A business cross-roads, Tuxtepec feels small and quiet, and sits in the big curve of the Rio Papaloapan. We stayed two days, enjoying the quiet, after three months of city busy and noise. Not much to take our attention, other than the barbacoa palapa, and it was nice to begin a "re-set". The two hour bus ride to Tlacotalpan, another place on my List, turned into only a layover on the way to Veracruz. It was the weekend of Candelaria, and Tlacotalpan hosts a bigass homecoming of sorts. Families make day trips from Veracruz city. If they come from further away, they sleep wherever they can: in tents pitched everywhere; in their cars; on the sofa of a local who rents any space they have. No way to stay in this picturesque town. We sat on the curb by the tiny bus office (no station here), taking turns walking through the crowds, waiting for the next bus to Veracruz. We might have been the only gringos in town, and were curious to the locals. This man, from Boca del Rio, sat down and sang for us, then got on a bus and disappeared.
In Veracruz, we found a hotel close to the Malecon and zocalo. We arrived at 9pm with no reservation, and were led to a tiny room on the third floor. Because the air conditioner didn't work, and it was surely needed, we were led to a much nicer room for the same price. Veracruz is grittier, more casual than Oaxaca, with delicious seafood and a big reverence for good coffee. Javier Marin, sculptor from Veracruz, had recently installed giant, bronze heads along the Malecon. It took distance to recognize the shapes, turned sideways and upside down in the constant wind off the Gulf. I loved them. One afternoon, we caught a local bus to Boca del Rio, the Myrtle Beach of Veracruz, where we had a fabulous meal of grilled octopus, seated at the best table in the palapa, by the water. 
Veracruz is an important city for business and tourism, a good city, but we were looking for quiet, so after a few days, we headed west 2 hours to Cordoba. Some people in Veracruz say the people of Cordoba are snobby, theater-going, high-class people. We found then very warm and friendly, and saw no signs of high heels! A really pretty small city. A cold front was chillin' most of our friends in the north, and had dipped very far south, chilling and bringing rain as far south as Veracruz. No views of mountains or hiking for these fair-weather gringos! Much coffee, and a little tobacco is grown here. The tourism office is very eager to show spanish-speaking tourists around, and we learned more about the histoy of the state. The church across the street from our hotel was almost invisible in the fog before the lights came on.
On the road again, we headed further west, to not-so-sophisticated Orizaba on the river, passing miles of sugar cane and coffee growing underneath the taller banana trees. The bus negotiated the 5-wagon-trains of sugar cane, hauled by slow moving tractors on the way to the processing plants. (Not such a good photo, grabbed when the bus slowed for traffic.)
Cold. It's just cold! And, the chipichipi, (constant slight drizzle) keeps us out of the parks and other outdoor living areas. So, we bought beers and returned to the hotel to get warm.
Seems that everyone we met asked if we were going to Cosco. Being eager to know the area, we bought bus tickets to Cosco. It's about an hour north Orizaba, a Pueblo Magico, and turned out that getting there was more complicated than we planned, but eventually we found ourselves at the small bus station. Coscomatepec. By the time I'd figured out how to pronounce the name, we'd fallen in love with the pretty village. Coffee, really delicious bread and fruits are grown in this Nautl village that is more about 800 years old. Sunday, looking for a laundry, with an armful of dirty clothes, we met Rafael on the street, with his 2 year old daughter. He took us into the house of his in-laws, where we were hugged, kissed, fed coffee and roasted meat in hand-made tortillas, and entertained by a stream of cousins and spouses and children coming and going, all being fed. They were horrified to know that we were paying for a hotel, and insisted we stay with them.
No surprise, we have met many kind, generous, caring people traveling in Veracruz. I can't help but compare the places we are learning about on this trip to our second home in Oaxaca, where we always meet kind, generous, caring people. There is a love of good food everywhere! The artwork in Oaxaca is the finest in the country, by far, but the hearts and souls of the Mexican people are the same, no matter where we go.
Next stop: Xalapa.
