That is one big head

We are currently in Xalapa, sometimes spelled Jalapa, home of the the Jalapeño! I will do a quick run through of our last day in Puebla before jumpping into our time here. On our second day in Puebla we checked out the Museo de Amparo, a private museum that traces the history of art techniques, we liked the potter, weren't so hot on the colonial painting, very dark and religious. We also broused an antique market. The antique market was probably my favorite part of the day. It featured a swap meet type atmosphere with people selling all kinds of old neat things from comic books, to old irons, and even documents that were claimed to have been from the time of the inquisition. There were big bins of coins containing money from all over, including the very rare 1985 US quarter. I had a skype date with my college girl friends which was fun, although again, thanks to bad connections and my friends technology challenges, it was not the clearest of converstaions. It was fun to hear their voices though, although it made me sad to be missing out on the reunion. After a late lunch we went home for a nap. Then to make up for the fact that we saw a really well done, thought provoking, moving film the night before, we went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshal that evening.

The next morning we hopped on the bus to Xalapa and arrived around 2 yesterday. We are staying at a pretty awesome hotel, which we got a killer deal for online. We have a giant king size bed and Michael is enjoying a few nights sleep with out being kicked and I am enjoying a few nights where I get to have covers the whole time. Yesterday we wandered around the center of the city and around a path that surrounds some small pretty lakes in the center of town. Xalapa lacks that charm that Oaxaca had but we are liking it better than Puebla.

This morning we headed out to the Museo de Anthropolgìa, which was simply incredible. We saw 7 giant Olmec heads. They have only found 16 of the things ever and 7 of them are here in the musuem. They are HUGE and just beautifully carved. I can only imagine how cool it would be to be one of the lucky archeologists to come across one of these things out on an exploratory trip or dig. In addition the museum had and over whelming number of other very interesting things, too many to really absorb in one morning but we did out best.

After the Anthropology we headed down the hill to the Fire fighters Museum. This was truly a wonderful experience. We were treated to a tour of the museum collection which included two horse drawn fire engines, a more modern steam powered truck, helmets from fire fighters from around the world and through much of history, and patches from fire departments all over the world incluing one from the City of Monrovia! The fun didn't stop there though. The tour continued and we got to see all of the modern station as well including the gym where the bomberos work out, which could have qualified for an antique in itself, as well as the kitchen, dorms, and the modern fire engines. The highlight of the tour was definately when our guide let us slide down the fire man poles that went from the dorms down into the station! Pictures to come soon. We were told that this one station and its two engines covers the Veracruz state territory from Xalapa all the way to half way to Veracruz city. A territory that would have most likely dozens of stations here in the US. Outside the station they have a monument that firefighters can choose to have their ashes stored in if they would rather be remembered there than in a family cemetary. It was a wonderful experience.

After that we headed out to an old Hacienda outside of town which is all furnished with antique furniture. It was gorgeous, we decided that if you could ignore the horrific oppression the supported the welath and made that kind of luxury possible, it wouldn't have been a bad place to live. There was a fig tree that is said to be over 500 years old that we have now added to our famous very big, very old Mexican tree collection.

After that we had a very American afternoon visiting the local mall and eatting at Chilies, gasp, I know, but we were missing home a bit and it was fun. Now were are here and have finished booking a room in Mexico City where we head tomorrow afternoon. It should be crazy. I am hoping to find Thai food. I am told anything is possible in the DF.