Cheese, Banana and Vanilla Plantations

San Rafael is a small city settled by the French in the 18th century, which just happens to be twelve miles from our campground.  The city has a reputation for producing wines and making cheese.  Well that was enough to prompt a visit from these self professed gourmands.  We found lots of cheese, but no wine, however we did discover a Banana Plantation started by a French family in the mid 18th century.

The Plantation home site has been restored and developed into a Hotel Spa by the Mexican Tourist Department.  It is part of a network of small Hotel Resorts that have been developed in the past few years in small to medium towns in the hope of attracting the tourist dollar.  We were given the grand tour by a charming young lady,  we think they were hoping we were going to check in.  There were obviously no guests  on the property.  The original buildings are full of the original furniture and old family photos.  The property tour was quite enjoyable.

Banana fields lined the road out to San Rafel.  These must have been very special Bananas for each bunch was wrapped securely, possibly to protect it from bugs.

A good day of seeing the sights certainly should be followed by a good day on the beach, don't you think?

                                                                                                    

After our day of rest on the beach.  We were off to Papantla to discover how Vanilla is grown and harvested.    We didn't quite fulfill that quest.  We found the Vanilla Plantation.... eventually,  but no one was home, imagine that!  So we wandered around the Welcome Center Area, took a few pictures of the Vanilla Orchid then jumped back into the Jeep and headed into Papantla Centro.

Papantla is a hillside town, loaded with one way and pedestrian streets.  The town was very, very busy when we were there on Monday.  With Ron driving and the rest of us offering advise we made it up the hills to the main square or Zocalo.  We enjoyed a tasty lunch on a balcony and watched the activities on the square.  It has been a very pleasant 10 days on the Emerald Coast and we saw many things that we had not had the time to see on previous trips.  We always try to leave a area with at least one thing unseen.  We will leave the brightly painted seaside town of Totonaco for next time.  A reason to return for a visit to this aptly named coast.