Puebla.....city of churches, ringed by volcanoes, festivals in the streets, underground tunnels, en route to the Pacific coast again...

Puebla is another lovely, walkable city located about two hours south of Mexico City by bus...it is filled with market sellers, antique and second-hand dealers. The main square, esp on weekends, is a riot of music, noise and families all out enjoying the night.

There's another, more local/neighborhood style plaza with several blocks filled with stalls and music to dance to. We even practiced our moves, to the delight of the people watching.

And, once again, random parades stop traffic......

This time, a Venice-Carnival type street celebration, fancy-ball costumes, music (booming out of the back of a parked delivery truck stopping traffic in the middle of the road) and the diabolo cracking a whip and people wearing masks which we haven't seen before.

Next was a ribbon dance where the 20 or so dancers joined ribbons while continuing to dance back and forth up and down the street.

The finale was a May Pole dance using long ribbons attached to the top of a 6 metre pole held upright by two men. Dancers weave in and out creating a design at the top of the pole.

This was something Yvonne remembers doing as a kid.  Maybe some of you do too!  This was part of the annual Puebla festival days that last for 3 days. Just as fast as the dancers began, they cleaned up and cleared out so traffic could once again resume on their merry way.

One day we took a bus out to the neighboring town of Cholula so we could visit another pyramid. This one, however, is mostly still covered by dirt and has a working church perched on top. The pyramid, has had successive structures built on top of earlier ones.

Today, it is the largest pyramid structure in the world due to the size of its base and volume. Abandoned and hidden by vegetation and overgrowth, it escaped most the destruction the Spaniards wrought on other indigenous pyramid structures. However, the Spaniards still managed a few indignities, by using material from exposed portions of the pyramid to build a massive cathedral on the very top.  Today, you cannot even tell it is a pyramid... it just looks like a large hill with a church on top.

The draw for us was not only the size but the 300 metre network of tunnels that we are allowed into, out of 8 km excavated to date.  Most of them were quite cool, (as in hip, neat and temperature) well lit and short and narrow.

It was like an Indiana Jones movie, exploring the hidden temple tunnels for the Crystal Skull. Shayne had to duck the whole way and the width was just enough to pass. 

Cholula is a nice, quiet, little suburb of Puebla.  It deserves a day trip or two from Puebla. 

Taking the local bus...cost us 12 pesos/person to get there...(that's only because we stopped to see the world's littlest volcano, Cuexcomate, on the way to Cholula). Cute!

And only 7.5 pesos/person back direct to Puebla Centro.

Puebla is indeed a lovely city!  

We are now on the road again en route to Mexico City to fly direct to Zihuatenejo.

Love and hugs,

Yvonne & Shayne

Last day in.....Mexico City...So, how many people can you STUFF in a Volkswagen van, Duck & Cover (the sequel - read the San Blas blog) - celebrating Chinese New Year...who knew?....taking a cab CAN be dangerous to your health...and in the shadows of the Hunchback of Notre Dame....read on...

Final Day in Mexico City....

We're off to the bus station to our next destination... 

More to follow..

Final thoughts on this massive city...

- the people are all friendly and curious about us

- there have been no worries about our personal safety anywhere or anytime even in the massively crowded areas we were in

- the city is very polluted. Yvonne found her throat and eyes a bit scratchy and coughed a fair bit. 

For sure there's a haze in the air. It's very difficult to see the small hills in the city due to this air pollution.  

I guess that's what you get for one of the largest cities in the world!

Drop us a line when you can..

Hugs,

Yvonne y Shayne

Day 5.......Mexico City...So, how many people can you STUFF in a Volkswagen van, Duck & Cover (the sequel - read the San Blas blog) - celebrating Chinese New Year...who knew?....taking a cab CAN be dangerous to your health...and in the shadows of the Hunchback of Notre Dame....read on...

,,,,,And we thought the San Blas fireworks celebrations were wild, well.....you ain't seen nothing yet... 

We spent the entire day, about 12 hours, by our hotel, wandering a 2 block stretch that had been set up to celebrate Chinese New Year..

Chinese New Year meets the Mexico's love of noise, music, color, festival and chaos. It is a perfect fusion of 2 great cultures and a recipe for a wild, wacky and outrageous celebration!

What follows are moments from our day...

........ martial arts demonstrations by young and old, lion and dragon dances.......drummers drumming...

.... vendors set up shop everywhere selling everything from clothes, jewelry, toys, shoes, food, drinks, trinkets from Asia.....anything you can imagine in a flea market...

...little children sit in cardboard boxes under tables...

.....crowd continues to swell.......

...lions continue to dance throughout the alley, around people.....

....., people appear from second floor windows, make speeches about life, God, acceptance of differences (yes, we can now understand these basics).

......crowds surge forward, little children, old women almost trampled in the rush to catch candies, pouches filled with small gemstones and seeds, calendars and confetti thrown from windows....

.....at a market stall, we score some Ray-Bans sunglasses for 50 pesos! Hey, for that price they must be genuine......

...drums continue to pound, music continues to blare, vendors yell and shout over and over and the odd set of firecrackers begin to blast off....,.it is sensory overload...

.... afternoon moves toward evening....

....there are at least 2 dozen strands of firecrackers, 3 - 4 metres in length, extending to the ground, hanging from various buildings around the alleyway....

.....several structures holding FIREWORKS are erected in the crowded plaza....

.....as darkness descends, the madness & chaos starts to boil.....

.....we begin a night of drinking (to quell the nerves) in a quiet cantina (that, later swells, as groups of people flee the chaos to seek sanctuary inside). It affords a front row seat to the impending explosion of sound and colors...

.....firecrackers go off on the ground around the lions as they dance amid  the smoke and blasts...

....the dragon weaves its way through the packed alleyway...

.....the hanging strings of firecrackers are set off around the crowd.... gunpowder fills the air....fireworks are set off, ricocheting off the walls, windows and rooftops...breathing becomes more difficult...

...And, then....fireworks are set off among the crowd......(in Canada, crowds would be blocks away, here, mere steps)...

....we hide out (more like, duck and cover!) in the cantina, as the final strand of fireworks goes off, literally in the open doorway...….paper, smoke, smells pour into the cantina as people take refuge....

......then, fire, shoots out above the crowd, showering the lucky few who didn't duck and cover, with sparks and singed clothing.. Somehow, no one gets burned (badly), no babies got crushed, no one was robbed, and everyone stayed polite and laughed!  See Shayne in the doorway!

The amount of smoke hanging in the air over the alleyway, resembles the aftermath of a tear gassing after a local demonstration out of control....

Truly, a wild, wacky day that they would repeat for 3 straight days.

If anyone is planning a trip to Mexico City, find out when Chinese New Years would be held, and plan your trip around that! You would not be disappointed!

Adios Shayne & Yvonne ....our final day in Mexico City next.....

Day 4....Mexico City...So, how many people can you STUFF in a Volkswagen van, Duck & Cover (the sequel - read the San Blas blog) - celebrating Chinese New Year...who knew?....taking a cab CAN be dangerous to your health...and in the shadows of the Hunchback of Notre Dame....read on...

 ....A trip to the Valley of the Gods....

Today, we headed out to Teotihuacan, where the ancient city holds the gigantic Pyramid of the Sun, along with its little brother/sister, the Pyramid of the Moon. With names like that, why wouldn't you want to visit this amazing site?  The city of Teotihuacan was believed to hold 150-250,000 residents. These peoples predated the Maya and Aztec.

After a short ride in the wrong direction on the metro...

(hey, what can we say - even us experienced travelers get confused once in a while.....)..... we get back on track and head to the bus station to get the bus out to the pyramids!

....take local transport, rather than the gringos tour bus. Cost us just over 50 pesos to ride the metro and bus (an hour ride) return/person.....cheap & easy & comfortable...

The day (actually about 3 hrs) wandering the pyramids was fun! Great weather for climbing and conquering the summits!



                          The Pyramid of the Sun... 260 steps up!!





      Pretty steep steps!  Most sections have a rope/cable to hold on to if needed.



                                     It could be intimidating...









Pyramid of the Moon viewed from Pyramid of the Sun.  You cannot climb to the top.





Sitting on Pyramid of the Moon looking at Pyramid of the Sun and back down Avenue
of the Dead.






                  Sitting on the first set of step on the Pyramid of the Moon.


Once again, these ancient civilizations did a bang up job in the construction! Although, naming the main walkway the Avenue of the Dead might be a bit of overkill!



             Avenue of the Dead with the two pyramids in the very far distance...

Returning to MC, we spent the evening wandering Chinatown, (actually an alley and walkway about 40 ft wide filled with shops, restaurants, vendors and people - remember this for later).

The opening night of several days of celebrations devoted to Chinese New Year - the Year of the Goat, started off with a bang!

Strings of Firecrackers about 3-4 meters long,  hung down to the ground from various buildings around the alleyway.

As the lions made their way along, the fire crackers were lit! No crowd control, people were literally standing an arm length away as they went off.

In addition, fireworks of the Roman candle kind/Symphony of Fire events were being set off in the nearby intersection. Rockets blazed up, bouncing off buildings and windows. The crowd continued to swell and pressed closer together. It could only get better!

Hung Hay Fat Choy to all of you! We think it actually means....May you and I survive this night and the ones to follow!!!..

Adios Shayne & Yvonne ...Day 5 to follow ...the carnage of Chinese New Year.......