Ciudad Valles is the commercial capital of the Huasteca Potosina, the lush, tropical eastern part of San Luis Potosí where the dry highlands of central Mexico fall toward the Gulf coast. It is a hot, busy city of over a hundred thousand people on the Río Valles, with sugar cane, citrus and cattle country around it, and a marked change in climate and culture from the desert plateau a few hours west. The air is humid and the vegetation thick, with palms and banana plants.
The Huasteca is known for its water. Turquoise rivers drop over limestone steps in places such as Tamasopo and the Cascadas de Micos, where you can swim in warm pools beneath waterfalls, and the Tamul waterfall, one of the tallest in Mexico, plunges from a wide ledge into a river canyon. In Aquismón, the Sótano de las Golondrinas, a huge cave pit hundreds of meters deep, swallows flocks of swifts at dawn. Farther south, in Xilitla, the English poet Edward James built Las Pozas, a surreal garden of concrete sculptures and staircases among the jungle.
Local food is its own tradition. Zacahuil, a giant tamale baked for hours in a pit and served in huge slabs, is the Huastecan classic, along with enchiladas huastecas and bocoles, thick corn cakes. Music in the region is the son huasteco, with fiddle and guitar and a falsetto singing style. The Teenek people, who have lived here for centuries, keep their language and distinct dress in the highland villages.
For riders, the roads through the Huasteca are curving, hilly and green, climbing through coffee and orange groves and dropping into river valleys. Highways 70 and 85 link the main towns, and the surface is mostly fair, though potholes, topes (speed bumps) and animals on the road are common, so slow down in villages. Ciudad Valles has fuel, supermarkets and hotels, so stock up. The best months are November to April, with warm, dry weather, while summer is very hot and humid, and the rainy season brings heavy storms. Avoid riding at night.