Xalapa

In Xalapa we introduced Igmar to our version of urban camping, setting up our tent in a public park that had a lake, a jogging path and a carnival. Again we slept peacefully and undisturbed, packing up around 9am to explore the city before my 3pm bus ride to the D.F. Leaving our stuff at another supermarket bag check, we bought donuts and chocolate soy milk for breakfast and found a beautiful park on our way the university museum. Amongst its lush gardens and meandering streams, built in an ancient style, we ate our breakfast and contemplated the luck of our lifestyle. All this for less than $10 a day. 

The museum was yet another wonder, and we were captivated by a quote engraved in the wall:

"¡Mexicano detente: Esta es la raíz de tu historia, tu cuna y tu altar. Oirás la voz silenciosa de la cultura más antigua de tal vez, la civilización madre de nuestro continente. Los olmecas convirtieron la lluvia en cosechas, el sol en calendario, la piedra en escultura, el algodón en telas, las peregrinaciones en comercio, los montículos en tronos, los jaguares en religión y los hombres en dioses!" -Agustín Acosta Lagunes, 30-X-1986.

Mexicans halt: These are the roots of your history, your birthplace and your altar. You'll hear the silent voice of perhaps the most ancient culture, the mother civilization of our continent. The olmecas changed the rain into harvests, the sun into a calendar, rock into sculpture, cotton into fabric, pilgrimages into commerce, mounds into thrones, jaguars into religion and men into gods! -Agustín Acosta Lagunes, October 30, 1986.

When it was time for me to board my bus I was sad to go.