If I pass Cortez on the way Veracruz, it is probably best to avoid eye contact.

Hernan Cortez established the city of Veracruz in 1519. I ate my
weight in seasoned meats in Veracruz in 2010. Equally valid
strategies for the conquest of the New World. However I would wager
that my was much more delicious. By the way, if you are ever in
Veracruz do yourself a favor and go eat at Los Giros. Where else can
you order piles of delicious, ready to eat meat by the kilo?
Family to Family brought a service group to Veracruz to do some
projects and Kendon made my side-adventure to the Gulf Coast of Mexico
possible. 2 buses, a taxi and about 11 hrs later I arrived in
Veracruz, Veracruz. A beautiful, palm filled city directly west of
the Gulf of Mexico. Being on the windward side of the Sierra Madre
Oriental, it is covered in lush vegetation, as opposed to the interior
plateau of Mexico where dirt and cactus thrive. I welcomed the change
of scenery and tropical beauty. During my young life, most of my
seaside experiences were had in the cool waters off of California and
Oregon. As soon as I arrived at the Gulf, i found that the soothing
ocean breezes of the pacific got stuck in customs and never made it to
the Gulf. Not only was the water there the refreshing temperture of a
bowl of soup on a 95F day, but as soon as I disembarked from my bus, I
learned that I would be doing all my breathing through a boiled
towel. The locals call this "humidity". I felt like I would need to
go swiming in order to dry off. Suffocating humidity and torrid heat
aside, my week in Veracruz was a very welcome diversion from my
typical schedule. With the group I was able to put in a few cement
floors for people that had only dirt before. Do to lack of planning
by our local contacts we were left to mix most of the cement by hand.
It was another one of those experiences that makes you appreciate
education. Anybody complaining about their job would do well to hand
mix a few square yards of cement and deliver it by bucket in those
conditions. We have gotten a lot of good done in Mexico, the trick is
to help them develop on their own and not have to wait for gringo
grunt labor.
It has been a blast following my two teams in the World Cup down
here. I hope that my readers at home have taken a minute to absorb
the immense patriotism that this great sports spectacle emits. One
day I got to watch Mexico play while sipping on the soothing nectar
out of a nice, cold coconut. I highly recomend it.
The highlight of the Veracruz trip happened last Saturday. We took a
bus a couple hours to the Pescados River. Even though the water was
low that day(depends on the previous few day's rainfall), and we got
the raft stuck a few times, it was a blast. We rode 17 kilometers
( plus a snack break halfway through). It was a guided trip and
included a couple class 3 and 4 rapids. I managed to keep from
getting bucked off, though we did jump in for a quick swim at a slow
part of the river. The scenery was gorgeous. The river flow between
mango groves and tree covered mountains and dramatic sheer cliffs. I
half expected to be assaulted by canibals with blowdarts or have a
Tyranasaurus Rex crash through the forest. At one point we pulled
over and ever body climbed a rock and jumped 20'feet into a deep part
of the river. My knees are just now recovering from the nasty burns
they received. Yes I applied SPF 50 liberally, but the thrashing
rapids and swiming took care of that rather quickly. I am now coming
up on my last week here and looks to be a good one.