Day 4: Mexico Adventure - Museo de Antropología de Xalapa - bus to Papantla
Good morning, folks.
Yesterday was a long day. I hit Teotihuacan in the morning, and then I caught a bus to Xalapa.
I am wore out. I am going to take it easy today. Xalapa has the 2nd best archeology museum in Mexico, which is known for their Olmec collection. That's my destination.
I catch a bus this afternoon to Papantla
to visit the El Tajin ruins tomorrow.
Xalapa is the birthplace of the Jalapeño, by the way
@ILoveAmericaNews
Robert, are you a fluent Spanish speaker? Your adventures make it seem easy. My Spanish is from high school 50 years ago and probably useless unless it involves numbers as I can still count to 20 in Spanish🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I know maybe 100 words in Spanish. I can talkabout money, and that's about it.
Mexico really is easy to navigate by bus once you learn the system.
But I am a little more adventurous than most. I crossed the Sahara Desert on local buses in 2021 knowing 2 words in Arabic: Hello and thank you. I had 3 flashcards that I had a hotel clerk in Cairo write for me in Arabic saying the places I wanted to go, and how much I was willing to pay.
Thinking back, that was probably a bad idea.🤣
I have arrived at the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa! I can see one of the big Olmec head staring at me through the window!
Xalapa is a lovely college town in the mountains. It is the capital city of Veracruz, and all of the construction I have seen is relatively modern.
It was foggy and cold this morning, and the myst burnt off by 9am revealing a large volcano on the skyline. This area reminds me of Santa Cruz, CA.
Here are the top-10 artifacts I am here to see;
https://x.com/i/grok/share/8306d2ca64424e7d8aa76bb009b490b4
The big Olmec heads are a hell of a lot more impressive than I anticipated. I am blown away.
My first impression was "holy shit that looks Egyptian. " #PhotosbyRobertR
I found around a dozen elongated skulls.
Yeah. I am obsessed with the Olmecs now.
I am rewriting the second part of my trip to include the Olmec sites south of Veracruz. I have to see where these people lived. #PhotosbyRobertR
@ILoveAmericaNews Are you in guitar pic Somolia? @BlkLdyPatriot 😂
Xalapa, Mexico. Museo de Antropología de Xalapa.
Well. I am actually down the street from the museum in a seafood place waiting for a whole red snapper I just ordered.
I bought some sliced watermelon and a candy-covered coconut treat on the way walking back to my hostel from the museum.
Watermelon. 25 pesos. $1.50
Coconut treat. 15 pesos. $1.
I have a lot to say about the Olmecs.
They are without a doubt the founding civilization for the region.
I am waiting at the bus station in Xalapa for my ride to Papantla to see El Tajin. It is 2pm now, and my bus leaves at 3:45pm.
I had trouble getting Ubers, and I hate taking taxis in Mexico, so I walked 2 miles to the museum, 2 miles back to my hostel, and 1.5 miles to the ADO bus station.
I am beat. I will catch up on journaling on the bus.
I have a lot to say about the Olmecs.
The Spanish really did humanity an injustice burning all the books, it would have been nice to have archeologists have access to all the Aztec writings too.
A non-tourist look at American pre-columbian civilizations is very interesting in part because it shows parallel diverging development, but one that still had constraints and often butted up against them.
The constraints that ended the olmecs are warnings to us today not just because we do follow them but because we could follow them and so the experiment has already been run, but most people won't listen.
Tourists of course will invoke debunked noble savage models that justify revolutionary erasure of our own traditions, but have little resemblance to the real history.
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Hol' Up!
Are those cat ears?
Did felids inhabit this area before humans?!
It's Ancient Aliens right?!?!
🤣
@Fox that is a very famous Olmec alter. They call it a werejaguar. Olmec leaders are often depicted shapeshifting it jaguars. There are a ton of different theories why.
Here is another example of a werejaguar Olmec sculpture. #PhotosbyRobertR
FYI: An ADO bus ticket last minute to Cancun from Xalapa is only $120, and the leave several times a day.
I will use this information at some point.
This is model of El Tajin in the museum I visited today. This is where I am heading tomorrow. I just caught the bus cut of Xalapa to Papantla. It is around a 5 hour ride into the mountains, and then I have to hire a taxi driver for a half day to get there.
But it's an impressive complex that no one visits, so here I go.
By the way, I have a mask wearing, Mexican soccer Karen sitting next to me on the bus, and she said, Mi Dios" when she saw me.
I assume that is a compliment.
This my dad's reply to a text I sent him of the model of El Tajin. I love my dad.
Not for future trips:
I should have taken a different route.
Mexico City, to Papantla, to Xalapa, to Veracruz is a better route than I am taking. It would have saved me a couple of hours on bises and around $20 if I took that route.
Is bises of plural of bison? Because there's your problem.
12 minutes.
This places is exceptional. My favorite dish when I was living in Puerto Rico was the whole fried red snapper. I read that was a specialty of Xalapa, so I had to try it. #PhotosbyRobertR
I don't know how they got the interior of the fish so crispy. They must have a giant deep fried.
I could eat in this place once a week for the rest of my life.
170 pesos. Around $9.50.
That seafood place is known for their giant seafood cocktails. They have a shrimp cocktail that looks lik a 32oz margarita.
I could not eat another bite, or I would have bought the octopus one. It looked so good.
@ILoveAmericaNews
White dude with red hair! Definitely a god.
I haven't showered a couple of days. I could not find a shower in the hostel where I stayed last night. I probably smell like a Democrat.🤣
@ILoveAmericaNews @BlkLdyPatriot Food porn pic or it ain’t true…
It happened. I can't get the pictures to upload. I am in a bus in the mountains of Veracruz, and the reception isn't good enough. Here is the post about it.
https://noauthority.social/@ILoveAmericaNews/115946790212723848
What does Simba eat in The Lion King?
Seems like a pretty big plot hole, if you ask me.
I wish I liked fish and shellfish more. But I don't. I like fish and chips and tuna sandwiches (and anchovies in Caesar dressing). Seafood does make a restaurant smell richer and more interesting, tho. But then then again so did cigarette smoke.
A retelling of The Lion King where Simba is a vampire-like character that keeps eating the members of his party everytime he gets hungry, but he pretends like he has no idea what is happening so he won't scare off his next meal has potential.
Are you sure he's not on Simbaglutide??
I am watching El Rey Leon in Spanish in the bus to Papantla, Mexico right now, by the way.
It's the live action version.
I am not impressed.
Come on, @MSP_SMIMSA that one deserves a major award!
Papantla is my next stop, and then I bus to Veracruz. I splurged for a hotel right on a popular beach for 2 days. I am going to eat so much seafood!
I am heading north east of Mexico City now. Can you see why I should have changed my route? I should have done CDMX, Papantla, Xalapa, and then Veracruz. I am back tracking 2 hours right now because I chose CDMX to Xalapa to Papantla to Veracruz.
I will know for next time.
It is quite a bit warmer down here along the coast, and the jungle is super lush. The bus route drove along the coast for an hour, and I didn't see the ocean once.
I am missing context but for you...
🏆🏅🥊
I made it Papantla, and I checked in to MY hotel. It is a 5 minute walk from the bus station. I picked wisely this time. Yesterday was almost an hour walk from bus station to hostel..
I am going to grab a bite to eat, shower, and go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I have read El Tajin can take 4 hours to explore, and I don't know the next time I will make it out this way, so I have to see it all tomorrow.
My feet are in rough shape. I have been putting too many miles on them.
This is what the town square of Papantla, Mexico looks like on a Friday night at 9:30pm. #photosbyRobertR
It is up on top of a hill overlooking the town. My map app said it is a 5 minute walk from my hotel, but that was deceptive. It is almost straight up hill.
Edit: The video I tried to upload with this post failed. I am way out in the boondocks.
I am going to splurge and get the T-Bone steak at a kind of fancy place overlooking the town square of Papantla, Mexico. ##PhotosbyRobertR
The T-Bone dinner is 270 pesos. $16.
Fantastic view from the balcony of the restaurant. Papantla, Mexico. #PhotosbyRobertR
The corn was the best bite on the plate, and I had to think for a while before I realized why it was so good. There was vanilla in the corn.
I guess this area is known for using vanilla in cooking. Oh my gosh it was good.
The massive old retaining wall that holds up the church in Papantla, Mexico has giant sculptures around 50 meters long on the exterior of it.
The carvings stick out around 3 ft. This portion of the mural depicts the main pyramid at El Tajin where I am going tomorrow morning. #PhotosbyRobertR
The retaining wall is old world AF, by the way.
I am way out in the boondocks. The only White man I've seen in 2 days was looking back at me in the mirror. 🤣
I am really excited for tomorrow!
@ILoveAmericaNews there is a newer variety of corn that is actually even sweeter than "Peaches and Cream" variety. hard to believe for those who have been lucky enough to have had real Peaches and Cream sweet corn .
i wonder what variety they use
They invented corn down here. The have so many varieties.
@ILoveAmericaNews many of us are not looking at the plate, we are guessing how warm it is there at night. 😂
75% of people in have seen in the last 2 hours in the town square of Papantla, Mexico have been teenage couples.
9pm-11pm 1/23/2026
It is 75 degrees ish. I am at a lot lower elevation now. It is a little humid. I am wearing cargo shorts and a hoodie, and I am perfectly comfortable at 11pm.
FYI: Today turned out to be a NoAuthority.social exclusive travel log. I didn't post on X all day. I don't recall the last time that was true. @eriner
Woohoo!
The guy that was my cameraman for the Tommy Robinson rally last September when I was interviewing people on the streets of London has agreed to help on a big project I have planned.
He did the editing for the Tesla/Kardashev Scale video I made last month too.
I am super excited! Big announcement coming soon! We are going to make something awesome!
@ILoveAmericaNews @eriner I'm enjoying it. Tamale food action shot was good too.
I am.glad. It has been fun.
@ILoveAmericaNews I'm in bed under the covers. I have 4 pair of pants on.
I spent all day daydreaming about living in Xalapa and studying archeology at the university where the Olmec museum is located..
I would eat so much seafood.
Anyway. I have stayed up too late. I am going to crash out, so I can hit El Tajin bright and early. It opens at 9am, and I intend to be there when they open the gates.
I'm going to hire a guide for my first loop around the ruins, and then I will do a 2nd with my GoPro.
Enjoy this elongated skull video.
Edit: video didn't upload.