Perhaps it was the pouring rain or the scarcity of saints to honor by setting off fireworks and parading through the streets in the wee hours of the morning, but our final two nights in Cholula were blissfully peaceful with only the rain and an occasional thunderclap to endure. Our first stop yesterday morning was at the church of Santa María Tonantzintla adorned with beautiful talavera tiles for which the region is known. The real showstopper, however, is the interior. It is unique in that it's style is known as folk or indigenous baroque. It was built in the 16th century, but it's interior was worked upon for centuries and finally completed in the early 20th. It's unusual in that it depicts pre-Hispanic images such as dark skinned angels, ears of corn and tropical fruit. You aren't allowed to take photos of the interior, but I found some online that show just how strangely different this church is. |
Our next stop was most enjoyable. I had heard of talavera tile and always thought it was beautiful, but the real deal which is government certified as authentic, contains lead in quantities deemed too high by the FDA. I then read about a family operated business in Tonantzintla that hand makes and paints its pieces and all are lead-free. We stopped at the little store in town and met the most delightful woman. We ended up spending more than an hour there as she showed us the beautiful pieces and gave us a private lesson in Spanish. She was adorable and teased the boys for being "guapo" and asked about their girlfriends. She spoke very little English, but had us all speaking better Spanish by the time we left. We bought a few pieces and as we left, she gave each of the boys a sucker, Matt a shot glass, and me a small jar with a lid. The boys yammered back and forth with her and teased Luke so much that she even kissed Luke on the cheek when we left and said he should ignore his brothers and wait for a girl who matched his intelligence.
We then made our way about a mile up the road (this village is about ten minutes south of Cholula) to another amazing church, San Francisco Acatepec. The churches throughout Cholula (and all of Mexico) are just so amazing because there may be only a few hundred inhabitants in the town, like Santa María Tonantzintla, and yet they have these huge, ornate, gold-leafed interiors with artwork worth millions.
We really didn't think we could meet a nicer person, but then we met Emilio. We drove about half an hour east to Puebla and fell in love with the place before we even parked the car. What gorgeous architecture!Jake got a bloody nose, so we were sitting by the side entrance of the Catedral de Puebla waiting for it to subside when Emilio Hernandez, an English teacher at the university, introduced himself. He had a student with him, Luis, who was trying to learn English. He asked if
we'd speak with him a bit so he could practice. We gladly obliged and with some tips as to places to see, we left to head to the Biblioteca Palafoxiana while they went into the cathedral. The Palafoxiana library is said to be the oldest in the Americas, established in 1649. It has texts from the 15th century printed on a Gutenberg press. I'm partial to libraries, so I was in love. |
After visiting the library and touring some of the art galleries that were also in the building and stopping by the tourist information office for a map of the town, we headed to the zócalo where we once again ran into Emilio and Luis. They were going to get some lunch and as we were starving, they invited us along. We had a fantastic meal and ended up spending the rest of the day with them.
Emilio is a fast talking, fast walking man who's been married for 35 years. He said his friends call him Speedy Gonzalez and we certainly learned why. He had us walking all over the city and showed us some amazing things we never would have seen on our own and took us to the best places. When Luke said he liked churros, he took us to the best place in town; when we needed a bathroom he took us to the cleanest, most beautiful one I've ever seen and then later to his friend's used bookstore in another part of town when we needed one again. He seemed to know everyone and we met five or six people in all different parts of town who knew him.
What a lucky break to meet him and get the deluxe tour! After lunch, we didn't stop walking (except for a five-minute sardine packed taxi ride) until we had to part ways when our parking garage closed at 10pm. He spoke Spanish to the boys and taught them a wealth of slang while Matt and I spent most of our time helping Luis with his English. Puebla is stunningly beautiful and the people are fantastic.
What a lucky break to meet him and get the deluxe tour! After lunch, we didn't stop walking (except for a five-minute sardine packed taxi ride) until we had to part ways when our parking garage closed at 10pm. He spoke Spanish to the boys and taught them a wealth of slang while Matt and I spent most of our time helping Luis with his English. Puebla is stunningly beautiful and the people are fantastic.
One of the coolest things we saw, thanks to Emilio, was the part of town known as Xanenetla. It is a labyrinth of cobble-stoned streets with murals everywhere. It was qué padre (very cool)!
What a day! We didn't plan on staying in Puebla so late, but were glad we did. We didn't have any weather trouble, but it poured rain all the way back to our hotel in Cholula. We were all so exhausted, we slept in before making a quick stop at Cuexcomate, billed as the smallest volcano in the world, but which is actually just a geyser that appeared after the eruption of Popocatepetl in 1064. Then it was back to D.F.
The trip home to D.F. was quite an adventure. I really think Matthew was a Méxican cab driver in a previous life because he bobbed and weaved us through some crazy stuff. There were four-lane highways that suddenly veered right due to unmarked construction with no lanes marked, buses entering the roadway, and then ending up as only three lanes, all at 50 mph with wall-to-wall traffic. Once we got into México City proper, it was massively congested—Google told us 12 miles would take 56 minutes. Pedestrians cross whenever and wherever they please, no lanes are marked, traffic lights are just a suggestion, motorcycles are weaving in and out of traffic, and it was pouring rain. Once again, four lanes became three without warning at one intersection, traffic coming from two different directions crossed four lanes and criss-crossed, some going left, some going straight, all while pedestrians ran across in the rain, lanes suddenly turned into buses-only lanes with concrete curbing on either side of the lane, and occasionally, your lanes suddenly split because of a random median (some with playgrounds in the middle!), or the traffic lanes going one direction were suddenly split by concrete curbing for no apparent reason. It was insane and Matt loved every tension-filled, white-knuckle moment of it. The rest of us, not so much, but he got us back safe and sound and I bow down before his driving prowess.