Hidalgo 55 
Tlacotalpan 
Veracruz, Mexico 
January 6, 1939 
Dear Dr. Wetmore: 
We are finally established in camp at Tres Zapotes and 
today being a rainy day is a good time for writing letters. 
Everything on the expedition is now in good order with all 
permits and other formalities taken care of. Weiant has done 
a good job in setting up the camp and we are very comfortably 
situated. Our camp consists of three houses, two small ones 
for the Weiants and the Stirlings and one large house, one- 
half of which is a guest room and the other half is storage 
and work room. A note of luxury consists in cement floors 
which have been laid, it being found that they are cheaper 
as well as being more satisfactory than earth or wood. This 
however, is an innovation for these parts. 
Out camp is located in a little patch of woods at the 
eastern foot of the principal mound of the group where the 
colossal head is located. We can sit on our front verandas 
with a nice view of the Tuxtla mountains. Everything here 
is surprisingly cheap. The peso is now about 20 i. Labor is 
if pesos a day. In this isolated section the people are quite 
unspoiled, are good workers, and do not have to be watched. 
They are all eager to work and are competing with one another 
for the privilege of being on the job so that in order to keep 
everyone happy we work the crews in rotating shifts. An 
unusually fortunate bit of good luck is the fact that the local 
storekeeper in Tres Zapotes goes in to Tlacotalpan twice a 
week for supplies. He brings in our mail and any other orders 
that we care to make. The address that we are using is his 
home where his wife lives all of the time. 
At present we are making a large cross section of the 
principal mound of the quadrangle and have a fair collection 
of sherds and figurines. The children are bringing in col¬ 
lections of figurines and other specimens which they find in 
the milpas nearby and which we buy at a standard of 5 centavos 
each if they are good ones. We have already quite a large 
collection acquired in this manner. 
The principal reason for this letter is to give you direc¬ 
tions as to how best to get here. If you go by train from 
Mexico City to Vera Cruz, there is a choice of two things for 
you to do if you with to proceed immediately to Tlacotalpan 
without staying over in Vera Cruz. The night train from 
Mexico City is supposed to arrive in Vera Cruz at 7;30. The 
steam train from Vera Cruz to Alvarado with a First Class car 
which is never crowded (fare 4 pesos) leaves the station at 
Vera Cruz at. 7 • 1 R. t_„ n.lZ- 
