A GIANT HILL SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF A MEXICO STATE CAPITAL - XALAPA, VERACRUZ

Here is something different in the way of “attractions” when visiting the city of Xalapa which is the capital of Veracruz state in México. What I am talking about is not a historical building or a cathedral or a museum. It’s a huge hill totally covered by trees conspicuously plopped right in the middle of this city. 

Parque Macuiltépetl is the name of the hill or park. In the Náhuatl language which was spoken by the Aztecs, this name means, “5th Mountain.” Of course, as in all interesting names, there is a story that goes with how it was named. 

You see, as the story goes, back in the early 1500’s the capital of the Aztec empire was located where México City is today. Back then, it was called Tenochtitlán. 

Anyway, the great Aztec leader at the time was Moctezuma II. Now this powerful leader had a thing for seafood. Not only did he love it, he wanted his seafood fresh. The only challenge was that he lived about 250 miles away from the nearest ocean; the Gulf of México. 

However that did not deter him. He devised a route with a series of many runners who were stationed at short intervals between his city and the gulf coast.

At his command, a runner would take off from Tenochtitlán and run to the next runner and then the next and then the next. Think of this system as the precursor to the Pony Express in the US western states.

Fish would be caught and then the string of runners would reverse their course and hightail it the 250 miles all the way back to Moctezuma’s kitchen. 

This was the ancient way of what we now call "Home Delivery."

In Aztec times, there were no roads with signs that said, “Ocean, this way.” These runners had to rely on natural landmarks. The easiest landmarks to spot were mountains and big hills. So the hill in what is now the city of Xalapa happened to be the 5th mountain they would look for to know that they were almost to the ocean. 

So there you have it. That’s the story of how it got to be known as Macuiltépetl. Is it true or not, I can’t say for sure. However, it’s a good story. 

Today Parque Macuiltépetl is a 100 acre (40 hectares) recreation area for those city dwellers to escape into nature for a while. There are trails for walking and running as well as areas for picnicking. Some even have grills for cooking. 

At the top of this 5000 foot tall (1522 meters) hill is a small ecological museum and an observation tower from which you can gain great views of the surrounding region. 

On weekends you will usually find hawk and falcon handlers flying these big birds around the park. It’s fun to watch. These are “rescue birds” which were given care to bring them back to health. 

Entrance to the park is free and is open everyday from 10am-6pm. The little museum cost a few pesos to enter. 

For more information, you can go to their website - www.macuiltepetl.org 

Here is a travel video I created to inform people about this most interesting hill in the city of Xalapa. https://youtu.be/UxAy5NXHTec