Every year the port-city of Veracruz comes alive with the sounds of celebration as thousands of people line the streets in anticipation of the biggest fiesta of the year- Carnaval. Carnaval is a celebration of life, colour, culture, dance and a festival that you do not want to miss. Keeping this in mind we set off on a trip to Veracruz, excited to see Mexico in a sense, well, let its hair down.
Now in my opinion Veracruz definitely isn't one of the most beautiful or welcoming cities in Mexico, the wind often howls through the streets blowing dust and sea mist in all directions, creating a scene outside of the city centre of a town comprised of many buildings half-eaten by rust, half-built, and half covered in graffiti. The beaches close to town are somewhat oil stained, with dark dirty water and enough seaweed to make sushi for the entire planet.
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| I love this photo, she was beautiful and she only stood there long enough for me to take this photo before she ran off into the distance. |
CRAZY CARNAVAL
In saying this Veracruz has its own unique charm, one of Mexico's oldest port cities and a big trading hub for the country which in its own respects has much to offer. This was especially true when it came to Carnaval, the festival was mind blowing. The cities main street, which follows along side the beaches was closed off with podiums on either side, and stretching for kilometres along the coastline it provided the perfect auditorium to view the parade. As the sun began to make its way into slumber, the city came to life, and thousands of people gathered along the road to find a place among the crowd. The parade was just incredible, with all sorts of groups of the traditional, the different and the outright strange making their way down the long road, as eager onlookers hooted and stared in amazement. Sitting in the podiums were people of all ages and sizes, grandparents, grandchildren, husbands and wives, and of course the "sensible" young people all carrying on, with 2L bottles of beer in hand that cost about 3dollars each. Different groups of people would all pass by in their respective elaborate costumes, suited to their specific type of dance hailing from Latin America, the men and women were amazing, and with every group I would join in with the dancing being twirled by a man from the salsa group, or swinging side to side with those dancing rumba. A whole night of dancing in the street, with the sound of beautiful Mexican music and the rhythm of incredible Latin dancing, I couldn't ask for anything more. For me it was a time to feel truly part of Mexico, to enjoy their festival with them, to dance their dances, to sing their songs. At one point I lost my shoes, but of course it wasn't important in the slightest, we were all sweating, all smiling from ear to ear, all living for the moment and enjoying the celebration of life and living in Mexico. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, and we were advised not to do so, for the moment there are no photos so you can see what I am talking about, but trust me when I say that it was just amazing and a night that I will never forget.
ISLAND OF DREAMS
When visiting the beaches nearby we were constantly hassled to take a boat trip to a secret secluded island, with crystal clear water and incredible snorkelling and pure white sand. After being hassled one too many a time we thought, lets go and see it for ourselves, the beaches weren't too pleasing where we were and after a while the idea of this beautiful island beach starting sounding better and better by the minute. We managed, after much bargaining, to get a good price for the boat to take us on our adventure to this island offshore. After 15 minutes we were sufficiently far enough out to sea, and the island came in view, it was small but nice, with a big lighthouse and some greenery. I though that perhaps on the other side, their would be a nice picturesque beach for us to enjoy, but I was wrong. The island we now saw before us wasn't the one we were going to visit, this was strictly prohibited, but we were allowed to take photos of this one quickly on our way to the other.
The problem was none of us could see an island close by? But in the distance not to far ahead, we could see a sort of sandbank, stretching for literally no more than 10 metres long and maybe 4metres across at its widest point. To make things even better it was absolutely covered in people. We all joked that this was the island we were going to visit, but as the boat draw near and threw their anchor we burst into simultaneous laughter. We weren't wrong, yes this little stretch of sand barely popping out from underneath the water would be our island paradise experience!
We couldn't believe it and it was so ridiculous that we couldn't be angry or disappointed, we all just laughed and enjoyed our 2cm stretch of sand and snorkelling among some rocks. By some chance a friendly Mexican man helped me stumble across some starfish and a sea urchin to have a nice look at.
THE SMART WAY TO EARN QUICK CASH
Close to the city centre we visited some nice markets with beautiful hand made leather items, bags and shoes and the like. We made our way to the harbour and the chilly sea breeze blew menacingly against the buildings and our bodies. Something caught my eye close to the edge of the water, men were diving into the harbor! I had no idea why or how (it was freezing). I watched them for a little bit, and they actually seemed to have a pretty smart little business up and running. Almost like playing a game of fetch, the men would allow young children to through money into the water upon when they would dive in to go get it. Obviously they would keep the coins and any tips if they were given. But on such a freezing day, diving into dark water most probably home to many a shark, for the equivalent of one dollar at a time I don't think I could bring myself to do it. They were freezing you could tell, but they took great pride in their daring feats as the children would applaud and stare wide eyed.
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