Veracruz

Traveling into Veracruz, I spied this ship and my liberal friend knew there was no way to avoid letting me have my moment with it. So she took her dog for a walk and I paid a visit to ex-Guanajuato, former Gunboat C07 of the Mexican Navy.

Laid down in a Spanish shipyard in 1934 and accepted by Mexico 1936, this 80m long ship could accommodate 230 soldiers and up to 40 horses in a special stable in the aft superstructure. She served with US forces during WW2 and was modernized and refitted in a US Navy shipyard when Mexico joined the war. She served for several decades until she was finally struck in 2001 and turned into a museum.

But typical of so many things in Mexico, she was neglected into ruin and though she looks good from the bow, she's actually sunk at her berth and sitting on the bottom, a stern view shows that her machinery spaces are now all underwater and she's no longer open to the public, travel websites notwithstanding.

The Veracruz nightlife is another matter. Both the waterfront and city center come alive at night and we were staying right between them so we sampled both.

Of course being Mexico, you need to get used to seeing the Mexican Marines patrolling, because the narco gangs are never far away and no one else with a uniform and badge is trustworthy enough to police important public spaces like this one.