Postcards from Puebla!

Bonjour, Hello, Namaste, my readers,

While you were wondering about missing updates, projects, scribblings from this Pastlife Seamstress, she was wandering on Mexican roads.

I loved Mexico and the fact that its so much like my motherland (read India). There is colour, history, culture, spice, craftsmanship, delays, traffic jams, noise, sunshine, street food, music and dance and its busy and bustling and thoroughly entertaining!

What brought us to Mexico was a wedding. Besides attending the  beautiful beautiful wedding (yes, twice as beautiful!), we explored a bit of Mexico city and we also squeezed in some traveling around it.

Friends gathered from fifteen countries to see Tom and Lucia say ‘I do’. While there were still a couple of days for that, six people happened to be really keen on a day trip to CITY OF TILES, PUEBLA!

Puebla is what I call a ‘postcard’ city lying in a valley surrounded by snow capped mountains and volcanoes! By the time you finish reading it, you will realize why I call it a ‘postcard’city.

We hired a cab from Mexico city which took an hour and a half to reach Puebla. We were met by a guide on reaching Puebla, who showed us around the main landmarks of the city and then left us to savour it on our own.

This is our road trip to Puebla…

 

I’m not sure if you can be appreciate the faint outline of a mountain in the picture below, thats a volcano called Popocatéptl. Since it wasn’t  a very clear day, we were debating whether the volcano is spewing some smoke out or is that just an innocent cloud sitting on top of that.

Nevertheless the result of our debate was declared in Saturday morning news headlines which read ‘The Popocatepetl volcano has spewed a dense cloud of ash over the central Mexico state of Puebla, with ash falling to the ground in several towns‘. We were there that Thursday. That was close, I’d say.

 

We were met by a guide on reaching Puebla, who had been pre-arranged for us. He briefed the ‘team’ on important landmarks of Puebla. I could not comprehend everything owing to the spanish accent, but I had done my home work over breakfast so could fill in the blanks.

 

The whole downtown area is a box of colours that are kept in random order. Its lovely and you can enjoy all the main sights on your foot although there are city tour buses available.

The first thing we went to see was Biblioteca Palafoxiana. Its a library with several thousand books in just one hall. Its a beautiful old classic library. It has books dating hundreds of years old, in several languages including Sanskrit!  There were several interesting things to see in that viz

a) there is no light source except natural light filtering through high windows and domes (because there are books hundreds of years old that need to be protected!)

b) There was a wheel like wooden table that allowed you to read six or seven books at at time! Andy (our fellow traveler and friend) said that would have been a great asset during his Phd! 🙂

c) You can’t take pictures inside. At all.

 

We then went to see, the Centro Historico or the historical centre of the city aka Zócalo. Its a colourful, active city square with a fountain in the centre and also has Puebla Cathedral as its most dominating structure.

We went inside the Catedral Basilica de Puebla. Its a fifteenth century colonial cathedral. The interiors are beautifully done by artists from France, Spain and Germany.

It was beautiful on the outside as well.

 

 

The purple flowered Jacaranda trees were everywhere in Mexico and they just added colour and fresh feel to the cities.

 

I adore places like Puebla, they have an old feel to them with their cobbled stone paths and centuries old architecture that still stands towering and straight and every square and street is artistically done. I mean just look at this mosaic tile work below, at a street crossing. These details make even crossing a street as an experience and I just love it to bits.

 

After the city square we went to the ‘Candy Street’. There was another beautiful red cathedral on the way, which opens at 4pm and we were too early for it.

I was just loving it there. Walking around our way into this huge box of crayon. It was the most colourful city I had seen so far. Thats the city tour bus aka ‘Turibus’  coming.

 

I had Mexican candies this year for the first time and I’m a big fan now. They are somewhat like our traditional Indian candies, with tamarind and bit spiced up. Some were very generously sweet with sesame seeds and jaggery. Do have Mexican candies while you are there. You will find plenty of choices to suit your taste buds and do take them back home with you as you’ll miss them.

 

 

After the fairy tale walk in Candy street we were shown the Serdan family house now Museo de la Revolucion. Its a nineteenth century landmark and the scene of the first battle of revolution can be read straight from the walls.

 

Beetle happens to be my favourite car. And seeing so many of them there, it just felt like someone had packed all my favourite things in one lucky sunny day!

 

More colour!

 

Yellow makes me so happy! See!

 

And ‘Red’ and yellow together, makes me the happiest!! 🙂

 

And just when you think there is too much of yellow. There is blue.

 

And orange!

 

Marching to the part I look forward to most. Artisans market!

 

 

The painters market where they work outside amid the moving crowds. I wish I could take this tree home!

 

 

Puebla is called City of tiles. It is famous for its Talavera glazed clay tiles, a spanish heritage (well, spaniards had in turn learnt this from Arabs). But they say the place has a history as a pottery centre long before the spaniards came. They are beautifully crafted with a variety of colour and patterns, often hand painted.

You can take a ceramic factory tour as well.

But don’t come back without some pottery. Its a crime. And the best place to get a good deal is Mercado El Parian. Which is right behind me.

 

More from El Parian market.

 

 

And on way back collected some…

 

 

And while we waited for the cab back to Mexico city.

 

 

Thats what Hubz say…

 

 

When we got back to Mexico city, I scrolled through the pictures and they looked like ready-to-send postcards. Thats why I call it the same.

Also when you are there try Mole Poblano, kind of their national dish, which has more than twenty five ingredients, its basically quesadillas in mole, or the sauce. Also try Chiles en Nogada, a stuffed pepper dish, created by nuns during the colonial era. Another tip is to carry good sunglasses and even better sunscreen as its very sunny with high UV index. Grab the shoe you are comfortable walking in. As for me, I wore an Aldo t-strap flat pair. Also remember that cobbled stone pathways can be slippery sometimes, even when they are not wet, so an anti skidding shoe will add to success of your trip. It will also be a wise idea to wear a sun hat and long sleeved dress/shirt.

This was our short day trip to this city which is also declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. I want more of Puebla so I’m definitely going back again. I don’t know when, yet.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and many thanks for reading! Feel free to drop in your comments, even oohs and aahs count as one.

 

I will be back on this space with more pictures and travel updates from Mexico and elsewhere.

Take care and much love. ♥