Cofre de Perote

Saturday March 12. All this time on the hot Caribbean flatlands made us hanker for some fresh mountain air and exercise. We initially decided we wouldn’t go to Olivia’s house in Xico since she is not there—she is working in LA for two weeks—but when we saw that the seventh highest peak in Mexico—Cofre de Perote, 4210m (13,812 ft)—is at her back door, we decided to go. She arranged for her neighbor Stephan (Italian) to let us in, and her friend Juan Carlos Giot to take us hiking on Sunday.

On our way out of town we tried to find the beach that Mike vaguely remembers from 40+ years ago, but had trouble finding a route across the highway to the waterfront, so we gave up. We were delighted to see the rising and varied topography on the drive up to Xalapa! We drove around and around the city trying to find our way to the zocalo and looking for street parking in the centro, but

Xalapa

the city is hilly and the streets are not in a grid and most of them are one way and there is no street parking. When we finally got back to where we started, we pulled into a pay parking lot, asked directions and walked. The historic center of Xalapa is charming. The hillside setting makes the zocalo a mirador. We found a hip café with multiple small rooms furnished with antiques. We sat in the rooftop terrace and had tuna and salmon sandwiches on baguettes and watched a young artist couple who were drawing. Xalapa is a university town; they might have been students. Xalapa also has lots of book stores. I browsed for the Prison Verde book while Mike browsed for an art book in Spanish. We also stumbled upon a public gallery (named for Diego Rivera—don’t they know any other Mexican artists?) and saw a photography exhibit focused on documenting life in several towns in southern Mexico. We also went to the museum of contemporary art which was near where we

Our fav at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo

parked. One textile piece with purple and gold thread woven around sticks in forming cloud shapes was our hands down favorite. We would have liked to go to the museum of anthropology which features the massive Toltec heads, but it was out of the way and there just isn’t time for everything. The drive out of town wove around some beautiful parks and lakes. It is definitely a city we could spend time in.

Xico is a smaller town further up in the mountains. We parked in front of the church. It does have a plaza in front, but not the usual layout with adjacent government buildings; the palacio del govierno

Xico

is a modest building on the central street a block down the hill. We got there too late for the tourist office, but were referred to the Casa Cultural which is a block further down. The fellow who welcomed us in didn’t have a map, but he knew Olivia and drew us a map to get to her house. Then the director gave us a personal tour of the exhibit. The Casa focuses on the history of folk dance and festivals in the region and cultivates a living tradition, teaching the dances, costumes, characters and masks to children.

We had called Olivia’s neighbor Stephan and as arranged met him in front of the church at 6 and followed him to Olivia’s house. She lives up the hill just beyond a fancy resort hotel called Aguas

Olivia's kitchen

Benditas. The house is new and has interesting lines, including a curved wall with a semi-circular stairway and two curved windows. The windows and deck facing down hill look out on trees, while the windows on the uphill side look across cow pasture to the Cofre de Perote peak. We were very comfortable there and availed ourselves of her washing machine as well as stove, shower and bed.

Olivia’s downstairs renter Billy is a 70-year old American who has lived in Mexico for more than 30 years. He used to work in the states three months of the year (summer) and earn enough to live in Mexico the other nine months. Ever since the crash of 2008 he has lived in Mexico full time. He knows how to live on very little. He reads and bikes and walks a lot.

Sunday March 13. Another awesome climb! Perhaps the most beautiful to date. (How many times have I said that?) At 9am we parked our van in front of the iglesia in Xico and went with Juan Carlos in his little VW beetle. That was amazing! The road was in really poor condition and required a high clearance truck, but Juan Carlos was such a skillful driver, and took it so slowly, and Mike and I got out three times to lighten the load, that he only scraped bottom once. This is a public road that goes up to several tiny pueblacitas, each with a handful of campesino houses and lots of cows, goats,

Cofre de Perote

sheep and pigs. It took us over two hours to drive less than 20km. We parked at the end in front of some houses where we were greeted by three boys and their horse. They were eager to know if we spoke English, and where we were going.

The trail—completely unsigned—starts at 2,600m, traverses several cow pastures, across barb wire fences, traversing up through the scrub, into a young pine forest. There had been a massive burn here 25 years ago, and reforestation and soil conservation are in progress. The forest was sweet smelling in the warm sun and the views of Cetlálpetal, dressed in bridal white down to her ankles, were stunning. The recent snow storm was a freak event this time of year (read: climate change). Just to prove that it is a real mountain, the Cofre also had a little snow left in the shadows. We continued climbing up past two huts, and then a little alpine scrambling to reach the summit. Where we were confronted with two dozen cell phone towers and three trucks that had come up from Perote with workers and visitors. There were cement stairs up through the complex to the true summit, complete with the trash of windfallen cell towers.

Cetlalpital from the summit of the Cofre

Cofre Perote was a perfect day hike: enough altitude and gain to feel the mountain air, acclimation and exercise, but not so much to feel crummy or exhausted. On the trip down it started to cloud over and cool off. We were back in Xico, for cerveza and dinner at a local restaurant run by Jauan Carlos’ friend (actually, it appears that most everyone in Xico is Juan Carlos’ friend). The pizza was again mediocre, but the company was excellent.

Juan Carlos is a really interesting guy. He is an avid climber and mountain biker, a sculptor and a videographer—the latter is his primary source of income. His sculptures are mechanical, made from seeds and other natural products he collects from the forest, and with wires that make the eyes open and close, or the wings flap, or a range of other complex combinations of movements. Some are operated by hand, like marionettes, and some are battery operated. One bicycle goes round and round when you turn the crank. One old lady wakes up when you drop a coin in her can. I wish I could show you this great stuff, but I can’t find it on the internet. It is not even liked to his facebook page, which is all just climbing photos.