Tequila In Thailand

Tampico's actually a pretty interesting town, a real Mexican sleeper. Still one of Mexico's most important ports. Oil facilities are restrict to a district outside of town towards the SW as I recall.

Downtown there's a centro historico with Creole architecture - Creole in its original New Orleans meaning of Spanish crossed with French, though nowadays it means something else, even in New Orleans. Narrow wrought-iron balconies jutting out from old brick building, similar to the French Quarter in NOL but unfortunately not in the same state of repair or restoration, for the most part. A few of the old buildings have been well taken care of, by private interests, nonetheless. You find similar Spanish-French architecture throughout the Gulf Crescent from Tampico to Tampa.

Tampico has a seedy tropic port feel that I immediately recognised the first time I visited Rangoon in 1986. For some reason I feel an affinity for places like New Orleans, Tampico, Bangkok, Rangoon ...