Category: Puebla

As we have just the one full day in Puebla de Zaragoza (formally Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza and also known as Puebla de los Ángeles) – simply called Puebla, I decided to forgo visiting the nearby town of 324 churches – Cholula, or reportedly the largest Mexican pyramid – Tlachihualtepetl (The Great Pyramid of Cholula).

As much as anyone can form an education opinion on 24 hours in any place, I found Puebla to be an easy, safe and interesting place to get around in. The Spanish and Catholic influence is visible everywhere in the architecture and churches. The one-way street, hidden Mercado’s and hole-in-the-wall spots that open out to large courtyard restaurants, guest houses or commercial enterprises.

Highlight of the day for me was walking around the La Catedral Basílica de Puebla (Puebla Cathedral) and being wowed by the craftsmanship and décor of the building the commenced construction in November 1575 of its 14 lateral chapels and main altar – its simply stunning in its grandeur and intimacy.

I also took in the chapel of the Virgen del Rosario (Chapel of the Rosary), which is attached to the Iglesia de Santo Domingo (Temple of Santo Domingo) which apparently boasts 4½ tons of 24 carat gold leaf throughout the chapel. The amount of gold is impressive, but the church is not in the same class as the Puebla Cathedral.

Lunch was one of those “stumbled on to a hidden spot” deals where I was just looking through the street market doorways, saw a couple of the tour group members and decided to park up for a feed at Mesones Sacristia. In all honesty, it turned out to be a great spot for a casual lunch with authentic local cuisine.

I headed off on my own for the rest of the afternoon, with aim of trying to take some shots of a few areas that I’d scoped out earlier.

Tomorrow we’re off to Oaxaca, a 5-6 hour locals bus ride, so you should be able to work out how the evening will go – recharging electronic devices to reduce boredom and repacking.

Heading out of Mexico City, bound for parts relatively unknown to me, I thought I’d share with a couple of observations with the America’s most populous city. The 5 days I spent there were filled with a tremendous amount of museums, churches and so called national monuments, in which I seemed to have covered more territory on foot than the early Spanish conquistadors.

It’d be fair to say that the large Police presence i.e. officers on most street corners, is a little unsettling and takes some getting used to. Having said that, I didn’t feel any unease or threat to my wellbeing, even though I ended up in a couple of areas that the hotel staff said I was “loco” for cutting through to get where I wanted to go. Ignorance can be bliss at times, but no excuse if you get into shit though.

Amenities and utilities wise – the city looks to be a decade behind in any investment. but the streets were really clean, not smelling of sewerage, uncollected rubbish or pet excrement.

I personally loved wondering around the older tree-lined suburbs and being left alone by the many street vendors, who are simply trying to make an honest dollar.

I’d love to spend some more time exploring the city, but don’t see myself planning a trip to specifically do that. I enjoyed my time in town and have a new appreciation for the country and the people by watching the locals go about living their respective lives.

As for today – we saddled up at for a 8AM departure and after a brief stop at the Centro Cultural Tlatelolco (University Cultural Center Tlatelolco) to check out the ruins of Piramide De Tlatelolco (Tlatelolco archaeological site) and the Templo de Santiago Apóstol (Church of Santiago Apóstol). We headed an hour and half northeast into Teotihuacan and stopped at Artesanias Premier where the local host – Jesus, provided an interesting and educational presentation as to how important the cactus was to the original settlers and the uses of it on their everyday lives.

It was a short 15 minute ride over to Teotihuacán Pyramids where we spent the best part of a couple of hours exploring the 20 square kilometre (8 square mile) site that once had a population estimated at more than 100,000 people between 2,100 and about 1,400 years ago.

The site is only 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of modern-day Mexico City and hosts over 4 million years ago and I was fascinated as to the building and scale of the site – well worth the visit.

After a late buffet lunch at the local El Jaguar Teotihuacán, where I was well chuffed with the selection and range on their salad bar. The experience was soured slightly as I took some umbrage to them presenting a bill that included a tip of over 20%. It’s not the amount, it was the fact that the “optional” charge was not explained to anyone and expected to be paid. Even after I objected, they did not remove the tip amount from the change I received back.

We left Teotihuacán around 2PM and headed for the city of Puebla de Zaragoza and the Gilfer Hotel, our stop for the next couple of nights. At the completion of our orientation walk with our CEO – Jumanji, a couple of us took up her suggestion and tried the local dish “Exquisitos chiles en Nogada” which consisted of a chilli stuffed with chicken mince, vegetables, fruits and almonds, bathed in a nogada sauce of cheese and walnut and topped with pomegranate kernels. It was simply delicious, although a little sweet for my tastes.