Replete with its gastronomic offerings, waterfall hikes and abundance of history, it’s beloved year-round — with moderate weather and unbeatable views of Cofre de Perote, the eighth tallest summit in the country.

Surrounded by rivers and banana trees, Xico is a majestic locale unto itself, known for its distinct mole xiqueño (a particularly sweet variation of the Mexican sauce), tamales canarios (a dessert tamal made from rice flour and milk) and the nearby Texolo Falls, (a popular site where Hollywood scenes have often been filmed).

Xico is a place I’ve often visited growing up, where my family would frequently take day trips to explore. And, yet, while only being a short drive away from my parents’ hometown in Xalapa, I’ve never once attended the Xiqueñada — an annual celebration in honor of Saint  Mary  Magdalena — which draws thousands of visitors to the small town every July, particularly for its amateur bull capea, an event where amateurs can dodge and otherwise interact with young bulls in a controlled environment.

For the 50th anniversary of the event, I finally made it to Xico for the raucous weeks-long tradition.

The celebration for Santa María Magdalena is one of the oldest in the state, believed to have originated in 1853. The Xiqueñada, which involves a street capea in the morning and bullfight in the evening, dates back to 1975. 

During this multiweek festival, altars are built inside of homes with traditional offerings and music. Of course, regional favorites like mora (fermented berry wine) and pan de huevo (egg-brushed, sweet bread rolls) are hawked on every corner and from every window.

The Mardi Gras-esque party lasts for many days and occurs throughout the pueblo’s historic, narrow roads, elaborately interconnected with parades, outdoor drinking, carnival rides, street food, floral adornments, music, family activities and most famously, bulls loosed upon the main avenue. Over the years, more humanitarian precautions have been enacted to protect the bulls from harm, but it still remains a controversial aspect of the festival. 

The party rages from day until night, with most of the action centered near Parque Xico, in front of the Church of Santa María Magdalena. You’ll get your share of steps while traversing the small town’s restaurants, taquerias, artisan shops and local squares, which are all mostly clustered along Hidalgo, the main strip.

It all ends with a local version of bullfighting, a tradition brought over by the Spaniards in the 16th century. In total, 18 bulls are transported into the town’s center inside small shipping containers. The main street that leads in and out of town is sectioned off with steel gates into three multiblock stretches lined with spectators, who watch from makeshift bleachers built the day before. In order to sit, you must pay a fee to the restaurant or small business you are seated in front of, which will likely offer drinks, snacks and, in some cases, entire meals for an extra charge.

For those opposed to the bull event, the celebrations are so much more than that; the majority of days leading up to it are filled with arts of a bohemian, communal nature and are especially family-friendly to attend.

The festival happens in phases, with most events largely centered on decorative costumes, on La Xiqueña — a local mythical figure who is revered — and on St. Mary Magdelene, whose statue is carried around town. Daily processions with live bands and colorful outfits — featuring a mixture of both Indigenous and Spanish influences — sweep the streets, though beware: Road closures make for difficult mobility, so plan to park your vehicle well in advance or take public transportation from a larger city.

One particular highlight is the series of “tapetes” — kilometers-long works of art formed with naturally dyed sawdust arranged in intricate shapes and floral patterns to resemble carpets on the principal streets. 

Community members such as Manuel Olivares, a local resident who has been involved with creating designs for over 25 years — since he was a child — spend hours arranging it all as out-of-towners and locals walk along the edges to view the process and end product.

During the nonstop parades, hundreds of children and adults from the town’s various neighborhoods and surrounding areas wear cowbells to help guide the men wearing large bull-shaped contraptions named “toritos” (or “little bulls”), which consist of around 160 fireworks. These get lit in the evenings in a show of flying sparks and dancing street parties. The cowbells, in particular, are said to ward off negative spirits and represent the provincial pride of the people, who in many cases maintain a family lineage of participation.

On the penultimate day, which is when the bulls arrive, I chose to experience it all from inside El Mesón Xiqueño, a spacious restaurant on Hidalgo street, which has been hosting La Xiquenada events for more than 30 years. I went with my family and the environment was, from a consumer perspective, enjoyable and comfortable for us all. 

To understand the event, it’s important to note that it’s one of the town’s most attended — and economically profitable — days for local foodmakers, business owners and artisans. When I was a child, my mom — a Xalapeña herself — would often attend the event and come back with various memorabilia. In that sense, the event has a certain lore for the people in this sector of Veracruz.

All that doesn’t dismiss the concerns over animal rights violations; it’s simply to say that in this part of the state, it’s a way of life for many, an entire economy unto itself and a rite of passage for certain participants.

Inside the restaurant, you don’t see much. From a nearby speaker out front, a lively emcee narrates as men from the town dodge the bulls. These men mostly consist of a group that takes it seriously, although there are, of course, others who are more reckless in their approach. 

No weapons, objects or harassment of the bulls are allowed — at one point, a young man threw his empty beer can at a bull and was vigorously booed by the crowd and ejected. Throughout this three-hour event, which begins around noon, more and more locals jump into the fray, some wearing bull horns and waving large red cloths to distract the bulls in order to dodge head-on charges. 

It’s surreal to witness, as crowds cheer for the pueblo’s best “torreros” who dance and twirl their way out of danger; nearby, professional bull wranglers watch on in case of any serious injuries. I saw a few men get trampled, and one needed to be carted off but appeared to be fine. 

At times, the bulls appeared unconcerned, if not uninterested, while at others, they forcefully bulldozed their way down the cobblestoned paths. Eventually, they are returned to the gated storage from which they emerged, and the streets are reopened for the festival to resume.

Later in the evening, the event officially concludes with bullfighters from various around the world. Although Mexico City recently banned bullfighting (instead opting for bloodless bullfighting rules), the sport still goes on in a few parts of Mexico, particularly in regions where it’s a proud, ongoing tradition. I chose not to attend this portion, which takes place at nearby Plaza de Toros Alberto Balderas.

Overall, the festival felt overwhelmingly local and inviting — a stranger offered to pour mora into my and my family member’s mouths from a horn-shaped flask simply for cheering him on while he was in mid pour himself. It felt largely family-oriented, with children and grandparents alike enjoying it all. I met a few artists, learned about local culinary traditions I’d never known, and appreciated the parochial energy of the Pueblo Mágico and its people. 

One of Xico’s biggest charms is its Old World aura of a town founded in 1313 that has remained relatively stuck in time. Mexico is filled with such wonders — but rarely are they tucked away in the endlessly green mountains of Veracruz. Even rarer? That they have La Xiqueñada. 

It is ethically complicated because of the bulls, but it is still worthwhile to witness  these regional customs and see how people embrace their forms of entertainment and community differently than we might be accustomed elsewhere. 

Xico is, indeed, magical — in more ways than one.

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The nation’s bountiful fandom and history will be on display for the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol’s (LMB) Juego de Estrellas (the league’s All-Star Game) from June 27 to 29 at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City, home of the defending national champions and winningest franchise in league history, Diablos Rojos. 

The weekend will include a selection of the top 68 baseballers, spanning the league’s 20 teams, divided evenly by the North Zone and South Zone (i.e. league divisions) in a match-up taking place on June 29. The headliner game will be preceded by a celebrity match and a home run derby on June 28. Times and ticket prices vary, but start as low as US $15.

In the galaxy of international baseball, Mexico has positioned itself as an attractive landing spot for both veteran and hopeful baseball players alike, with players in the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol (LMB) hailing from nations like the United States, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Japan, South Korea and, of course, all of Mexico. 

What to expect at the LMB All-Star game

Though the event occurs annually, this year’s festivities are offering more than the usual variety. For starters, the LMB is currently celebrating its centennial season with year-long homages, events and limited-edition fan merchandise that showcase Mexico’s 100-year professional baseball tradition.

Accordingly, this year’s Juego de Estrellas will feature La Gala del Centenario — a special event on Friday, June 27 that will honor the best moments of the past 100 LMB years. 

The 2025 centennial edition of this all-star showdown will also introduce a new format: For the first time ever, the LMB’s best players will compete in a 10-inning tilt against Mexico’s national team — who placed third overall in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, an all-time best finish for the nation. Each inning will represent one of the 10 decades in the LMB’s existence.

On top of that, the game will be hosted at the hypermodern — if not futuristic-looking — Harp Helú stadium (capacity: 20,062) for the first time since the stadium originally debuted in 2019. Before the US $160 million stadium was built, the Mexican baseball powerhouse Diablos Rojos played at Estadio Fray Nano (2018-2015), Foro Sol (2014-2000) and Parque del Seguro Social (1999-1940). 

The Harp Helú is housed near the Benito Juarez International Airport (AICM) as part of Ciudad Deportiva (Sports City) — a sprawling sports park complex that also features the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, a ritzy F1 race track also often used for Mexico City concerts by major musical artists. 

It’s the 33rd time that the capital will host the Juego de Estrellas, and the nation’s 91st all-star event. 

The first Juego de Estrellas took place in 1939, then went on hiatus during World War II, and resumed in 1942, occurring during every consecutive season to date. Last year’s celebration took place at Estadio Beto Ávila in the port of Veracruz — the comparatively smaller and charming home of El Águila de Veracruz, which is the league’s oldest continuously operating franchise. 

The Veracruz stadium, incidentally, is one of only two in the entire continent featuring a swimming pool for fans to watch the game from the outfield stands; the other is located at Chase Field in Phoenix, where the MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks play. Though Mexico City’s baseball sanctuary unfortunately doesn’t offer a pool, it’s known for its expansive fan offerings, Aztec-inspired architecture and overall quality, which Major League Baseball has graded as “an ultramodern facility.”

Mexico’s baseball league is currently experiencing a swell in its fandom. With more ex-Major Leaguers playing than ever before — due to a rule change allowing up to 20 international players per 38-man roster — there is a renewed interest in “El Rey de Deportes,” or the King of Sports, as the league is colloquially known. 

High-profile players like Robinson Cano and Yasiel Puig have recently passed through — or are currently still playing in — the pro Mexican baseball circuit. The fervor has certainly reached a new pitch: Yahoo! Sports reported that a few Mexican League teams are drawing larger average crowds than some of Mexico’s biggest soccer clubs. 

For U.S.- and international-born players, Mexico is also becoming a viable route with decent salaries, proximity to the Majors and a decently competitive league that current players are referring to as “4-A” ball (alluding to the MLB’s Triple A, Double A and Single A farm system). And with new online shows like LMB Strike Zone, which target a new generation of fans, baseball is regaining the cultural cachet and coolness it once had.

Historically, Mexico’s league has been considered to be a lower-tier professional circuit, offering opportunities to former MLB stars and prospects who have fallen out of favor on more prominent U.S. teams. With over 140 Mexican-born players having crossed the border northward into the MLB, the LMB has been a starting point for U.S. baseball icons like Bobby Avila and Fernando Valenzuela, whose careers began on regional Mexican teams before making the leap to the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively. 

Indeed, historic Mexican teams like the aforementioned Diablos Rojos, the Sultanes de Monterrey, the Tigres de Quintana Roo and El Águila de Veracruz have helped to launch, or sustain, such historic careers. Meanwhile, the LMB’s growth continues to introduce new expansion teams and broaden its fan base.

Of course, the Mexican League’s tenure hasn’t all been home runs and fireworks. In 2020, the Mariachis de Guadalajara were announced by then-national president Andrés Manuel López Obrador as the latest franchise to join the LMB’s ranks as a symbol of Mexico’s cultural pride and heritage. Just a few seasons later, the team’s players refused to take the field in a series against Sultanes de Monterrey as a protest against not receiving their contractually agreed-upon payments; shortly afterward, the team was again accused of financial mismanagement and then sold off in 2023. 

But the Juego de Estrellas is about putting on a show and looking toward the game’s future, so only the league’s best will be at bat, with a historic focus on the league’s most prominent players and successes.

Getting to Harp Helú Stadium

Expect traffic and large crowds. The nearby Metro station drops you off about a quarter mile from the stadium’s front entrance (the walk is lively and crowded with fans, street food, bootleg merchandise, and more — an experience in itself). 

If you prefer to take an Uber or taxi, ask to be dropped off near the stadium stop — you will know when you’re close because everyone will be suddenly wearing baseball gear, and the taxi will lurch to a stop with nowhere to go due to the high concentration of traffic and pedestrians entering the sports complex.

Once inside, there’s a baseball museum dedicated to the Diablos Rojos and an impressive selection of food items. The stadium’s famous tacos de cochinita pibil can be found to the left of the main entrance at Los Famosos del Béisbol, a concession stand with a perennially long wait for an order of Yucatán-style tacos that reportedly have been served at Diablos Rojos by the same family for over 70 years.

If you haven’t been to a baseball game in Mexico yet (or any professional sporting event, for that matter), don’t strike out on this year’s Juego de Estrellas, which promises to be a memorable experience.

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Sports historians have long contested baseball’s alleged U.S. origins, suggesting it instead began in the United Kingdom as a sport known as rounders. For three years in the early 20th century, a commission of baseball executives and president of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs deliberated the issue of the game’s beginnings.

To further complicate matters, Canadians claim to have recorded the first baseball game in Ontario in 1838 — one year before the sport supposedly debuted in Cooperstown. But wherever and whenever the game was invented, it’s certainly no longer confined to U.S. borders, and it’s especially popular in several Latin American countries, in places no one would otherwise associate with star-spangled pinstripes and maple wood.

The Mexican-American war brings baseball to Mexico

Just over a decade after baseball’s roughly documented global origin in the late 1800s, the sport had already reached Mexico by way of militaristic expansion. Since then, “béis” as it’s colloquially known, has swung its way to the top of Mexican sports fandom, behind only soccer as the country’s second-most watched team sport. Iconic Mexican players like Beto “Bobby” Ávila and Fernando Valenzuela have all donned uniforms in Major League Baseball, helping establish the sport’s popularity among Mexican sports aficionados.

The game’s origins in Mexico can allegedly be traced back to Xalapa, Veracruz in April 1847, during the Mexican-American War. A 1909 travel guide may have been the first book to print the story that a group of U.S. soldiers belonging to the Fourth Illinois Infantry Regiment were stationed in a central part of the city.

Santa Anna’s leg: The first baseball bat in Mexico?

At the Battle of Cerro Gordo, U.S. Army forces under General Winfield Scott and Captain Robert E. Lee had defeated troops led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna, decisively outflanking their entrenched position just outside of Xalapa. The victory helped to open a strategic path from the coast of Veracruz towards Mexico City, with Santa Anna’s routed troops abandoning munitions at the site along with various resources and miscellaneous items, including Santa Anna’s wooden leg, one of several prosthetics he had worn since losing his lower left leg in the First French Intervention.

There are varying accounts of what happened next. But the mythic retellings involve a wooden leg, a group of homesick American soldiers and an open area in Xalapa being turned into a makeshift baseball field. In its simplest form, the story goes that this group of soldiers, which included military officer Abner Doubleday of Cooperstown, New York — the man who would later be credited as the inventor of baseball — used Santa Anna’s wooden leg to play the first ever baseball match in Mexico.

Who really invented baseball?

Sports historian Eric Nusbaum, whose extensive book about the dark history of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stadium winds all the way back to Mexico during the 1800s, disagrees with the claim, writing “It’s a myth. It did not happen.” And in 1983, American Heritage magazine wrote an extensive profile on Doubleday titled “The Man Who Didn’t Invent Baseball.” As with many things surrounding American origin stories, particularly one so far removed beyond U.S. borders, there are conflicting reports, particularly with Doubleday’s involvement in baseball at-large, let alone his presence in bringing it to soldiers in Xalapa. 

The claim around Doubleday as the progenitor of the sport has been heavily contested over time and involves none other than Albert Goodwill Spalding, the founder of Spalding sports equipment, best known as the manufacturer of the official NBA basketball. Spalding wrote what is believed to be the first comprehensive history of baseball, titled “America’s National Game.” He also advocated in defense of baseball’s Cooperstown origins by publicly vouching for Doubleday’s involvement in it all. Nowadays, much of this story is seen as a farce and as Spalding’s way to promote a new sporting business and tourism to Cooperstown, where the Baseball Hall of Fame stands today.

Regardless, Mexico has definitely had a longtime relationship with the sport. In 2024, MLB writer Carlos Molina traced the sport’s history in the country, concluding that, despite the difficulties of historical precision, Guaymas, Sonora, likely hosted the earliest documented baseball game in Mexico in 1877, three decades after the alleged peg leg game would have taken place in Veracruz. In this rendition, a group of sailors aboard the USS Montana landed in the Pacific port, hosting a pick up-style game that grew to include sailors from other ships.

Mexico leaves its stamp on baseball

As the game became rooted in its new home, Mexicans left their own stamp on baseball. In 1933, Baldomero “Melo” Almada became the first known Mexican national to join the MLB’s ranks as a member of the Red Sox, where he played as a center fielder for five seasons. 

Outside of the Majors, Mexico has developed its own leagues and baseball lore, too. The Liga Mexicana de Béisbol was created in 1925; early on, the league recruited players from the Cuban and U.S. Negro leagues as a way to position itself as a competitive system. LMB’s success is highlighted primarily by the Diablos Rojos del México, a team founded in 1940 which is considered to be Mexico’s royal baseball dynasty on par with the New York Yankees. The Diablos Rojos currently boast former Yankee star Robinson Cano on their roster, and the Mexico City-based team also went head-to-head with the Bronx Bombers in an exhibition series last year that was aired on ESPN.

Looking back at the sport’s mercurial beginnings, you’d never know how long it took for the game to reach Mexico’s home plate, so to speak. It’s been a hit since then, and with the World Baseball Classic only one year away, Mexico will have another chance to celebrate its storied baseball lineage and show that its players belong among the best baseballers in The Show.

The post The unbelievable origins of Mexican baseball appeared first on Mexico News Daily

What I wasn’t expecting was for the cafe to predominantly — practically only — sell coconut-based beverages, snacks, treats, candles (yes candles, not candies), cooking ingredients and even housewares. 

La Tierra del Coco is a boutique cafe billed as a “new tropical concept” in Veracruz’s lush capital. The owner, Mario Leal, is a local who spent the past five years studying in Mexico City, where he both embraced the big city and missed the quaint tropics of his home state. 

To understand Veracruz’s place within the sprawling context of Mexico, it’s important to know that this region has evidence of the earliest human organized existence on the continent, with a civilization in the Olmec dating back to 1200 BCE. The Olmec predate the Aztecs, Mayans and Toltecs by thousands of years. Much later, in the 1500s, Veracruz is where the Spaniards initially landed when they reached modern-day Mexico, bringing their seafaring ways to Veracruz. 

During the Spanish colonial period, coconuts eventually made their way to eastern Mexico by entering through both coasts of Mexico around the mid-1500s. Unlike the western edge of Mexico (whose Pacific shores brought imports from other parts of the globe), the coconuts in Veracruz hailed from West Africa via the Caribbean islands. Since then, they’ve flourished as one of the region’s prominent crops.

And yet, the ever-delicious coconut hasn’t always been given its respect and proper due. It is typically viewed as a roadside treat on the go, or perhaps it gets incorporated into a side dish to accompany a larger plate. It is rarely, if ever, the actual dish itself — let alone an entire cafe’s menu and purpose.

La Tierra de el Coco is changing that, one coconut at a time. Imagine a panadería — with its different varieties of breads in an assortment of sizes, flavors, styles, prices — but with coconuts. 

There are the basic offerings: freshly poured coconut water in a ready-made to-go cup for convenience. There’s also prechopped coconut prepared daily (and iron branded by the workers across the counter with a La Tierra de el Coco logo).

Though I love coconut water as much as anyone else, it’s the other stuff that makes me giddy: 100% vegan coconut ice cream. Gratis toppings include shredded and candied coconut, dehydrated coconut strips and peanut crumbles. The scoops are gratuitously large and the prices generously low. 

From there, the tiny shop provides a variety of other coconut-based goods: chile de cacahuates with coconut oil and coconut bits mixed in (the coconut flavor is subtle but adds a refreshing touch to the thick spice); coconut-wax candles ; coconut soap; coconut toothpaste; coconut bowls and spoons; coconut flour; coconut sugar; even coconut deodorant — that must smell like coconut, right?). Everything is made locally for the shop in partnership with nearby artisans, and branded as Tierra del Coco.

On a humid, steamy day in Xalapa — of which, due to climate change and dangerously rampant deforestation, there is more heat here than ever — nothing really beats strolling down the block to get a scoop of coconut ice cream and sip on cold coconut water on a breezy covered patio surrounded by greenery.

Though coconut treats remain around the city and state in other forms (mostly at the parks, where coqueros gather to chop coconuts on the spot, or along the streets, where coconut candies can occasionally be had), I haven’t seen anything quite like La Tierre de el Coco elsewhere in Mexico. Yet another reason Veracruz’s culinary offerings are worthy of more attention. 

If you’re in Xalapa and you like coconut, you owe it to yourself to check this place out.

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Its blue, white and orange letters and logo of a young family strollering a baby forward announce themselves all over Mexico. Today, the supermarket can be found in 25 of Mexico’s 31 states under a variety of iterations: the more affordably-priced Super Chedraui, grocery and department store Tienda Chedraui, small and often self-service Chedraui Supercito and Chedraui Selecto, which carries high-end imports. Since 1997, Chedraui has even existed in parts of the United States, outgrowing its first U.S. outlet in South Gate, California, and present across the U.S. Southwest under the monikers El Super and Fiesta Mart.

A Lebanese-Jalapeño success story

Of course, Chedraui wasn’t always the standard for grocery shopping in Mexico. In fact, the store started out much like the first jalapeños en escabeche makers did: as an ad hoc operation in Xalapa in the first decades of the 20th century. Lázaro Chedraui, a Lebanese immigrant, and his wife Ana Caram officially opened Al Puerto de Beirut in Xalapa in 1920. Initially a men’s clothing store, they could be found on what is now the corner of Xalapeños Ilustres and Carrillo Puerto, a central artery of the city to this day. In 1927, the couple decided to rename their business into something more similar to what we know it as today: Casa Chedraui. Unfortunately, the original location of that Chedraui no longer exists, as the triangular, Flatiron-esque building is now occupied by a variety of small clothing stores and food businesses. 

Despite their ubiquitous boom since then, Chedraui’s first expansion didn’t occur until 1961. 34 years after his parents’ store first opened, Lázaro and Ana’s son Antonio Chedraui Caram assisted in shepherding the business into the future by launching a supermarket known as Almacenes Chedraui, also in Xalapa’s downtown, on Calle Dr. Lucio. 

Chedraui branches out

Nine years later, in 1970, the family’s first department-style mega store opened under the auspicious title of Super Chedraui. That branch remains and continues to serve a large clientele in downtown Xalapa, just around the corner from Chedraui’s original flagship. The store later added more departments and increased their total workforce to 180 employees — massive for the time. According to Xalapa Antiguo, a Facebook group dedicated to preserving local history, the Chedraui on Calle Dr. Lucio was one of the first buildings to use escalators in Veracruz’s capital. 

The Calle Dr. Lucio store was designed by Enrique Murillo, perhaps Xalapa’s most prolific architect, with noteworthy buildings in locations including the port of Veracruz, Mexico City and Acapulco. During that time, Chedraui offered everything from groceries and clothing to auto service and vehicle maintenance. That same decade also brought the arrival of Chedraui outside of Xalapa, beginning in the port of Veracruz in 1976 and going as far as the neighboring state of Tabasco in 1983. Back then, the Chedraui chain hadn’t fully established itself, consolidating under Grupo Chedraui Comercial in 1985. Prior to that, each outlet operated independently. Grupo Chedraui slowly jettisoned former parts of its business plan over the years: the auto services and large department store offerings, for example, were sold to Liverpool, a recognizable chain store throughout Mexico in its own right, in 1997.

Chedraui went from being a regional chain to a national outlet in 2005, when they attempted their entry into Mexico City. It was Soriana, a similarly-sized grocery market from northern Mexico, that went on to gain a majority of Mexico City’s clientele. Generally, though, Chedraui has been a mainstay throughout the nation as a go-to shopping option for families. 

For most of my life visiting my extended relatives in Xalapa, I’ve always assumed that Chedraui — both as a brand and as a family — were as integrated everywhere in Mexico as they are here. Of course, as a kid, I didn’t realize that their presence and familiarity was extra apparent in Xalapa, where I now live, because it’s where they first started out. Every year for Christmas, the large home that the Chedraui family still owns in the city is converted into a nativity scene. It’s customary to drive through the upscale neighborhood of Las Animas to see what the Chedrauis have set up, and to enjoy the ostentatious architecture and lake views in the neighborhood. My aunt claims that the family’s Christmas decorations keep expanding and taking up more lawn space year by year; this past year, they even incorporated a small portion of the neighborhood’s lake.

In 2017, 72% of Mexicans reported spending up to two hours at the supermarket per trip. That tends to mean strong associations with these stores. For Mexicans across the country, Chedraui tends to mean convenience. For Jalapeños, it means hometown pride.

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With more than 20,000 outlets across the country, they’re one of the few 24-hour convenience stores you can head to in a moment of need. The iconic corner shop — with its hard-to-miss red, yellow and white facade — is seemingly infinite, with locations along the busiest urban streets to every stillwater pueblo. Often, you might walk past an Oxxo just to be greeted by the next, only a few intersections away. And if you’ve lived in Mexico long enough, you’ve probably frequented your neighborhood Oxxo — a one-stop shop for water, snacks, toiletries and monthly phone charges. I am an unabashed racker-up of Oxxo points.

And yet, despite their sheer ubiquity and de facto symbolism of national identity, they’re not all exactly alike. In fact, there’s specifically no Oxxo like the one located in Boca del Rio, Veracruz. That’s because the increasingly popular location is a one-of-one singularity with an array of funky offerings and unbeatable real estate that has already captured the attention of Mexican customers, social media influencers and regional outlets.

The main draw? It’s located at the land’s end, on the edge of Mexico’s eastern shore, with a natural vista point of the Gulf of Mexico’s extensive horizon and its flanking Malecón that leads to the famous port of Veracruz. It’s practically on Playa Boca Del Rio, a popular beach just south of the city of Veracruz and around the corner from a pirate museum. For Jarochos — the people of Veracruz, known for their seafood and diving skills — it’s fitting, if not essential, to have an Oxxo on the beach. And it draws both out-of-town visitors and regular patrons from the community alike.

It’s one thing to step foot inside a traditional, nondescript Oxxo in Mexico City or Guadalajara, but the Boca del Río Oxxo is making rounds on local news and among Mexicans, who seem to appreciate its coastal quirks. Apart from the killer view with a calming sea breeze — there are benches placed outside of the shop with a panorama of the water — this Oxxo apparently offers Zumba classes. As if that’s not enough, fresh elotes are regularly sold in the outside lot.

The magic doesn’t end there. This past February, for Valentine’s Day, this specific location transformed into an Instagram-friendly lover’s lane, playing on the “XOXO” factor of their name and adorning their storefront with giant neon hearts, a heart-shaped sunglasses-wearing Cupid and an entirely pink and red paint job. The seasonal effort drew even more visitors and further cemented the Boca del Río outlet’s reputation as the best, if not most outlandish Oxxo in all of Mexico. Though the decorations have gone down, plenty of videos have circulated of them.

 

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Once heralded as a tourist destination, the port of Veracruz’s allure has declined in recent decades much in the way Acapulco’s glory days are behind it as a party-going Mexican beach town for socialites. But Veracruz still retains a handful of gems, lechero-loving coffee culture notwithstanding. 

I recently visited the city with my mom, who grew up in the state capital of Xalapa, about 90 minutes from the famous port. It was a drenchingly hot afternoon, the kind of heat where you have no choice but to take your shirt off, and as we were making our tourist rounds, strolling the beach, I suddenly came face to face with the quirky shop. 

At the time, I hadn’t known that it was a cult favorite for locals, but you can imagine how heaven-sent it feels on a day like that to be blessed with a shop where you can pick up a cold beverage without leaving the beach. It’s the kind of thing that feels like a mirage. Afterwards, I kept wondering to myself if it actually existed; if that Oxxo was real or a dream. Trust me, when you walk in heat like that for kilometers, you’ll start to question lots of things. It wasn’t until I recently saw it popping up all over Mexican social media accounts that I remembered how cool (and uncommon) that vibrant little beach hut Oxxo is.

It’s not much, but here in Veracruz, any spot with air conditioning and beverages is welcome in unexpected moments.

Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.

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For starters, you can visit Pinball México, the country’s only official pinball distributor and private showroom — at least according to them. Located in Polanco, the small room is hidden within a larger coworking office building that you’ll need to have an appointment to get into. Just reach out to Pinball México in advance, and they’ll be happy to let you in.

Once inside, you’ll be able to tap into your inner 1980s and ‘90s child by playing four different machines all imported from Stern Pinball in Chicago, one of the most prominent pinball manufacturers in the world. Neon lighting and quirky comic book aesthetics give the extremely tiny showroom its outsized character and vibrancy, and someone will attend to your needs and answer your questions. 

Pinball México is run by a group of Mexican pinball aficionados who sell, operate and fix machines in addition to hosting off-site tournaments by supplying machines from their abundantly-stocked warehouse, which is tucked away outside of the city. According to them, it’s the only one of its kind in the city and in the entire country. In my lifetime of visiting family members throughout Mexico, I don’t recall ever seeing a space strictly dedicated to celebrating and selling pinball machines, so I don’t doubt it. 

Though it lacks the sheer volume of a real arcade, the spirit and soul of Pinball México is vibrant and inviting for an afternoon visit. Strolling around Chapultepec park, walking distance from the showroom, doesn’t hurt, either, and Pinball México is around the corner from the excellent Taquería El Turix, which specializes in Yucatecan dishes.

Currently, this pinball haven has four brand new pinball machines for use: “John Wick,” “Venom,” “Godzilla” and “Jaws.” Everything is digitized, so you don’t need physical pesos to play. Instead, you download a quick app and set up your account before using a QR code to connect to any machine and launch gameplay. 100 pesos gets you a half hour, and though you don’t need coins to play, they will charge you in cash upon entering.

Pinball’s popularity was at its global height from the 1950s to the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when newer video games and other technologies began to outpace the analog pleasures of yore. Though Mexico has never been particularly known for pinballing, Italian pinball manufacturer Zaccaria once paid tribute to the nation with “Mexico 86,” a classic pinball machine based on the 1986 World Cup, which Mexico hosted.

The game features a stereotyped rendition of Mexico — Aztec patterns, sombreros and an attractive Mexican woman inside of a soccer ball — over a soccer field backdrop. Though it’s unclear when pinball itself arrived in Mexico, it never fully took off in the way it did throughout the United States. But it has some roots here, and despite being miniscule, there is a map of where to play pinball in the sprawling metropolis of 22 million.

If traditional pinball isn’t really your thing, you can also nerd out by visiting the Museo Banco de México, a museum about the country’s central bank located across the street from the Palacio de Bellas Artes and near the entrance of Torre Latinoamericana. There, you’ll find a surprising pinball-adjacent beauty known as “Dual Coincidence.” 

Commissioned by the museum in 2021, Andy Cavortorta — who holds a Masters degree from MIT and owns an arts studio in Brooklyn — designed and assembled what may be “the world’s most complex electromechanical game.” “Dual Coincidence” resembles a pinball machine on steroids in terms of its functionality and presentation, but is meant to simulate economic concepts to museum visitors with its five-player gaming system in which users trade resources with the use of interactive pinballs. As if that weren’t enough, the game is inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey.” If it sounds like a lot, that’s because it kind of is. 

But who knows? Maybe it’ll bring out the secret pinball player in you.

Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.

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Nowhere else in Mexico will you find such a heavy concentration of Veracruz’s caffeine offerings in so many varieties as you will in this lush university town. With a gorgeous view of both Cofre de Perote and the Pico de Orizaba, you’ll enjoy every drip of locally-grown, freshly brewed beverage with a vista. 

Of course, Xalapa’s coffee prowess doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The nearby Pueblo Mágico of Coatepec grows high-altitude coffee beans that are nationally renowned, with a coffee museum that actually serves coffee to prove it. Coatepec is considered by many to be the premier coffee producer in all of Mexico. 

Not much further east, in the much-larger port city of Veracruz, you’ll find legendary mainstays like El Gran Café de la Parroquia: a coffee lover’s haven that epitomizes the hot-weather region’s love for black coffee with milk. Indeed, Jarocho-style coffee has been popularized over the decades, extending out to other states that have attempted to recreate the Veracruzan flavors.

Though Xalapa’s legacy cafes — La Parroquia, Bola de Oro, La Estancia de los Tecajetes and Don Justo, to name a few — are certainly worth visiting for their charm and traditionalism, there is a notable wave of younger coffee upstarts who are making their mark here right now. I’ve gone to many and taken my notes to round up my absolute favorites. Here’s why Xalapa might just be the nation’s pound-for-pound coffee champ. 

Pera

 

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This is where you’ll find your favorite barista’s favorite barista hanging out. At Pera, coffee is both a science and an art. The coffees here impress with their purity of flavor and delicate preparation — the proper water amounts get weighed, the temperatures get carefully checked and the exact blends of chemistry evoke a sense of reverence with each sip. 

Stroll up to the open bar or take a seat in one of Pera’s small, street-facing rooms with a view of the busy Historic Center. Their Xalapeños Ilustres is a must-try; a fizzy, caffeinated drink with a tonic base, shot of espresso and housemade agua de jamaica extract. For the purists, the flat white is most emblematic of Veracruz’s bygone cafe traditions, with a heavenly blend of concentrated black coffee and velvety white milk.

Fauna Café y Jardín 

The quirky art and effortlessly chill vibes — in conjunction with a large, verdant back patio — highlight this recently-opened cafe. The food options are also extensive, particularly for breakfast, which, gloriously, is served all day. The menu includes Mexican favorites but is highlighted by contemporary takes on Veracruzan staples like panuchos veracruzanos, molotes de plátanos, panela-stuffed nopal huaraches and pumpkin-flower omelettes.  

In lieu of a traditional Americano or espresso, which just about anywhere in Xalapa serves extremely well, try Fauna’s Origami V60 drip — a coffee filter popularized by 2024’s World Brewers Cup champion, Jia Ning Du-san — or a rompope-spiked latte frio. If you’re looking for a lighter, juicier blend, opt for a frutos rojos cold brew, an iced coffee chilled for 48 hours then infused with strawberries and raspberries. The more you sip, the more the mashed berries at the bottom of your glass begin to pronounce themselves, until you reach the soaked berries bottom, which surprisingly maintain every bit of their sugary punch to balance any bitterness.

Sin Título

Bright red neon signage flashing across the restored walls of this 15th-century building will alert you that you have, indeed, reached Sin Título. The small and simple — if not minimal — cafe and art gallery along Belisario Domínguez is just around the bend from the city’s beautiful lakeside neighborhood. In addition to high-quality coffee beans, I go here for a refreshing splash of cold ginger brew or chilled zarzaparrilla mixed with mineral water. For an added delight, toss in a hefty freshly baked chocolate chip and walnut cookie, or housemade hummus if you’re in search of the savory. 

In past lives, the space was a home and an arts center. It’s often filled with students and intellectuals from the nearby university’s music and theater program — a common thread throughout Xalapa’s cafes, since the state’s largest campus attracts a diverse student population from around the country. The building is beautifully constructed from stone, brick and cement, with a small library nook overhead, often stocked with an array of local, independently-published zines for sale. 

Casa Elo

 

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As with many of the cafes located in Xalapa, Casa Elo has a vernal flair and leans towards the photogenically trendy. Currently, it’s the hot spot for weekend brunch in the city, with young families and cool students congregating inside its historic, mansion-like space to enjoy caffeinated brews — and at later hours, cocktails, served until midnight. This is the place to go for a nice sit-down breakfast, with a healthy variety of omelettes, breakfast burritos and toasts. A solid beverage rotation features matcha, fresh juices, kombucha and more, with standouts like their cafe de olla and their signature latte de mazapán, a liquified play on the famously crumbly Mexican candy.

Santa Elena Coffee Roasters

On the edge of Xalapa’s upscale Animas neighborhood, Santa Elena awaits. Inspired by the third wave coffee movement in Japan, which emphasizes specialty coffees and direct trade with farmers for sustainability, the shop has a hip youthfulness and funky aesthetic. 

Priding themselves on their locally grown and sourced beans, Santa Elena roasts everything in-house. Plus, they offer cups on the spot, or bags to go. From their tostado clásico to their Coatepec Honey and Cafe Lavado de San Pablo, as well as my personal preference, their Volcanic Roast, you won’t be disappointed. In their spare time, they offer education on Veracruz’s bean cultivation and are passionate advocates for informing consumers on how the local coffee ecosystem functions. Extra points for the retro Super Nintendo available to play in their comfortable lounge.

Emilia Café

 

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 With two locations, Emilia has become one of my go-to spots for coffee and pastries alike. Though the cafe’s ethos is largely driven by modern design elements, Emilia maintains a hint of an Old-World, Parisian haunt. The downtown location offers a small, street facing to-go window, where city dwellers can order, pay and take off without ever stepping foot inside the often-crowded — albeit miniature — cafe. The menu is no frills and made for the purists and traditionalists, making it an ideal place to grab a smooth Americano or espresso, and perhaps a lemon-zested cinnamon roll to begin your day in the City of Flowers.

Reformanda

In 2016, Reformanda’s flagship cafe opened near beautiful Parque Juarez — effectively Xalapa’s Zócalo — as a noteworthy newcomer. Since then, they’ve expanded to Murillo Vidal with a flat-iron style corner shop on the opposite end of downtown. The co-founder, Jared Orrico, is Q Arabica Grader-certified, the highest international recognition for a coffee taster. He regularly speaks on podcasts about coffee in Veracruz while also providing classes for Xalapeño javaphiles. 

Reformanda has a constantly rotating seasonal menu, which adds to the attraction. But the stars of the show at “R” are the drinks: a guajillo-chile infused cold brew; a housemade rice horchata infused with cinnamon and cold brew; an organic orange juice infused with orange peels, orange bitters and cold brew known as the cold brew Old Fashioned and holiday specials like the apple latte for a taste of New Year.

Dos Gardenias

In a city as saturated with exquisite coffee as Xalapa, you sometimes have to look for spots that offer something different and unique. That’s where Dos Gardenias, a recently opened vinyl record shop that serves locally-sourced coffee, provides a fresh outlet. Run by a group of 20-somethings, the spot is located inside an opulent, hacienda-like compound complete with its own garden, micro farm, guitar repair workshop and, of course, multi-room cafe overlooking the cobblestoned avenue below. The breakfast dishes are worthwhile and extremely affordable, and the coffee is as good as you’ll encounter anywhere. Ask the barista to toss on their favorite vinyl of choice, or dig through their diverse collection and put on something yourself to start off your day. 

Oropéndola Barra de Café

Oropéndola, hidden in one of the city’s oldest alleys, deserves an entire spread inside a modern architecture and design magazine. Its precise mixture of glass, stone, bricks, polished concrete and wood are a cosmopolitan wonder. 

Known for their excellent brunches and dinners, the drinks are no slouches, either. Ask for the home-brewed kombucha by the bottle if you’re in the mood for an effervescent boost, or go with a classic coffee pour, which contains all the desired notes of honey, red berries and chocolate. If you’re lucky, you’ll snag a limited balcony seat overlooking Oropéndola’s enclosed stone patio, while huddled among the rooftops clustering the tight alley below It’s also just a staircase away from the city’s most beloved, oldest church, the Iglesia de San José. Get a carajillo while you’re there — the famed espresso cocktail made with Licor 43 — and enjoy an evening with nothing to lose.

Honorable mentions 

• Nube
• Chulo Café
• Bolena
• Ofelia
• Cuatro Regiones
• Costa
• Café Divergente

Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.

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The state’s upbeat reputation is on full display as hordes of participants spread joy in the form of dance and music while dressed up old men and occasionally old women (characterized by fake white hairs, a disheveled beard for the men, a cane, and often a Jarocho outfit of white guayabera shirt and pants, with a matching white hat or traditional dress for the ladies). In many indigenous communities, the “old man” is represented with traditional masks and songs. Whatever the appearance, “El Viejo de Año Nuevo” is one of the state’s proudest traditions, bringing together participants of various ages for the annual, intergenerational affair. 

It begins on Christmas Day, which in Mexico is predominantly celebrated as Nochebuena on Christmas Eve and ends on January 1. There are variations of the celebration, too. In some places, there is “la quema del viejo.” In this case, effigies of old men get burned at midnight to reset the calendar and ward off negative spirits. These effigies are dressed up to appear as elders, and are customarily stuffed with dried banana leaves. The burning of these “old men” dates back centuries to traditions brought over from the Spaniards. And not every community partakes in the pyres, either. 

For my parents and family members who grew up in Veracruz’s capital, Xalapa, each año nuevo began afresh with “El Viejo,” something as customary for them as it is to eat tamales and pambazos. My dad recounts his memories as a child and adolescent in Xalapa. In his retelling, he and his friends would go around Xalapa and watch people of all ages dressed as old men as they played music, asked for money, and sang the age-old lyrics (which has since been modernized into various remixes) past midnight.

The celebratory procession is said to have started as a labor protest in 1875 in the port city of Veracruz. As the legend goes, a group of dock workers didn’t receive their annual “aguinaldo,” or Christmas bonus, and began to demand their dues by gathering in the streets. Another version of the story differs in that the workers were demanding to take home unclaimed shipments at the end of the year, as was customary, but were forcefully denied by the port’s managers. 

In response to not receiving the end-of-year rewards, a man who is simply known by his last name, Bovril, took charge and began to make noise outside of the port managers’ homes, until crowds of more workers gathered, with the intent to collect money and goods. The next year, the dock workers repeated their actions but dressed up as old men, or “viejos.” It’s unclear exactly how the costume became popularized.

In a vastly different telling, multiple sources have also cited a Korean immigrant who brought over the custom while wearing a mask in the streets of Veracruz until children started to follow him around, dancing and singing. Whatever the origin, it’s stronger than ever in Veracruz, where the current Governor, Rocío Nahle García, is currently pushing a campaign to celebrate the custom with tourists and locals alike with the tagline “¡Veracruz está de la moda!”. But for many, it doesn’t need any marketing, since it’s a practice that has been passed down over generations.

“It’s a culture that is preserved in every pueblo,” said a participant in an interview with Cronica de Xalapa. “We maintain the musical aspect. That’s what keeps the tradition fresh. We add rhythm and it keeps us united by bringing more joy to homes.”

To be sure, every region throughout Veracruz — including Cordoba, Veracruz-Boca del Río, Xalapa, Orizaba and many others — will host their own version of a parade. The state’s main event will take place at Parque Zamora in Veracruz beginning at 1 p.m. In the evening, a fireworks display will occur at nearby la Plaza del Migrante Libanés, Villa del Mar, Asta Bandera, Hotel Lois y Plaza de los Valores. 

Alan Chazaro is the author of This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album , Piñata Theory and Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.

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