Gutiérrez Zamora

Gutiérrez Zamora is a river town about 25 kilometers east of Papantla, on the road to Tecolutla. It grew up in the 19th century on the banks of the Tecolutla River, and Italian immigrant families who arrived from 1858 played a large part in its founding; local history calls it the oldest Italian colony in Veracruz. The municipality was created in 1877 and named after Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora, a governor of the state.

The town's fortunes were tied to vanilla. The Totonac people of this region were growing the orchid long before the Spanish arrived, and Gutiérrez Zamora became the place where vanilla from the Papantla area was cured and shipped out by river. Some of the oldest vanilla companies in Mexico are still based here, and in the surrounding farms the vines grow up the trunks of shade trees, as they have for generations.

Today it is a working town rather than a tourist stop, but it is worth a pause on the way to the coast. The Tecolutla River is wide and green here, with boat trips into mangroves where crocodiles are sometimes seen. The main fair honors the Virgen del Carmen around July 16, and the town has also held a tarpon fishing tournament on the river. Look for local dishes like pulacle, a Totonac stew, and huatape, a corn-thickened shrimp soup.