology Museum Second Largest in Nation
The museum, which is operated by the University of Veracruz, includes 18 galleries, several patios and has a collection of nearly 30,000 pieces. It is second in size in the country only to the internationally famed Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
It would be easy to spend a full day there, traveling through the centuries. Admission is about $3.50. Signs are in Spanish, but there are English translations on plastic-covered cards at the entrances to many of the galleries. Additionally, English-speaking guides are often available.
Coffee production is a cornerstone of the area’s economy, joined by corn, sugar cane, tobacco, citrus fruit and the chilies that bear the area’s name -- jalapeños.
The altitude keeps the city from sharing the muggy climate of Veracruz, only 65 miles away but at sea level. A good place to enjoy a cool afternoon is Parque Juárez, in the middle of town.
When the weather is clear, visitors will see the peak of Mount Orizaba, 100 miles to the south. Orizaba, at 18,800 feet, is Mexico’s highest mountain. It’s also an active volcano, but it hasn’t erupted since the mid-19th century.
Other interesting buildings are the Palacio Gobierno, Palacio Municipal and the Xalapa Cathedral, which dates to 1641. It was remodeled in 1896. Its mix of Baroque and Gothic influence is considered unique in all of Mexico.
It's Xalapa, not Jalapa
As for the seeming confusion in the spelling of the city’s name, the word “Xalapa” comes from Náhuatl, the Aztec language still spoken by more than one million people in central and southern Mexico. It means “water spring in the sand.”
The Xalapa area shares its type of cuisine with the neighboring state of Oaxaca. It’s largely a mixture of seafood and pork or chicken, with chilies and mole sauces.
Travelers should rely on their favorite guide book and on their own discoveries in Xalapa and elsewhere for such things as hotels and restaurants. Still, one restaurant popular with locals and visitors alike is La Sopa, 3 Callejon del Diamante, 817-8069. Prices are reasonable by almost anyone’s budget.
A solid choice for a place to stay is the Hotel Salmones, 24 Avenida Ignacio Zaragoza, 817-5431. The term “retro” indicates a style of an earlier time. The Salmones is not so much retro as it is still in its own time, with an art deco lobby, large rooms and a huge manual typewriter used at the front desk for all correspondence. Not surprisingly, there is no web site, but there are clean, comfortable rooms for $40.
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