Tlacotalpan portales
photo by Porfirio
Castro Cruz
Danzón: Martha Gies
& Daniel Rergis,
photo by Rosario Hall
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The
state of Veracruz, which
curves around the Gulf of Mexico on the country's far
eastern shore, is rich in history and varied in landscape.
Here, tropical coastal lowlands rise quickly to jungled
forests of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The city of Veracruz,
halfway down the gulf, is Mexico's most important working
port, a city with a proud legacy of having repelled
invaders from Spain, France and the United States.
Over the
last decade, Traveler's Mind has taken students to the
lazy river town of Tlacotalpan, with its brightly painted
houses and Arabic-style portals; to the Colonial capital
of Xalapa, set in a mountainous coffee-growing region
near Pico de Orizaba, Mexico's highest
mountain; to the vanilla-growing center of Papantla,
where Totonac culture flourishes in language and ritual;
and to the colorful, raucous port of Veracruz.
Veracruz is famous for
the unique variety of its musical traditions, including
the witty jarocho music played on jarana, requinto and
harp; the romantic love songs of Augustin Lara, a Veracruz
native who became Mexico's most famous popular composer;
and several tropical dances of Afro-Caribbean origin,
such as the sensuous danzón, danced nightly in
the plazas of the port.
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Papantla
countryside, photo by Poppy Dully |
Musical
Veracruz, photo by Porfirio
Castro Cruz |
From time to time, we range beyond the borders of Veracruz:
in 2007, we traveled to India for a workshop in Fort
Cochin, Kerala; in 2010, to Sucre, Bolivia; and in 2011
we are going to Chile’s central coast. We plan
a monastery stay in rural Spain before our return to
Mexico, in 2013.
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