Un Placer Para la Vista- ATreat for the Eyes

Tiled building in the city center, one of only many

 Today we were total tourists in a city so beautiful it defies description. The blog will be short, with lots of pictures that can only hint at the sights.

Common street scene in the historic area

Fountain in front of one of the public buildings

The city of Puebla was founded by the Spanish in 1531. It is famous for the beautiful pottery, so of course we had to buy a few pieces. We viewed the site of the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862, hence the cinco de mayo celebration we hear about in the US), where the Mexicans fought off the invading French troops. We took a tour bus around the city, and saw several old forts. The city is famous for its tile-faced buildings and elaborate, beyond-baroque style architecture. There are parks and plazas throughout the city with fountains, statues, trees and plantings. Churches are everywhere you look.

Walkway approaching the fountain in the zocalo

The zocolo (town square) is a busy place ringed with shops of all sorts. In the center is a gorgeous fountain, and the cathedral on the corner was begun in 1550. 

One of several cafés facing the zocalo

We ended our day sipping coffee and eating cheesecake at outdoor cafe, watching the crowd go by.

 Being total tourists, we went on a major shopping expedition in an area of town with streets full of artisan shops, pastry shops (the town is famous for its sweets as well), pottery shops, and shops with anything you can imagine

Courtyard for breakfast

We have to mention the food, of course. Breakfast was an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet set in a beautiful court yard. The food was good, but we couldn't bring ourselves to try the fried pork skin in green sauce. After our shopping expedition, we ate at a very good white linen restaurant, set in another beautiful courtyard with a large mural on one wall. We had a delicious meal with 5 star service. 

It was another day we will never forget.

Your well-fed turistas in Mexico.

Karen and Roger

(More photos below)

Another common street scene

Municipal building across from the zocalo

Street scene

Cerro de Guadalupe, part of the Battle of Puebla, May 5, 1862

Unusual tiled building, with figures

One of Karen's favorite buildings

One of Roger's favorite buildings

Cholula, bajo la lluvia - Cholula in the rain

Our good luck ran out a little yesterday. We're here in the rainy season, but it has not been much of a hindrance. We got wet today, but not too bad. We need umbrellas.

Today was another designated archaeology day. The ruins at Cholula are famous, it is a site that has a long history of occupation. It was partly because of the ritual significance of Cholula that the Spanish founded the city of Puebla where they did.

Besides Omar and Karina, Omar invited Esther's sister, Maura, their elderly father, and (the highlight of the day) her toddler. The baby was very well behaved. She was dressed to the nines in what seemed to be a traditional dress. She charmed us all, including the Americans touring the site with their Spanish class. Like the other women in this family, she is vivacious and not reluctant to make her desires known.

It was the first time that any of them had been to visit the site. It was also the first time Omar drove us any distance, and something of a white-knuckle ride, not because of his driving – he was very cautious and the traffic was light to moderate – but because of the numerous speed bumps in every pueblita we pass through. These do not have a consistent height or width, and it is easy to drag on them. So, we had a fairly new driver, and six adults and a baby in VW bug.

Memorial to the Huejotzinco's dead in the Revolution of 1910-1920

We parked the car on the zocalo at Huejotzinco and caught the third class bus to Cholula. The ride was comfortable, and by the time we got there the bus was no more than half full. The ride home (also 3^rd class bus) was like something out of the movies. People were stuffed to the rafters, no place to be if you do not like bodily contact.

Getting off near the Archaeological Zone, we took a couple of cabs to the entrance and proceeded to climb to the top. Cholula is a well developed attraction. The main pyramid looks like a large hill in the middle of town. Like all the large pyramids, every time a king died, a new layer over the old, and a new temple built on top. The fill would be adobe, then they covered it with limestone – which is not a local stone, it had to be drug in from some distance away. Apparently, the Spanish stripped off the limestone covering, which allowed the adobe to weather and plants to cover the pyramid.

On the outside, there are numerous terraces or aprons that once held stone buildings and platforms. Archaeologists have excavated 8 kilometers of tunnels to investigate its history, and one is usually open to the public, a pathway with interpretative displays through each successive addition to the structure. It was our bad luck (and Karen's good luck – she is pretty claustrophobic) that the tunnel was closed for repairs so we could only see what had been excavated around the sides. These were very impressive, and as at Templo Mayor, highly complex. Off to the side of the Zone is a small, modern museum with a nice display of artifacts, arranged by successive archaeological phase, and a large interpretive model of the pyramid.

View from the top, unexcavated pyramid in the center

The first thing we visited, however, was the Santuario de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, a beautiful church on top of the pyramid. The stairs and ramp to get to the top are wide and long, and the view of the city improves with every level we reached. 

The church is highly ornate, and our hosts were crossing themselves every once in a while as we went inside, particularly the grandfather. It must hold a special place for Catholics, as I saw one penitent approaching the altar on her knees several times, then take a pew for prayer. Honestly, it is a very moving place to visit.

Your turistas in Mexico,

Roger and Karen

(More images below)

Dome of the church

Statuary

Altar

Oldest (?) level of the pyramid, c. 450 AD, when Cholula was under the influence of Teotihuacan

Same period, different angle, with the church at top of the pyramid

Not sure of the period, but a classic look

Same, different angle

 Cute baby - with Omar, looking at image of herself on Karina's camera,  and with her mother, Mauri,

"Hay brujas aquí" - “There are witches here”

Another day in Santa Rita Tlahuapan. Just cannot keep to the plan.

Omar's brother Mario and Esther took us to the most amazing place. We are not sure just where we were, Omar said it was at the town of Juarez Coronaco, which we passed through, but judging from a sign on a schoolhouse right next to the ruins, we were at San Matis Tlalancaleca. Don't look for it on the map. You won't find it.

Church from inside ruins of main building

The plan was to drive to a beautiful spot on the Rio Frio. But where we ended up was at the ruins of Hacienda Molina de Guadalupe, Roges thinks. Driving the winding country roads of Puebla state is a lot like driving in West Virginia, at least in the highlands west of the Valley of Puebla. As we turned around a curve and descended a hill approaching a pueblita (small town), we could see the ruins of a once-imposing church. It was a very picturesque setting, and we were about to suggest stopping for photographs on the return, when they turned off the road and parked in front of it. They had an unannounced plan.

Main building with watchtower and entry gate, perhaps leading to the town

Looking around, we saw ruins scattered everywhere. Next to the church was a huge building. At first, we were not sure what it had been, a military headquarters or a residence. Omar suggested the initials on a tower – M.G.P. - might stand for Militar General Popular. Perhaps he was guessing, but it's as good an hypothesis as any other. Especially considering what was to come. It could have been a grand hacienda house at one time, or a headquarters building, or a general's residence. What it means is, Roger has a research topic to investigate when he returns home.

Interior of main building

Watch tower from inside ruins

Esther and Mario

Likely barracks

Further down the road were two more large buildings. The lower one may have been a barracks, but the upper one was unquestionably more defensive – moat, gun emplacements, magazine. 

On the hills around are many adobe walls and residential ruins, we would have to take days to photograph it to record a site. Roger guesses it was started in the late 19^th century and was not abandoned until early 20^th century. We'll see how good a guess that is. 

Plan for tomorrow: the pre-hispanic ruins at Cholula.

Your turistas in Mexico,

Roger and Karen

Farm animals and adobe wall near the structures

Courtyard of what we call the barracks

Houses and animal pens across river from facilities - note the burro on the right

Tunnel coming out of one of the structures

Exterior of the barracks

Interior of the barracks

Interior of the barracks

Remember the burrito (little donkey)? It followed us.

Adobe ruins outside the installation

Un viaje al país - A trip to the country

Omar, Esther, and Mario

We got to see countryside that no other tourists could ever hope to see. Esther, Omar's sister in law, was raised on a farm a short drive form Santa Rita Tlahuapan. After breakfast she told us she was going to get some fruit. So, off we go to her father's farm.

Breakfast at Esther and Mario's

Lalo, another of Omar's brothers, provided the car, a Dodge Shadow hatchback, with him driving. The car has seen better days, but these are poor people. Badly cracked windshield, loose windows that do not crank, but do stay up for a short distance, then they drop into the door space. To save gas, he turned the key off to coast downhill. The ride was pretty slow, especially uphill, maybe because the shocks were worn out and he was afraid of breaking a spring.

Farm, facing the road

Esther's father was outside when we arrived at the farm, Esther greeted her father first by kissing his hand, then his cheek, and did the same when her mother came out. After a few niceities, her sister, yet another attractive and vivacious woman, took us out to pick some produce. It is a pretty good sized farm, with apple, pear, peach, and cherry trees, plus more local fruit trees. There was a wide variety of vegetables being grown, and they keep chickens, turkeys, geese, rabbits, and pigs.

Karen and Esther

After a long walk around the farm, we headed to the house, and as you should have guessed, a meal of pork. First, they brought Roger a Victoria beer. Then, the pork ribs with mole poblano – Holy Moses, it was the best we have ever eaten. Later she brought out an excellent pot of brown beans, and some sort of fruit and herb mixture folded up in a homemade tortilla. We finished it off with roasted corn we had just picked.

Now, all this was cooked over an open fire on a metal brazier The house had a courtyard in front with a detached kitchen of adobe next to the house. The sisters crisscrossed some larger pieces of wood and set them alight, then placed a round pan on it, then they grilled the pork and toasted the tortillas on that. Omar says the corn is grown and ground locally, there is no need for packaged corn meal. The fresh ground does make a difference.

After we finished eating, some men came by for a meal as well. Handshaking seems very important here. Just as at Sunday's party, it is a ritual to shake hands on greeting someone. Everyone participates, down to the smaller children, it's like a greeting line at some diplmatic event. Karen does well with the spoken greetings, but Roger is still slow to pick up on sucha simple phrase as “mucho gusto,” “pleased to meet you.”

By the time lunch was over, our group grew in size, as the kids joined us after school. They wanted to visit a fish farm, where they raise rainbow and golden trout. Remember that Dodge Shadow hatchback? Twelve of us got in it. Roger and Lallo were in front. Four of the women squeezed into the back seat, and the rest-3 boys and a two-year-old girl but also two adults, sat behind the back seat, with the hatchback propped open. 

Driving through a small town

It was a slow, slow journey. To keep people from speeding, they build large speed bumps all the way through town. Some were too high, the car dragged with the heavy load. Then there was the dirt road to the fish farm, crossing a good sized volcanic mountain on a steep, curvy, dirt road. The trip will stand out as an unforgettable memory of our visit, we assure you. 

Quarry for "tierra blanca", volcanic ash

At the bottom of the mountain, the fish farm had a small park. We bought sme of the rainbow trout, which they caught, cleaned and cooked for us, Mexican style, of course, with spicy seasonsoning, El diablo (the devil, it's callled.)

Just another day of high adventure in Mexico.

Roger has been taking pictures of a high mountain, but never could get its full grandeur because clouds are always hiding its top. Turns out, its Popocatepetl, a very acitive volcano that caused a wide scale evacuation the last time it erupted.

Your turistas in Mexico,

Karen and Roger

Desvío en el camino a Puebla - Detour on the way to Puebla

Buenos dias from Santa Rita Tlahuapan.

We thought we were going to Omar's brother's home in Puebla yesterday, but we misunderstood the plan. Mario lives in Santa Rita Tlahuapan, a small town outside the city.

Friends, welcome to Mexico.

A word about the transportation system here. It puts the US to shame. Between cities they run three classes of bus service. First class has every amenity except for dancing girls. Second class is very comfortable and serves major and regional cities. Third class serves the small towns, and is what you see in the movies. Then there a couple of other types of local buses. We traveled by second class bus. Besides the quality of the buses and the wide coverage of the country, scheduled trips are frequent, at least between major cities. A bus leaves Mexico City for Puebla every 15 minutes, Omar said.

The Valley of Mexico and Valley of Puebla are rich plains surrounded by walls of extinct volcanoes. Crossing the high pass between the two takes you through pastures dotted with evergreen trees and agricultural fields, and a few pueblitos (towns). It is a fascinating drive for a geologist, the road cuts change from layers of volcanic ash to basalts at the center of the old volcano and back to the ash deposits.

We changed to a third class bus in San Martin, and the ride through town was a snapshot of a developing region. Cars, buses, motorcycles, and burros pulling carts on the main street. Lots of color on the exterior and interior of the businesses. Open air farmacias (pharmacies), restaurants, convience stores – maybe a third or a quarter of the shops are open to the street. Near the end of the route, we got off and walked a couple of blocks to Mario's home.

Tlahuapan is a pleasant town. Karina says that they do not need to lock the doors, just like our home. We haven't figured it out completely just yet, but apparently Omar's four brothers live next to each other, in a compound on the same land they grew up on. Mario's house is very nice, lots of light and fresh air, tile floors As a general observation many of the houses in Mexico are works-in-progress, one or two stories with lengths of re-bar waiting for the next additon to the building. It seems the pattern is to save some money, add to the house, save some more, add some more.

As it turns out, one of Omar's nephews was being baptized a we arrived. We drove to the church just as the priest was sprinkling Holy Water on the congregation. After a while, we drove to another relative's house for a party celebrating the event.

And what a party it was. A sit-down dinner for maybe 40 people at a time, and there was a constant stream of people coming in. The family had hired some folks to serve it all up, pork rice, and napolitos (strips of boiled napalito cactus leaves). Roger counted 5 cases of Corona and 5 cases of Victoria beer,. The men who brought the beers would look at you and say “one more” with such a nice smile that it was hard to turn them down. Karen managed to do that, but when someone brings Roger an open bottle of Victoria, he finds it hard to say “no more.” Real hard. Then there was the tequila – who knows how many bottles of tequilla were being brought around.

We were quite an attraction at the party. As one fellow said, they don't get many chances to meet foreigners. Some of the children are taking English, so whenever we were talking with Omar or Karina, they leaned in to listen. Roger sat next to Karina a lot, and they drew several men (was that because Roger is a novelty, or because Karina is an attractive and confident woman?). As Karen observed, alcohol is a universal language, so the conversation and clowning flowed, with Karina providing the translations when needed.

Making friends the easy way

It gets cold here after the sun goes down, so we returned to Mario's for an evening meal and even more rounds of drinks. They tell us that in Mexico it is impolite to pour a tequila until everyone in the group finishes his shot. So, there you are, with your host holding the bottle over your cup, and you have to down it to be polite. We had a wonderful time around the kitchen table, but Roger is not known for his moderation, and his hangover was epic.

Yes, we drank the whole thing

Right now, Karen is outside with Esther, Mario's wife. She speaks no English, but pulled out an illustrated English phrase book, and Karen has her dictionary and they seem to be doing well. Esther and Mario are delightful people, gracious hosts and a spirited couple.

Omar has his 2001 VW bug parked here, and finally got his title problem resolved. Mario is a truck driver, and Omar is still uncomfortable driving in traffic, so they are driving to Mexico City today to get an inspection. Esther is going to take us around the area in a little while, so we will get to see some of the countryside before we get to Puebla. We will probably stay here again tonight because it is so hard to decline such sincere hospitality.

Your turistas in Mexico,

Roger & Karen

We are in Puebla and all is well

Tropical rains strike Puebla!

We finally made it to Puebla yesterday afternoon. We were totally out of touch with the Internet world

for five days and survived. About all we did yesterday was tend to business – found a hotel about two blocks from the zocalo, found a place that did our laundry, ate supper (you've got to try tortilla soup sometime), walked around the immediate area, and shopped for three pairs of dry shoes. Steady rain in Puebla state since yesterday early morning, something only a hurricane can bring. But, the weather more or less broke today.

The architecture here is unbelievable!

We will publish the blog more or less in order, from the days we were out of touch. We have some great stories from Santa Rita Tlahuapan.

Your soggy, soggy touristas in Mexico,

Roger and Karen