Our adopted city of Xalapa (sometimes spelled Jalapa), the lush “City of Flowers”, lies high up on the mountainside, steadily rising from the Gulf of Mexico, at an altitude of about 4400 feet (1400 meters) above sea level. The climate is generally mild, with warm afternoons and foggy evenings.  The daily weather can vary wildly, with sunny mornings and stormy afternoons: as the saying goes, “if you don’t like the weather in Xalapa, just wait 15 minutes!”  

According to early records, the beginnings of the city go back to the beginning of the 14th century, when four separate settlements were built below the dormant volcano, Macuiltepetl. There is evidence suggesting that the name of the volcano in Spanish means “Cinco Cúspides” referring to the volcano’s five original peaks that, with time, have eroded down to only two that can be seen today. Nevertheless, this helps to explain the city’s charming Lord of the Rings-ish, Coat of Arms (above). Xalapa has numerous underwater springs rushing down from the volcano and the original Nahuatl compound word for the city – Xallapan – comes from Xalla meaning sand, a (or atl) meaning water, and pan meaning place. Literally, “the place of the water in the sand”, or more simply, “the spring in the sand”. In terms of topography, Xalapa has very few straight lines, forcing its inhabitants to navigate the city’s numerous slopes and ravines, and countless streets paved with ancient cobblestones, with a fair amount of patience and care.

On August 18th, 1519, when Hernán Cortés and his conquistadores spent the night here before continuing their slow march to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, Xalapa was still a small town with four distinct neighborhoods or barrios, including Totonacs, Teochichimecas, and Nahuatl speakers aligned with the Aztecs.  After the conquest, Xalapa remained a small sleepy town until the mid-18th century, when it was selected to host the periodic fairs where merchants brought goods to be sold from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. This set off a financial boom and Xalapa quickly reached prominence under Spanish domination as an important regional agricultural center, which it still enjoys today. One result of these fairs is that the little green ubiquitous hot peppers that were sold there were baptized with the name of the town, and two hundred years later people all over the world know them as Chilis Jalapeños.

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Today, Xalapa is the capital of the state of Veracruz and home to several centers of higher learning, most importantly the state university, the Universidad Veracruzana, with an estimated student body of 80,000 undergraduate students, a plethora of high-quality MA and PhD programs, and numerous research institutes. Xalapa’s population is well over half a million, with neighborhoods spilling down the sides of the volcano and off into the distance.  It is also an important center for culture.  Both the state government and the universities have emphasized the arts from early on, earning Xalapa the moniker of The Athens of Veracruz.  Every day you can find numerous music and dance recitals, theater offerings, and art exhibits.  The symphonic orchestra -- la Orquestra Sinfónica de Xalapa or OSX -- is the oldest continuously performing orchestra in the country, and also one of the best, second only to the national orchestra in Mexico City. And the city’s fabulous Museo de Antropología is also considered the country’s second best, after its sister institution in Mexico City. In sum, residents of the city like to say that if you’re bored in Xalapa, it’s your own fault!  

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-- text by Rob Kruger and David Ryan