XALAPA, MEXICO
THE DESTINATION
Xalapa is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of 413,136. The municipality has an area of 118.45 km² (45.734 sq mi). Xalapa lies near the geographic center of the state and is the second-largest city in the state after the city of Veracruz.
The municipal seat of Xalapa is the city of Xalapa de Enríquez, named in honor of 19th-century Governor Juan de la Luz Enríquez. In everyday usage, however, the city is generally referred to by the shorter name Xalapa. Its name is pronounced [xaˈlapa] in Spanish and IPA: /həˈlɑːpə/ in English. It was called "La ciudad de las flores " (the City of Flowers) by Alexander Von Humboldt.
Its name comes from the Nahuatl roots "Xalli" (sand) and "Apan" (water place), which approximately means "spring in the sand." This name is pronounced [ʃaˈlapan] in Nahuatl, though final [n] is often omitted in Nahuatl pronunciation; the [ʃ] sound (like English 'sh') was written 'x' in the 16th century, but does not occur in modern Spanish (but is common for place names in Mexico), and its normal counterpart is the [h] sound (IPA [x] or [h]) which is normally written 'j' in modern Spanish. The spelling Xalapa (like the word México) reflects the archaic spelling. "Jalapa" (like Méjico) is modernized and is used mostly by foreigners.
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