Life and death in the state of Veracruz

We´ve decided to stay in Xalapa for the weekend waiting to see the dentist in Oaxaca (pronounced: wahaka) on Tuesday. It´s cheaper and cleaner here. After that we head to the Yucatan to camp and explore the Mayan ruins. That should be interesting. A entirely new million acre archaeological site was recently discovered and it will be nice to get there before the tours busses put it on their route and Starbucks sets up coffee houses there. Plus, I´ve never see monkeys or Tucans in the wild. I´m really looking forward to it. Now on with the photos.



Xalapa has an excellent museum of archaeology so we spent the morning there yesterday. Among its feature pieces are the giant stone heads of the Olmecs, which are over 3000 years old. It´s speculation but some scholars have deduced that the Olmecs believe they decended from a human who mated with a jaguar. At any rate, they were pretty fierce guys. The museum contains some incredible ritual artifacts including burial bowls with the skeltons still in them and this headless sculpture holding a flat top block with a grim face carved on its front. It is thought that the still beating heart of the sacrificial victim was placed on the top of the block and offered to the gods.

Then there´s this lovely piece depicting a fertility priest wearing his offering, the skin of a sacrificed human. That´s why the figure has two sets of arms and feet. From the front, the priest is also sporting a giant erection. I guess I´ll have to post that photo as well. I just don´t happen to have it on the flash drive today.



Mexico is a strange blend of childish fantasy and grim reality. For example, when we were driving through the mountains, on our way to Xalapa, we turned into a gas station to ask for directions. We hadn´t seen a roadsign for a couple of hours. I noticed a half starved street dog standing on the sidewalk in the rain. One of Mexico´s great shames is the terrible condition of its many homeless domestic animals but don´t get me started on that. There was a car ahead of us also turning into the Pemex and a slick, wet, bloated dead dog lying right in the entrance. It looked nearly identical to the dog on the side of the road. The left front tire of the car drove directly over the dog´s head and its body bounced and shuddered from the impact. The gas station attendents hadn´t even bothered to move the body to the side of the road. It makes me crazy to see the neglect but I have to say we have seen almost no stray dogs in Victoria or Xalapa. It was so bad in Oaxaca last year, we dreaded returning to the country. For this reason alone, I´m glad we´re staying in Xalapa a few more days. It´s way easier on the emotions plus it has a terrific vegeterian resturant below a yoga studio that offers a fantastic three course lunch for 3 bucks. To us it has become the center of the city.