In the glorious city of Guanajuato, learning enough Spanish to eavesdrop on the construction workers next door.
My guÃa and I tried to get into that church but it was closed so instead we went to the roof of a nearby building to look at it.
I was hoping to see La capilla de la Virgen del Rosario, a chapel located inside the Templo de Santo Domingo.
The rooftop terrace was lovely and there was even a mountain visible. Puebla is actually surrounded by mountains as is Mexico City and in both places one rarely gets the pleasure of seeing them.
Awww. Check out the little girl on the right in her Frozen t-shirt and Luchadora mask. And the dad’s big thumbs up. There are plenty of professional Luchadoras (the men are Luchadores) but I didn’t happen to see any.
Then in the picture on the left she is admiring herself in the phone. She did look at herself for a very long time.
…and I was wandering around and found myself behind the television announcers. I could see the monitor of the actual broadcast. Every time the girls came out to form a welcoming party for the Luchadores, the camera never left their cleavage.
This shows only the tip of a very deep iceberg. There were so many vendors carrying around food most of them extremely unexpected such has plates piled high with shrimps, head to tail and covered in sticky sauce which the fans ate off paper plates spitting the shells onto the floor. Fried fish; plates of carne asada; sweets in a rainbow of colors; masks; toys…I’m sure I’m not remembering them all.
February 26
It’s Monday and I arrived to school on time despite having got up at 2 Sunday morning and getting back past 11:30 At Night.
We get a new guÃa every Monday (guide and conversation coach) and here’s Angeles, mine for the week! We went to a Picasso exhibit that was small and pretty delightful. It was local interpretations of Picasso’s work. This was a collage series of brains thinking about Guernica that I especially enjoyed.
We did something else that I can’t remember and here it is a week later which will be an ongoing problem of having waited so long to write.
…but they’re good!
You can easily tell when you’re inside the historic center because they have installed lovely historic lighting throughout and have put the electrical and telephone wires underground. It makes for a great look.
After school a group of the students met to experience the fabulous Lucha Libre. I don’t necessarily need to go again, but I would join in if someone else really wanted to go.
I liked it! It made me smile and laugh out loud. The characters are so full of story and they are funny as can be.
And it’s a family affair!
…the path was nose to tail with people. Children, abuelas, and women in heels made the trek so it was definitely doable, but a challenge for me nonetheless. Thanks to Artur for all his helping hands!
We had to try the local Michelada, which is made with beer, clamato juice, hot sauce, chili and salt on the rim, followed by a unique addition of a sweet, spicy, sticky syrup poured around the rim that then runs down the side of the glass.
It wasn’t bad, and it certainly was interesting.
(several of these pictures are from Artur and I forget which but these two for sure)
You can get a horse for a ride about halfway up and a similar halfway down but there is still a very steep and strenuous climb up into the forest and down again.
February 25 Mariposa Migration and Valle de Bravo
Piedra Herrada Sanctuary, a tour to Mariposa Monarca Y Valle de Bravo involved getting up at 2AM for a 3AM departure. Yes, I did that and it was worth it!
Google translated from the brochure: “Live this natural spectacle visiting the largest sanctuary in Mexico, breathe while enjoying nature and live with this insect so peculiar, one of the great attractions of our Mexico. Then meet one of the most picturesque Magical Towns ‘Valle de Bravo’ and tour its lake and its streets.”
…serving amazing food, each kitchen having it’s own offerings. Those barrels have wood burning inside and the smells were intoxicating. The clay jugs were bubbling up some delicious coffee.
We arrived at the kickoff site around 7:30, on the early side. We were about the 3rd bus in the lot and by the time we left there were 30.
We were one of the first buses to arrive but our tour operator allocated almost two hours for breakfast so by the time we kicked off to see the butterflies…
Here they are closer up, and the inset is closer still – they are made up entirely of butterflies! On a cool sunless day they all stay huddled like that and it is an unfortunate disappointment to the tourists when that happens.
Back to the bus for the 40 minute ride to Valle de Bravo, a sweet little town on the banks of the large and handsome Lake Avándaro.
…and we went buzzing off to try to catch one of the many boat rides on offer, but no, one by one we found them to be sold out.
And then, why not, tequila! We went to the third floor of the building on the far right and drank shots (shots in the very plural!) of tequila. Wow, I haven’t done that for a while!
Then off to the bus for the four hour ride back to Puebla.
There are plenty of murals around but not so much inside the Old Town, probably to maintain the UNESCO World Heritage certification…
February 24 Puebla City Tour
I went with Artur on the local HoHo which they call Turibus here and it was good. I hadn’t been out of the Old Town since I got to Puebla.
I’m a little worried about my ability to keep up with all this and then losing all my motivation to name things…and I really like it when my pictures have names! (OK, here’s my free Saturday and I’m going to try to name things!)
Looking back to the Cathedral. You can also see some reinforcements on a building in the foreground. There are a few others like this waiting for an earthquake retrofit.
Outside the historic district here … searching for the name. Anyone know the name?
I thought we were going to see the famouse forts here, Fuerte de Loreto and Fuerte de Guadalupe, but we’d have had to get off the bus to see them.
This area also has many museums including the Museo de la Evolución, Museo Imagina, Museo de Historia, and the Planetario. There’s a short Teleférico (funicular) ride up here too.
Commercial and residential buildings along the streets of the old town are so beautifully decorated and maintained.
These guys top the posts of the fence that surrounds the Cathedral as we return to the Zócolo to end our most pleasant Turibus ride around town.
February 25
In the spirit of ?Porque No? we had to get up at 2AM to catch the bus at 3AM for a magnificent tour of a couple of remarkable places including plenty of ?Porque No?.
……….Click Here To See
……….Pictures from the excursions
……….including the Butterfly Migration but you might need to scroll down.
February 24
I spent a lot of the weekend with my classmate Artur from Poland, now living in London. On Saturday we took the HoHo tour called the Turibus here which was a great way to see more of the city than just the Old Town, and then we ate local food, dish after dish, cerveza after cerveza because, as has become our watchword, ?Porque no? meaning Why Not…
……….Click Here To See
……….Pictures from the excursions
……….including the HoHo but you might need to scroll down.
February 23
After school, on the way to meet Sandra I had to pop into this church because here she was all a-glow-glow.
Our first stop was for a tour of a Talavera workshop.
It was an excellent tour in that one guy walked around with us from station to station to see the entire process in motion. Here they’re getting the clay to the right consistency and mixing the colors.
We passed by the potters wheels and came to this guy who was finishing off the raw clay getting ready for drying.
Next came the painters, and then the glazing, and then The Store where I bought a tile that reminded me of the tiles in the kitchen of the convent.
Gosh, my whole diary is turning into handsome building after handsome building.
Our last stop, Talavera Cabaret, and my last outing with Delightful Sandra, a club she especially likes that I may be visiting again when they’re doing a show!
The school changes the guides each week so we can get used to hearing different speaking styles. It’s a good idea I think but also I’ll miss Sandra.
February 22
Hola Sandra! We came here for the view and to enjoy a beverage. It was lovely.
El Edificio Carolino was not easy to get into and we had to hurry a bit. This is one of the four large patios in the 17th century building that has served many purposes, and is currently home to the administrative offices of Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.
Edificio Arronet, as an example of what most of the big buildings hide behind their giant doors.
Puebla is a large city, the fourth largest metropolitan area in Mexico with a population well over 3,000,000. I haven’t been out of the old town though…
I think it must be the day we went here because no pictures were allowed inside and I already had this from another day.
It is part of Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla University in Puebla, Mexico and this building is called Casa de los Muñecos. The Talavera work is exceptional. Inside is an exhibit of scientific instrument from many disciplines, and a mummy or two, all very well displayed.
And there must have been something else…oh yes! We went to the roof-top deck of a shopping block but the air was too thick to take a picture.
…and the old town is magnificent. I know these pictures are just snaps from the street of interesting facades but I haven’t thought of a better idea yet. So many charming buildings in so many styles.
I should tell you how my school days go when there are no evening activities, and when there are evening activities as happens often, I don’t get back until 10-11-12pm!
7:30 clean up and get downstairs for a little breakfast
8:30 leave for school
9:00 class begins
1:00 class ends for lunch
2:15 walk to the Zócolo to meet with my guide, see sights, walk walk walk, and talk about what we see
4:30 finish with the guild and head home
5:00 collapse on my bed, look at email, download pictures, start homework
7:00 a very light supper with my homestay host
8:00 back to finish homework, try to put the days pictures online, and watch something distracting on my computer
11:00 shut down and go to sleep!
February 21
I enter the house through the garage and then take a door into the kitchen. This is the view.
My Food: I eat some breakfast at 7:30 made by my homestay host. She makes one egg every morning scrambled or boiled, and some type of bread, and a huge serving of fruit. It’s so early for me to eat though, so we have a routine where I eat the hot food and take the cold food to school for the 11:00 break which works well for me.
At lunch the school provides a large buffet meal at 1pm and since I’ve only eaten there three times I still like it. Old timers are tired of the repeating menu so I might pop out from time to time for a meal somewhere else.
Dinner is a light serving at 7pm. My homestay host makes either soup or salad, and bread and fruit.
There’s also the street and I simply must have one thing each day and twice it’s been the best churros EVER. I took a picture but it didn’t turn out…I’ll have a chance to do it again For Sure.
We visited the Colección de Arte, Universidad de las Américas Puebla. There wasn’t much inside that made my heart beat fast but oh Wow on the building.
A view out the window of the above building.
We had to move fast to get all the chores done that I was hoping to accomplish. We went to print photos, make some copies, and visit the office of the people running the Monarch Butterfly tour that I want to enjoy on Sunday.
I and my guide (the conversation coach provided by the school) walked across town twice to visit these two very interesting museums. It seems we are hitting all the museums on their free day – I’m leaving the schedule to her which is very cool.
This is the Ex-Convento Santa Rosa Museo and its splendid and rightfully famous kitchen.
The kitchen is covered in Telavera tiles. “Authentic Talavera pottery only comes from the town of San Pablo del Monte (in Tlaxcala) and the cities of Puebla, Atlixco, Cholula, and Tecali (all these four latter in the state of Puebla), because of the quality of the natural clay found there and the tradition of production which goes back to the 16th century.”
They make tiles of course, and bowls, plates, flowerpots, anything you can think of you can find.
There are rules for calling your work Talavera, lots of them, and the pieces are significantly more expensive than similar looking pieces from other places, but the areas famous for Talavera are investing to bring back the business and reopen some of the closed workshops.
This line was 15-20 persons long and even cars pulled up for a plate of deliciousness.
The guy in the foreground is taking the money while the ladies sitting by the wall scoop up the orders. Too bad for me I was on my way to some place else and couldn’t wait.
There is fruit on most corners, carts with chips, nuts, dried fruits and vegetables, and shops where the big kitchens are in the open door so people line up on the street for tacos and all the other walking-around dishes.
We visited another museum, Aquiles Serdan Brothers House and the Mexican Revolution Regional Museum.
The house remains as it was when this family of revolutionaries was killed by the Mexican government in 1918. It was interesting but the most interesting part was this Talavera kitchen. I need one of those tiled walls.
February 19
My group starting today for a three week program. There are other students who started three or six weeks ago making 21 total students.
This is orientation where the program director passed out these notebooks and we all chose one.
The orientation went on for a couple of hours and then we dispersed to our various classes. I’ll take a picture of my class tomorrow, made up of me, the sweet teacher, and a very lovely young woman named Jordan.
Mabel, Linda, Jeff, Alina, Lauren, Ian, Miriam, Artur, Mimi, JoAnn, Michael
…and I really loved looking at it. This one whispered to me from all the way down the hall…look at me look at meee.
After the four hours of class, 9-1, we have a lunch break and then at 2:15 we walk to the Plaza Central and meet with our one-on-one guide for conversation and any activity we want to do together until 4:30.
My guide suggested we go to the Museo Amparo because it’s free on Monday. They have a large and respected permanent collection of pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern art.
They also had a large exhibition of the work of Sheila Hicks that was awesome.
February 18
Behind where I’m standing is a big skylight and the windows are doing their job nicely.
It’s Sunday, my first actual day and I wanted to walk into the Plaza Central. You can see some power lines in this picture but a block or two further on they’ve got them all underground.
But first I wanted to go into that building because I could. A woman was opening the gate, I got a peek through, and she let me in…
…to look around.
And then she told me about it In Spanish and I think I understood it all. It was once a hospital and fairly recently turned into apartments. I told her how much I admired the windows and she said yes they looked good but when it was very windy it was not good at all.
The cathedral picture is not mine but I love it. That is my hand though.
Turns out it’s the first Sunday of Lent and all the churches were full, the organs playing, the singers singing, but best of all was the Cathedral where I happened to arrive just in time for the end of the service.
It was packed in there and the music was splendid. At the end the head priest, dressed in extravagant purple raiment and headdress, was walking through the crowds shaking water on heads or hands. I held out my hands and bam, holy water and a sweet smile.
I behaved myself and didn’t take pictures inside as requested, but I’ll go back when there isn’t a service.
(internet)
The Plaza was full of fun too. The whole crowd could not have been having more fun.
This guy swings the ball and everyone runs in trying not to get smacked. Kids, teenagers, parents…
What a lovely Old Town. I have to write an essay now for the school placement test. A Test, what’s with that?!
February 17
Yesterday there was a big earthquake off the coast of Mexico and both Mexico City and Puebla were on the edge of the shake zone. As far as I know there hasn’t been any serious damage or deaths due to the quake itself.
(internet)
I flew into Mexico City and went immediately to the comfortable, reasonable, and direct bus to Puebla City. It takes about 2 1/2-3 hours.
(internet)
It was getting to evening when I made it to Puebla so I haven’t seen this yet…
(internet)
The place where I’m staying is really something to talk about, wow, so many Things, and it’s just one woman about my age in a house that has seen generations.
This is the best part so far, I’m on the bed and I have windows and the air is cool and fresh.
