“Sky island” in Puebla as seen from Veracruz, probably Volcán La Malinche, 4 October 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

8 October 2026

The mountains in Veracruz are very beautiful. On the morning of 4 October, fog shrouded the valley so that Volcán la Malinche(*) was literally a sky island. (*I am not sure of the name of this peak.)

Also from our elevated vantage point, we saw snow-covered Pico de Orizaba above the crest of the intervening hill. Click here for a marked-up photo showing where to look.

Snow on Pico de Orizaba as seen at the crest of the near hill, 4 October 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

On sunny days, the air heated quickly, rose from the valleys, and flowed over the mountains to generate afternoon thunderstorms on the eastward side. Even if it didn’t rain in Xalapa loads of water came barrelling down the steep watersheds and flooded roads in and near Xalapa.

No one waited for the floods to end. They drove right through it.

Notice the substantial rocks being carried by this flood across the Puebla-Xalapa Road on 4 October.

On 6 October, our last full day on tour, we spent 2 hours at the Cardel Hawk Watch on the Hotel Bienvenido roof. Between noon and 2:00pm 53,715 broad-winged hawks kettled up and streamed out in a River of Raptors! What a thrill!

Watching the River of raptors at Cardel Hawk Watch at Hotel Bienvenido, 6 Oct 2026 (photo by Kate St. John)

On 1 October Moe Bell took a video of this kettle when the birds were closer.

I’ll write more about the trip in the days ahead.