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
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