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| Bridge at Calle Melchor Ocampo , Hidalgo leaving Tampico |
Before leaving Tampico I headed to the supermarket and grabbed some provisions, water, ice. beer, fruit and pastries. Filled up with gas and jumped on MEX180 along the gulf to Veracruz about 600km south. Crossing the bridge at Ocampo it was already promising to be a very scenic drive. Tripping through little villages and towns like El Zapotal, Naranjos, Cero Azul before taking the MEX132 exit to Tuxpan. A busy little city on the Gulf at the mouth of the river.
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| Crossing Entero Negro, Alamo Tecolutla |
Continuing on MEX132 I connected back on MEX180 south stopping at vendors on the side of the road for lunch and refreshments. Little over half way to Veracruz I started looking for camping on the Gulf coast. Stopping at Monte Gordo I found a grassy little camp ground called Sun Beach. Clean, shady with sanitarios wifi and electricity it was perfect, I was the only camper. I stayed here for three nights catching up on blog activity, reading and hand washing clothes.
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| Camp at Sun Beach Monte Gorda |
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| Kilo of lychee's 30 pesos |
Breaking camp I headed south on
MEX180 as the road hugged the coast line all the way to
Veracruz. But before that I stopped at the many vendors selling pineapples and fresh lychee's a kilo for 30pesos heck yeah!! With the smell of fresh pineapple in the car and my fingers red from eating lychee's I drove into
Veracruz.
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| top) Palma Sola coast bottom) Avenida Ignacio Zaragoza, Veracruz |
The streets were wide and traffic was moving briskly. This was the city of pirates back in the day. The port town was big and impressive,
Veracruz is a important deep water port handling exports, manufacturing as well as petrochemicals.
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| top) Palacio Municpal, Mario Molina bottom) Fototeca de Veracruz, Calle Gutierrez Zamora |
The lavish maritime buildings adorn the waterfront,
Museo Historical Naval, Farro Carranza and
the San Juan de Ulua located across the bay. The large zocalo's connected you to the city's walking paths which I found easy to get around this intoxicating port. Music, dancing, drinking you name it, it was happening everywhere on the city sidewalks.
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| band rehearsal Veracruz |
People singing, bands playing, dance troops swinging to the cha cha and tango. I really liked the energy here. Fountains, statuary, marble sidewalks and the colonial architecture (on a larger scale) was just as impressive as other city's I visited. Street vendors and strolling band ensembles was a sight to see and hear. On one night there was about 200 students with drums and choreographed marching. Led by a staff totting majorette with a very loud whistle.
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| Cathedral de Veracruz, marble sidewalks zocalo Veracruz |
The students were broken down into groups practicing their skills and drumming their hearts out. It was very cool as everyone was getting into the beat. I'm sure it was a contest of civic pride
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| Base camp Veracruz waterfront |
Searching along the waterfront next to the public pier I found a parking spot and told it was safe to camp. 50 meters up was the navel center and next to me were restaurants and sanitarios. I popped my
RTT as the night fell.
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| Harbor view freshly painted Navel gun ships, Veracruz |
I was looking at a fantastic view of this working port just steps away from the Pilot boats who get dispatched when a large ship needs to be navigated into or out of the harbor.
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| Veracruz at night |
Believe it or not I stayed here 3 nights parked on the street and nobody bothered me. Each day street vendors would setup around me as I would go exploring on foot and during the night the streets were empty except for the people walking the waterfront to and from the nearby zocalo.
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| Melchor Ocampo Centro city art, Veracruz |
The Pilot boats would operate on call 24/7. I felt perfectly safe in
Veracruz day or night people were extremely friendly and curious. It was great to see families out walking the zocalos eating ice cream and enjoying a night on the town.
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| Pork shank Carnitas, Veracruz |
Saying good-by to a new friend of
Veracruz, I pulled up stakes in the early afternoon.
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| Bronze sculpture Veracruz pier |
After coffee I gassed up and headed due south on
MEX180 to one of
Mexico's beautiful and vibrant cities,
Oaxaca 500km away.
Hope to see you on the Trail!!...
🚙.....
