VERACRUZ BREAKFAST AND WATERFRONT SHOPPING

We started our whirlwind tour of Veracruz and surrounds by boarding a tour bus that took us from the campground through the Southern suburb of Boca del Rio to Veracruz.


Notice the distinctive Mexican new house architecture in this picture. This is a new development south of Veracruz.

Here is a side street in todays Veracruz. Veracruz is the port where Hernan Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, first landed in Mexico to convert the natives to the Catholic faith and claim their lands and riches - like gold - for the King of Spain.

From this port, Cortez made allies of peoples being oppresed by the dominant Aztecs of the empire - their capital in Tenochtitlan.

The Spanish could conquer Tenochtitlan and rename it Mexico City only because of the internal weaknesses of the Aztec empire and recruits from their oppressed neighbors.

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All caravaners were taken by bus for breakfast to one of the oldest and best coffehouses in Veracruz.
The Gran Cafe de la Parroquia was full of Mexicans enjoying a Lechera (similar to the Cuban Cafe con Leche or the French Cafe au Lait). They also had great empanadas filled with picadillo. The empanadas were freshly made and delicious, but made with a toasted tortilla, and not flaky layered pastry like the Cuban empanada.

The coffemaker was imported from Italy a century ago.

After breakfast we had a minute before the tour bus picked us up for the next stop at La Antigua, a waypoint in Cortez's drive towards Tenochtitlan. We picked up a few T-shirts from Veracruz.