I can't believe we've never been to Orizaba!

Orizaba, Veracruz is a small city of about 125,000 people located in a valley at an altitude of about 1,250 meters (4,100'). But despite the relatively low altitude, it's within sight of the highest point in Mexico... Pico de Orizaba.

Pico de Orizaba is a dormant (but not extinct) volcano, and also the third highest mountain in North America.

We woke up at 7:00am and got Igor ready to go right away. We had a 40 minute drive to the city of Orizaba and had found a parking spot behind the Walmart. When we arrived, there was a beautiful view of the mountain...

Yes, there is snow in Mexico! And in fact there are glaciers at the top.

The altitude is 5,636 meters (18,491')

We had our breakfast, then did the 2.5 km walk into the center of the city.

There was an Easter procession along this street.

Cri-Cri is a popular Mexican children's music character that was created in Orizaba.

We've been wanting to come to Orizaba for a long time. It's just never been on our route, although we have had views of Pico de Orizaba a couple of times during drives from Oaxaca to Puebla. So we've been close, it's just never happened.

But it's a really beautiful city, so I can't believe we've never been here. The city has to be the cleanest city in Mexico. We're the first to admit that Mexico has a trash problem, although it's gradually getting better compared to when we first came in 2007. But Orizaba is next level clean. There is no trash and no graffiti... proof that it can be done if municipalities set their mind to doing it.

The cathedral and central plaza are beautiful.

The Palacio de Hierro (The Iron Palace) was brough from Belgium... piece by piece.

Designed by French engineer Gustave Eiffel. 

The Orizaba Cathedral.

Fancy light posts.

Covered pedestrian street.

Lots of Mexican tourists, but we could have counted the number of foreign tourists we saw on one hand. We don't get it.

They even have a teleferico (cable car) to take you up to a viewpoint on the nearest mountain.

We were looking forward to doing the cable car, but there was a massive Good Friday lineup. It costs 100 pesos ($7.80 CAD, $5.60 USD) per person, so the price is reasonable, and the views would be fantastic. We're going to return again Monday and will try to get there right at 10:00am when it opens.

There is also a 3 km long river walk, similar to San Antonio and Monterrey.

And they have tigers!

The river walk area also doubles as a sort of a mini zoo. Apparently the tigers were "rescued" from circuses when animal acts were banned in Mexico in 2015. Although I read that this white tiger arrived here in 2022, but can't find the story behind that. The enclosure is far from great, but they've probably never known any different. And they appear to be well fed.

Just a big cat.

The Municipal Plaza.

From the municipal plaza, we had an overhead view of the white tiger.

Part of the river walk.

More park space.

We found a great spot for lunch... the Cafe con leche restaurant.

Me, with my big plate of enchiladas.

I had the traditional enchiladas verde, and Ruth had enchiladas suizas roja. I had a beer, and Ruth had a lemonade. Total bill including tip was 255 pesos ($19.90 CAD, $14.25 USD). Delicious.

We had three different people approach us during the day. In the restaurant, an older man overheard us speaking English and wanted to do the same. Turned out he had spent some time in the U.S. in his youth. Living here in Orizaba he was obviously very proud of his city. Then in the market, one of the vendors said "hi guys" and we stopped to talk to him for a while. He had lived in Wisconsin for 20 years. Then we were sitting in Igor late afternoon when an older man came up with his grandson. They wanted to see the inside of Igor, so we gave them a quick tour.

We picked up some vegetables at the market and walked back to Igor. There, we decided to move. We had noticed a better spot actually in the parking lot of the Walmart. It would cost, but very little. Turned out to be a good choice because we had a perfectly quiet night once the store closed at 11:00pm.

Today, we are doing a half hour drive to an overlanding camp. The place gets fantastic reviews on iOverlander, and is a good base for exploring the area including a return trip here to Orizaba and the city of Cordoba. If it turns out to be as good as they say, we'll spend at least the next three nights there.

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