Pueblos Magicos Fall Tour 2025

Dispatch 2

After leaving Malinalco, I headed back into Mexico City for an overnight stay before my

relatively longer ride to Veracruz the following day. I had booked with one of my two favorites in

CDMX, Hotel Frida Costa Azul which is perfect for a quick in and out. No frills, clean,

comfortable, very quiet at night which is a big deal in this city, good hot water and pressure in

the shower, and a convenient two block walk to the Metro. The TV lineup has only a limited

national selection. If I am staying for a few days and want cable and Netflix I stay at a different

hotel. I was surprised to discover an updated, fully functional safe as more often than not they

are out of service from hard use. Best of all was the price with my Genius discount on

booking.com which at level three saves me tons of money - $30!

There were some serious glitches in the morning which I will talk about later. Eventually I was

on the way to Veracruz on an ultra-luxury bus, definitely not my first choice.There was one

advantage, a direct route on a new fast toll road, of course at a corresponding price.

Veracruz is the final major city in Mexico that I had never visited. I had finally added Monterrey

two years ago. It anchors the northern desert, a part of Mexico I have always had little interest

in. Veracruz was the first stop on my present Gulf Coast and Yucatan trip, another region that

has never been on top of my list. I have traveled in over 60 countries in my life, but none in the

Caribbean and have spent relatively little on the eastern Mexican coast and the Yucatan

peninsula. I have always wound up choosing Southeast Asia, which I find superior in every way

and considerably less expensive.

Veracruz, the original landing point for Hernan Cortez and his Conquistadores, is a city

steeped in history. But it felt unmoored in time to me and not nearly as atmospheric as I

expected. It was a mile and a half from the bus station to my hotel on the Zocalo (main plaza).

Ubers and city buses were available, but I generally prefer to walk. I find that to be the best way

to get the feeling of a new place. Besides that, I like to stretch my legs and get some exercise

after a lengthy bus ride. I was stunned at my first view of the Gran Hotel Diligencias directly

across from the green and shaded refuge of the plaza with nearly no passing traffic. The place

looked very upscale and luxurious, a considerable step up

from my usual, which it soon proved to be. Was I really paying only $33.50 a night for this? At

the front desk, the minimum rack rate was 1,600 pesos, about $85 at the current exchange rate.

Well, beggars can’t be choosers, and I was stuck with it.

I spent a pleasant enough day and a half strolling around Veracruz Centro and the

Malecon/Port area. This is all fairly concentrated as in the historical center of most Mexican

cities. There are plenty of attractive old buildings and monuments as well as sculpture. But there

was no coherent theme to be had. Veracruz sports two ancient forts. This was pirate country

after all. They both are supposed to have museums, but both were closed. Traffic was light

particularly due to the fact that a number of the central streets were chewed up and in the

middle of reconstruction problems. It was easy being a pedestrian. Good seafood and fish were

easy to find. People who I spoke to were friendly and forthcoming. All in all the city holds a

pleasant, unhurried ambience. But it hardly compares to the stunning historic centers of many of

the old colonial, silver cities.

My habit these days is to have a late afternoon dinner in a decent restaurant. Midday I go for

licuados (smoothies), fruit, nuts and raisins. But for breakfast I almost always head to the central

market or look for a small granny hole-in-the-wall with authentic, fresh, hot local food, prepared

right in front of you by cooks with decades of experience. Of course they are cheap too.

Ambling along I walked into one of these on a whim. I ordered a chicken tostado and a gorda,

a puff pastry covered with beans and cheese, along with a cup of Nescafe. I was gratified when

the last arrived with steaming hot water. Sadly that is often not the case in Mexico. I tend to be

even more picky about soup, but not to any avail. My simple meal was delicious and filling. The

bill ran to 75 pesos, under four dollars. All of this was great, but turned out to be merely a

sideshow.

At the next table, just a few feet away was a man of indeterminate age (he turned out to be

67). He had a pleasant, open face and long stringy greying hair. As soon as I sat down he

smiled and began to engage me in conversation. At first I didn’t notice anything different. Like

most guys I reflexively check out female figures, so this man with a strongly masculine facial

structure and a deep raspy voice gave me no incentive to focus on anything below the

shoulders. When I did happen to glance at him fully, however, I was amazed to notice two full

round breasts and that his red outfit was actually a dress. The “he” was a “she.”

Her name was Neyali, Zapotec for I love you. She was originally from Mexico City but had lived

for many years on a mini-farm outside of Veracruz. She had three grown sons and had

transitioned eight years ago. We had a long, spirited, and delightful conversation. She was one

of the loveliest persons who I have met in over fifty years of travel. And this encounter was the

highlight of my visit to Veracruz.

Catemaco

From Veracruz I rode the bus to Catemaco in the far south of Veracruz state in a region called

the Tuxtlas. There are three closely adjacent medium size towns here, the other two called

Tuxtla Guitérrez and San Andrés Tuxtla. This part of the state is an ecosphere of rolling green,

forested hills. Traversing it is a scenic delight.

Catemaco built on the edge of a pretty lake of the same name should be a Pueblo Mágico

IMHO, but is not, at least not yet. I asked around regarding why it has been overlooked, but

received no conclusive answers. The town has applied to the program and there is some

chance that it will be in the next group dropped by the government, like the 45 newly endowed

Magic Towns that suddenly appeared in the summer of 2023. It is best known for an event held

on the first Friday of March every year when the Brujas and Curanderos (witches and healers)

of Mexico, and perhaps elsewhere, descend en masse on Catemaco. It is reputed to have a

mystical edge, though I found little evidence of this in the people I met.

This reputation draws some foreigner visitors, but the main attraction for domestic tourists are

the boat tours around the lake where you visit spas, mud baths, an island reserve where

endangered spider monkeys are being bred and, other stops in that vein. I should add that in

three days here I encountered only one other person who appeared to be a foreigner, a French

woman backpacker. In fact in ten days in Mexico on this current trip she and an older couple in

Malinalco have been the only three non-Mexican appearing people I have seen (with the

exception of my afternoon stroll around Mexico City Centro and the next morning at the bus

station). This is pretty par for my Pueblo Mágico travels. Gringos are few and far apart.

The simple blue and white cathedral on the main square is very attractive. Besides that the

town, while open and pleasant, offers little of particular interest. A half an hour toward the coast

takes you to the beautiful Laguna of Sontecamapan with boat rides through the mangrove

swamps, leading to being deposited on the beautiful Barra de Sontecamapan beach. Here is

where I suffer from being a single voyager. The tariff of 40 dollars for a round trip may seem

reasonable for a family of four to six, but there is no way that I am going to pay that. I already

live most of the year on a lovely beach gratis. Another forty minute ride deposits you in the

simple beach village of Montepio where you can find simple cabins and seafood restaurants,

and can have a gorgeous Gulf Coast beach (that is Gulf of Mexico, not America) practically to

yourself, while enjoying costs about ten percent of what you will find along the over-touristed

and spectacularly overpriced Mayan Riviera. Cancun, Playa Carmen, Cozumel, and Tulum and

the entire upscale all-inclusive deals are not for me. Not in this lifetime.

Arriving in Sontecamapan in a collective taxi, I checked out the boat rides, then wandered

around taking in this simple rural agricultural village that has not been spoiled by tourism. There

is a nice public swimming hole available, and a mile hike gets you to a beautiful waterfall. It is on

private land so there is a modest entry fee. They also sell drinks and food. I was amused to see

their sign guiding you to the Cascadita, not the Cascada. To the Mexicans, everything is little.

Besides this excursion I spent my time hiking around the lake, sitting in a park by the water

reading, and eating good fish and seafood. I also treated myself to a mud bath, mud facial

mask, and a 75 minute deep tissue massage which included plenty of attention to the face,

scalp and neck. All of this left me with me with baby skin on my 75-year old body, at least for a

few hours, while lightening my wallet by $38. A bargain.

Although it is not (yet) a Magic Town, I am happy to recommend a visit to Catemaco. Today I

am spending seven plus hours on the bus to arrive in the capital of Tabasco state, Villahermosa,

where I will spend the night. Tomorrow it is on to the first of three Pueblos Mágicos in Tabasco,

Teapa.

Postscript - Some Notes on Transportation

I devote a long section in my book to Mexican bus transportation and emphasize the fact that

there will almost always be a way to get anywhere by bus. Earlier in this diary, I mentioned

some glitches. I tend to be optimistic and expect things to go fairly smoothly. And to be fair, they

do much of the time. But this is Mexico. Never assume that anything will go smoothly. Doing so

will certainly tempt the gods to find a way to humble you. What can go wrong? Lots of things

such as ignorance of local quirks, misguided advice, hidebound bureaucracy, bad roads full of

potholes, incessant speed bumps, road repairs, and traffic jams. I can go on and on.

In general when you are in big cities alongside excellent toll highways and heading for another

city or major tourist attraction, things will go well. There will be frequent buses, and they will

make very good time except for unpredictable delays leaving and entering the cities. Out in the

country visiting small and remote Pueblos Mágicos, things can be more challenging. My first

advice is to embrace the concepts of slow travel, and particularly resist any inclinations to over-

schedule. Doing so is just asking to tempt that fate.

Here is the good. I am in the large capital city of the state of Tabasco, Villahermosa after a

long eight hours yesterday of getting here from Catemaco. I had made some educated guesses,

and expected the trip to take more like six hours. One of these guesses was wrong. Not a big

deal. This morning I am heading for the first of three Magic Towns in the state, Teapa. It is only

57 kilometers (36 miles) away, so I correctly figured that it would be easy to get to. In fact I could

have easily gotten there yesterday, even after the two hour delay. But going slow means taking

it easy and avoiding stressing myself as much as possible, so I didn’t bother researching how to

accomplish this. Besides I wanted to have plenty of time in the evening to relax and watch the

Mariners game, and boy am I glad I did. It was a dilly.

Here is the good. In the United States, there would be likely no bus transportation to a small

outlying town like Teapa at all. Even if there were, it would be infrequent at best. Villahermosa

has two bus terminals, a third of a mile apart, one for long distance destinations, the other for

less traveled places on minor roads all over the state. There is one exclusive company that

services only Teapa, which offers departures every forty minutes. In fact I could have done this

yesterday, making a long day even longer. This trip I have already noticed that there is much

more internet information available than even last year. This is due to AI. But there is a catch. To

wrest this information from Ai’s greasy little hands, you have to ask it the right questions. After

ten days of sometimes frustrating efforts, I am finally beginning to learn how to make the

appropriate adjustments.

Now let’s at last get to the glitches. The first was somewhat comical. I took my normal route

from Mexico City. This meant taking the bus to Chalma and finishing with a share taxi to

Malinalco. The distance was only 92 kilometers (57 miles). Looking at a map you might expect

this to be fairly easy. But owing to bad and twisty mountain roads, the trip took a bit over three

hours. Just for one thing on a small country bus, there will be constant stops and starts to take

on and let off passengers everywhere, along with crawls through villages that are not even on

your map. The lesson here is to avoid expectations. Small town travel in Mexico begs for

flexibility, improvisation, patience, and good humor. Looking for North American efficiency is a

sure way to wind up eating humble pie.

My hosts in Malinalco suggested a different route back to Mexico City, a few miles longer, but

much faster as the second half would be on a good toll highway. First I took a collective taxi to

the large town of Tenancingo. I knew to tell the driver where to let me off to catch a Mexico City

bus. Obviously none of this would have happened if I didn’t speak Spanish. I would have

returned the same way I had arrived I, and as a cursory internet search had suggested. Anyway,

I was soon enough at the right road junction in Tenancingo. I paid the girl in the booth for my

ticket and asked her when the bus would arrive. She said about thirty minutes which is

meaningless in Mexico. Things then got a bit hinky. Her printer had stopped working. She told

me to sit on the bench and she would have my ticket soon. I watched her tapping at her phone

and laptop. This went on for twenty minutes. I was starting to get nervous. I approached her.

She shook her head and mumbled something about a few more minutes, also meaningless. I

spoke with my neighbor on the bench who was waiting for the same bus. He warned me that

they would not let me on without a printed ticket even if I had already paid, adding to my

concern. Was this really true? If all else failed couldn’t I just pay the driver another fare, which

was three dollars? Fortunately I did not have to test any of this out. A handsome young man had

joined the girl. I watched them both tap away, and after ten minutes he handed me my ticket.

Fifteen minutes later the bus arrived. End of story except for another fifteen minutes stopped

dead by some road work.

Now for the other glitch which was my own fault. I wanted to take the 7:30 AM bus from

Mexico City to Veracruz, all set out clearly on the ADO first class company’s website. Easy. I

could walk two minutes to the Metro. Allowing a few minute gap between trains and ten minutes

to go six stops on an uncrowded early morning car, I could leave my room at 6:30, and have

plenty of time to buy a ticket and grab a sandwich and coffee at the terminal. Here was my error:

The Metro operates daily from 5AM on daily. Except on Saturday when it starts at 6. Except on

Sunday when it is 7. Days of the week mean nothing to me on these trips. Occasionally I have

had problems planning to visit an attraction only to find it closed on Mondays.

And today, unbeknown to yours truly, it just happened to be Sunday. When I got to the Metro

the gates were closed. Oops. I asked a woman who said it would open at 7:00. My carefully

constructed schedule was already falling apart. The gates opened, I sprinted down the steps,

and showed my Senior card to the guard who waved me through an open turnstile. There was a

train sitting on the track. Five seconds before I got to it, the doors slammed shut and it took off. I

figured ten minutes for the next train. Clearly I would not be taking any 7:30 bus. I waited and

waited, the crowd getting thicker. Four trains passed heading the opposite direction before one

finally rolled in on ours. Of course it was uncomfortably packed. As a Senior I had the right to

demand one of the designated special needs seats, but I don’t do that sort of thing. Eventually I

arrived at the ADO ticket window at 7:50 where things continued to go downhill. Nothing was

available until 9:30, and that was on a luxury bus, $30 instead of $24. The next seat on an

ordinary first class was at 11:30. Worse, the Senior quota was already filled, something that had

only happened to me one time before ever. So now it was $60. I really did not want to sit there

for three and a half hours, so I shrugged and paid it. Just for comparison, and noting that

Mexico’s inflation has mirrored ours, I rode a two-thousand mile loop for seven weeks in 2021

and spent a total of $113. Laughing at my stupidity and silly nerves, I had breakfast at a Chinese

restaurant and then waited. My bus to Veracruz was very comfortable and very fast on a brand

new toll highway and with zero stops.