Travel
Latin Beat
Music and dance define Veracruz, the city with the strongest coffee and the freshest seafood in Mexico.
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But what Veracruz lacks in cultural and shopping opportunities it more than makes up for in coffee shops. I realize I seem a bit obsessed with coffee, but it is truly a dietary and social staple of the city. The most famous coffee shops are the two Parroquias. My favorite is the original Café de la Parroquia, at Independencia 105 across the street from the cathedral and facing a corner of the plaza. I prefer this location not in spite of but because of the blinding fluorescent lights, the ceiling fans lazily turning overhead, and the echoing white tile walls; they all suggest a busy but agreeable bus terminal. At almost any time of day the tables are filled with elderly men in pleated guayabera shirts, dating couples, and families enjoying a meal together, serenaded by the omnipresent marimbas and catered to by the usual horde of vendors. The second location, Gran Café de la Parroquia, on the Malecón at Insurgentes Veracruzanos 340, is larger and attracts a sizable family clientele in the evening.
Both places serve breakfast, lunch, light dinners, and fresh-squeezed juices, but the main attraction is the java. The beans, grown in the state of Veracruz, are roasted on the premises and then ground and boiled down in huge Italian urns that resemble World War I German army helmets and transformed into a thick, tarry concentrate with a kick that won’t quit. Our waiter, scribbling figures on a paper napkin, figured that both Parroquias serve about 10,000 cups of this liquid rocket fuel every day.
The house specialty at the two Parroquias is the lechero, and the serving ritual is as important as the beverage itself. First, one hurrying, white-jacketed waiter brings out a glass with half an inch of that hot, thick, concentrated sludge on the bottom. When the customer is ready, he bangs his spoon on the side of the glass. Suddenly a pourer appears, bearing kettles of hot, sweet milk. With a flourish he cocks his elbow and pours a stream of milk into the glass, filling it precisely to the brim without spilling a drop.
If coffee is the official beverage of Veracruz, music is the perennial background sound. Bands stroll through restaurants and play on street corners all day. An open door provides a glimpse of teenage girls and boys practicing folkloric dances, stamping their heels in time to the music. Away from the plaza, the beat on the streets and in the salones de baile (“dance halls”) is salsa, at least according to the imprecise survey I conducted by driving through several neighborhoods with the car windows down. But while some of the sounds here may be contemporary, others are older than the city itself. On the Malecón one morning I stumbled upon four kids with primitive flutes and drums playing traditional music from the highlands of Mexico for spare change.
My last day in Veracruz, a Sunday, I resolved to spend in Mandinga, a quaint little fishing village on a lagoon about twelve miles south of town that attracts a trickle of visitors who want to sample rural Veracruz culture. Mandinga isn’t on the tourist maps, and if my father hadn’t told me about his visit there in the late fifties, I wouldn’t have known it existed.
Happily, Mandinga has changed little with the years. The waterfront view of the lagoon is tranquil, and the parade of vendors is nearly as constant as in downtown Veracruz, though their wares are somewhat more imaginative (the stuffed iguanas from Papantla that plays miniature harps or drums far surpass the stuffed toads sold elsewhere in Mexico).
Mandinga’s main attractions are the open-air palapas that sit at the water’s edge and serve fresh and inexpensive seafood. The oldest and largest of these, Casa Uscanga, modernized long ago with a sheet-metal roof, but otherwise it is pretty much the same. A boiled crab here costs about $1, and either an exceptionally fresh filet of snapper in garlic sauce or octopus in its ink runs around $5.50. Incidentally, the drinks can be killer: The local specialty cocktail is the torito, which is made using aguardiente (sugar-cane alcohol) flavored with peanuts, coconut, or guanábana, a tropical fruit.
But best of all, I found that Mandinga is still a hotbed of jarocho music. Unfortunately, my arrival coincided with a ferocious downpour that flooded the village, but eventually one group of strolling musicians materialized out of the rain, and in just a few minutes the singing harp and ukulele-size cuatro had woven a melody with the five-stringed jarana guitar, making me forget the weather and whisking me to that idyllic place where great music always takes you. I returned to the city content.
Yes, Veracruz has lost some of its individuality to modernization. In several stalls I saw T-shirts imprinted with the words “Mis abuelos fueron a Veracruz y solo me trajeron esta pinche playera” (“My grandparents went to Veracruz and all they brought me was this stinking T-shirt”). But as long as there are sidewalk cafes under Los Portales, coffee so strong the aroma gives you a rush, and jarocho music just down the road, I know the city I remember will be waiting for me when I return.
Travel Information
Dining
The big meal of the day is lunch, taken between two and four. Dinner, served from six to ten, is traditionally lighter.
Café de La Parroquia, Independencia 105 and on the Malecón at Insurgentes Veracruzanos 340. La Parroquia’s breakfast is a must: Try fresh papaya ($1.15), a large glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice ($1.85), tirado (scrambled eggs with black beans, $1.15), plus pan dulce (pastries and sweet breads), lecheros, and much more.
Fish Market Area, Avenida Landero y Cos and Avenida Serdán. There are numerous informal cafes in the market itself, where $1 buys a fresh shrimp cocktail. La Sirena is one of several simple restaurants clustered around the fish market. Don’t let the plastic tables and chairs here fool you; both the steamed pompano and the red snapper à la veracruzana (with tomato sauce, capers, and bay leaves) are exceptional (about $10 each). In the evening, La Sirena doubles as a salsa dance spot.
Lodging
The three main hotel areas are near the Plaza de Armas, the harbor, or the beach. All listed are air-conditioned.
Direct dial 011-52-29 plus the local six-digit number.
Hotel Imperial, Lerdo 153, on the plaza (31-17-41). Best in-town choice. Recently restored, this historic 20-room boutique hotel with balconies overlooking the plaza is reminiscent of New Orleans’ French Quarter hostelries. A 74-room addition with a rooftop pool should be finished by late 1995. Double about $90. Three-bedroom suite $140.
Hotel Veracruz, Avenida Independencia and Miguel Lerdo (31-22-33). A modern, full-service hotel with an art deco lobby, just off the plaza. Has 116 rooms, simply furnished. Double about $90.
Hotel Emporio, Insurgentes Veracruzanos 210, on the Paseo del Malecón (32-00-20). A 202-room high rise with color televisions, light colors, and wicker furnishings. Jacuzzis in many rooms. Double $90 and up.
Hotel Mocambo, Calzada Ruíz Cortines 4000, in Mocambo, six miles south of downtown (22-02-11). The 125 guest rooms of this beachfront hotel are nothing fancy, but the art deco-esque structures on the lushly tropical and immaculately landscaped grounds were inspired by Spain’s Alhambra. There is nice play equipment for the kids. The exercise machines at the health club, however, were in a state of disrepair. Double $93-$110.
Hotel Continental Plaza, Boulevard Adolfo Ruíz Cortines 3501 (89-05-05). This is the newest hotel in Veracruz, with 232 rooms, but its location adjacent to Las Américas mall, away from downtown, leaves something to be desired. Double about $120.
Transportation
Rental cars run $65 to $95 a day, but you can easily get around by taxi or bus. Van service from the airport to the center of the city is about $9 per person. A cab from Veracruz’s main plaza to the Mandinga lagoon costs about $12 each way; agree on a price before getting in.
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