the ¨true cross¨, veracruz, proved to be quite an interesting place. it is about 7hrs by bus from here, and is located on the gulf coast of mexico in the state of, you guessed it, veracruz. it is a port town, so west coasters, think of a smaller oakland, and east coasters, think of a port around the size of norfolk, or nawfuk, for those in the know. thus, it is pretty dirty because pemex, the nationalized oil industrustry, has large holds here. plus, it is the prinicipal recipient of most imports that come from overseas (is that redundant? i mean, import implies coming from somewhere foreign, and if the city is a port, it comes from the water, so thus it is overseas, right?).

anyway, the bus ride was faster than we anticipitated, so we arrived in the city around 3:45am. sweet. we had only slept a few hours on the bus, which was super comfy but really, how easily can you sleep on a bus? so we found a cheap hotel that miraculously allowed us to only pay for one night since essentially we would be checking out in just over 28 hours. super sweet. we payed less than 100 pesos each for a bed, clean towels and sheets and a location in theheart of downtown. could not be more perfect. thank you lonely planet for your sound advice on where to sleep on the cheap. and, as we have established over and over, i am cheap. the best part is, for the first time in over three months, i had hot water when i took a shower. wow. i thought i could stay in there forever. as old roomates or my sisters will remember, i like to stay in the shower for long periods of time. some claim i may have once, or twice,fallen asleep in the shower at home in virginia. my representatives and i continue to deny such allegations and steadfastly affirm that i merely was resting my eyes.

we slept until about 8:45am, at which time i thought is was 11am, so i woke up my friends, viridiana and the brit, and informed them that their lazy butts were costing us precious time. they rebuked me with venemous words which i shall not include here and concluded by telling me the actual time and that they would be ready when they pleased. women. who really can understand them except other women?

in any event after what seemed like days, they had showered and were ready to explore. we went to the zócolo, which is the main center plaza, or plaza de armas, where the tourists, and thus watch sellers, hang out. we drank coffee and then hit the tourist office. they were quite helpful and gave us maps, which i love, we were on our way. as i like tooting horns, especially my own, my direction finding was stellar the entire weekend. viri nicknamed me the brújula, or compass, because i miraculously found my way around nearly everywhere. nearly.

we went to a fortress that was an island very close to the mainlain, until they filled in the water with dirt and rocks, think financial district downtown s.f., and made a connection. it was almost 500 years and looked. it was used as a prison and stronghold to defend the port town from the french and of course, the usa, twice. it was fun reading the history as they bashed the usa for invading, twice, andpretty much running roughshod over the whole place. the funny part was that there were many mexican tourists giving me funny looks. pics of this place will follow.

after some interesting exchanges with cab drivers, one in particular who offered to take us to our next destination for the, in his opinion, incredibly low price of 400 pesos. and he would be our guide for the afternoon! woohoo. no thanks. i was quite happy though because i actually understood 85% of this negotiation process and he neither slowed down nor used textbook spanish. sweet action.

so we got a cab back to town, headed to the bus station for a second class bus to antigua (the first or second villa established in mexico by the spaniards. 14 pesos each way. 28 round trip. quite a bit less than the roughly 133pesos per person we would have paid mr cabbie who swore his deal was the best in town. did i mention that since we are professors that all ruins, museums, etc are either highly discounted or absolutely free? yahtzee. i just keep winning.

antigua was wild. there is what the people claim is the house of cortéz, the evil spaniard who conquered mexico and enslaved or killed thousands while destroying temples, icons and anythin non-christian in his path. the house is amazing because it is just walls now. there are trees covering the entrance and growing over doorways and windows. it is like the jungle wants to hide what happened. the land is slowly removing traces of the violent and horrible past and the people are accomplices in many ways. i ask people what their opinions of cortéz are, and they say he is bad but have no real emotion tied to it. i think i am more frustrated with the destruction than they are. people the spaniards pro-created and the people adopted christianity, many just accept the history and go on their way. i like that the jungle is erasing, in some ways, the mark of cortéz. something remembers. it could also be seen as a way of accepting the history as well though because as the trees take over the buildings, they are merely covering up what once was, not truly erasing it completely. but the fundamental elements of the building came from the land, so only the design of the structure is foreign. as the roots rip apart the architecture, the pieces return to the soil and the moss welcomes back the stone. the wind and water erode the markings and leave natural colors. in one hundred years the forest could easily consume the site. the place reminds me of a garcía marquez novel, 100 yrs of solitude, because in the end, the dust and wind consume the town and wipe it from the earth. it could happen in la antigua (the ancient).

but then there is banamex, a large mexi bank. they have dedicated themselves to restoring the site. the keeper of the coffers of gold plundered from the native people of mexico, clear descendants of the spanish legacy, want to reestablish the magnificence of the site. i think nature is taking care of that already.

once again, cortéz will win, and the people of mexico will be the ones who carry out the orders and do the brute work.

ok. lots more to say and lots more adventures, but i have to do some work. i will work on pics tomorrow.