Friendly Folks in Orizaba

We have a little time to kill before the bus takes us from Orizaba to Oaxaca, so we are in a little internet place near the bus stop. Gives Amy and me enough time to write a little more about the wonderful town of Orizaba.

One of my best impressions here is the friendliness of the city. Most of the Mexican cities we go to cater to tourists and when someone approaches you it is almost always to get something out of you, take you on a tour, give them money for whatever, or sell you something. Not that that is all that bad, that is just the way it is. Here in Orizaba, we have had all sorts of people talk to us on the street...just to talk. They are curious what we two gringos are doing here. In two days we have not seen ONE other gringo. So naturally, we are a curiosity. Yesterday we were at the flower market, where they were preparing for a big procession down to the Guadalupe church. Several people saw us and started up a conversation. One man, who had some darling kids dressed up in folkloric costume, was more then happy to have us take pictures of his kids. Just try that in Chiapas, where they are deathly afraid of cameras.

The procession of the flower market folks was great. They went down the main boulevard of town, holding back traffic behind them. They were proceeded by a guy shooting off bottle rockets. The flower folks hired some folkloric dancers from Puebla all dressed up in the wildest Aztec style costumes and masked. And then came their two floats, Ol´ Guadalupe on top of the most elaborate flowered mound you´ve ever seen. It was amazing and we´ll post pics when we get home. The flower folks were followed by the taxi association...about 100 taxis or more all dressed up in balloons, flowers and a picture of Guadalupe. All honking their horns at the same town. Sensory overload again!

This morning, another great market food experience. Street food tip: in a Mexican market, always look for the stall that is the most crowded. We found that stall this morning, cooking up what looked like very tasty things. They take a tortilla, dip it in some boiling oil and then place it on a comal, a big concave metal dish over a fire. Then you went from there...a garnacha, a flat crispy, fried tortilla topped with crispy shredded pork, cheese and red sauce; an enfrijolada, a crispy fried tortilla topped with beans, cheese and chicken, a taco, here it was a very big crispy fried tortilla filled with flor de cabasa (zucchini flower) and cheese and sauce. We had four garanchas, one enfrijolada, one big taco, and two champurados, a chocolate drink made with rice. Napkins on the table were like thin paper bag paper. All this for about $5. And the food here was better then in the restaurants we went to in Orizaba.