Long distance bus to Xalapa

Today we took the bus from Mexico City to Xalapa. I didn’t think it would be politically correct to joke about being held up by Mexican bandits, but our guide book (recent edition) does actually mention it as a real risk on 2^nd class busses. Fortunately, our friends told us about the deluxe “Platano” bus with a company called U.D.O. We had fond memories about long distance bus travel in Argentina on luxury buses, and were keen to ride one again in Mexico. These were even better than the Argentine ones (although perhaps they now have the extras, we haven’t been there since 2005). Lots of leg room and a leg rest, so the seat almost turns into a bed (think first class plane travel). There are also individual TV screens and remote controls and a place to plug in your laptop. No wireless like on Swedish busses though. There were loads of moves to choose from and I watched El Ilusionista and El Pianista. Yes, I did look out of the window too. It took hours to get out of D.F. (Distrito Federal), then we passed through mountains and even saw snowy peaks and a couple of volcanoes, then we saw miles of fields and then miles of stereotypical Mexican landscape: cacti. I don’t have any pictures because it was raining and I couldn’t get any good shots. Finally, we reached Xalapa with a grinding halt and then a crawl through heavy traffic. Within a few minutes of being in the town, we could tell that traffic is a problem in Xalapa.