I arrived in Xalapa Saturday afternoon at about 1:00 . The parking space nearest to my
apartment that I could find was about 5 blocks away, next to the Hotel Xalapa and across the street from the Parque Tacajetes, a fairly large forested park in El Zona Centro.
I walked the few blocks to my dump of an apartment, which smells a bit musty, has a refrigerator that growls, and a bathroom which permits me to sit on the toilet while showering.
Oh well, as someone who lived in a shack in the Satsop Valley for a number of years, not to mention the roach infested apartment I lived in D.C. in the early ’70s, I can put up with it until I find something better. The apartment at least is well located in Centro and I now have kitchen tools from storage so, I an get more creative in the kitchen.
I could get even more creative I had a stove with an oven, rather than a two burner electric counter top unit I bought after the landlady tried to pawn off an encrusted one burner electric unit with a broken knob and bare wires and an equally encrusted two burner gas unit, even though there is no gas line to the kitchen.
I have yet to determine why it is that the apartment rules limits visits to 4 hours and prohibit visitors after 11 PM, rules even my late ’60s dormitory didn’t even have.
After hanging out in the apartment for a couple of hours, and growing a bit tired of the refrigerator’s growl, I walked down the hill for a tour of the park, and a magnificent park it is.
The park is described by the entry signs as an urban ecological preserve and discuss the interactions of urban human activities and the natural environment. The park is laced with stone and paving stone walkways and water ways which feed a number of ponds.
One, particularly creative, waterway consists of a narrow aqueduct constructed atop a stepped retaining wall from which the water cascades into the channel atop each succeeding step in the wall; crosses the path atop an arch; and discharges into a pond which in turns discharges into a lower pond.
The walkways are flanked by native vegetation, including some very large trees and flower blossoms of all hues. With the forest canopy, vines climbing the trees in search of light, and the abundance of water the place has the feel of a rain forest. It really is an enchanting place.
The park includes a couple of playgrounds; a skateboard area; a empty swimming pool that young folks were using as a soccer field; a picnic area with three really nice elevated, stone BBQs; and a small circular stage and concrete bleachers.
I plan to return for further explorations during the week when the park is not so busy. Today the park was very busy with families and lovers young and old holding hands and strolling. There were also a number of young lovers in out of the way places holding more than hands and definitely not strolling. It was all very cute.
There is, reportedly, an exceptional botanical garden nearby Xalapa on the road to Coatepec which I plan to visit soon and supposedly another large forested park in Xalapa I will also visit.
