Blogs from Puebla, Mexico, North America - page 4

The last two weeks have been fun! I took a combi (minibus) the wrong way one morning, and ended up on a gorgeous drive up into the mountains outside Tehuacan. The following weekend, two other teachers accompanied me on an exploratory mission on the same route. It was beautiful. We ended up walking along a dusty path with a local who showed us some caves that were used as ammunition stores during the Mexican Revolution. There were black marks on the roofs from fires caused by burning/exploding ammunition. We met some locals who lived up there, and chatted away with them in Spanish for about 30 minutes. They were very curious and asked for pictures with us tentatively at the end of the conversation. We then walked further down the trail with a delightful 76 year ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were leaving Mexico City and travelling south east to Puebla. We grabbed our packs from our room in Hotel Metropol, checked out and jumped into a minibus, which took us to Terminal Oriente (TAPO), the bus terminal next to San Lazaro. We walked through the terminal, picked up our tickets, had our hand luggage searched, loaded our packs into the under carriage and settled in our comfortable ATO bus to Puebla. We left Mexico City at 11:30am and arrived at Puebla’s bus station at 1:30pm. We jumped into a taxi and sped towards the city’s historic centre. The taxi trip was eye opening and unexpected, as I didn’t realise Puebla was Mexico’s fourth largest city with a population of four million. The outer suburbs were sprawling, crowded and gritty, and as we ... read more

Distance driven today: 206 miles / 332 km Cumulative distance driven: 5,528 miles / 8,896 km Today’s trip: Santiago de Queretaro, Querataro to Heroica Puebla, Puebla, Mecixo Using turn signals, giving the right of way, driving within the lanes (if any lane markings exist at all that is!) rather than between them, or even trying to drive close to the speed limit, are all things that most drivers in Mexico seem to ignore. It is my interpretation that, traffic laws here in Mexico are viewed by motorists as some sort of suggestion and recommendation, rather as something that you must follow for your own and others safety. It seems like traffic laws are there as a nice-to-have option, should you have nothing else to do while driving. Let’s take the speed limit as an example. If ... read more

Citaltépetl is the native word for Pico de Orizaba and means "Star Mountain." I was mildly shocked and chagrined that Orizaba (5,636 m or 18,491') is the 3rd highest mountain in all of North America. I summited early yesterday morning at 7:19 after a grueling hike and slog on the Jampa Glacier. I did not take this climb all that seriously and was not at all prepared for the extreme cold (severe cold front blew through this week) and high altitude. Now in Puebla where it is positively mobbed presumably because it is the end of Santa Semana. Nice city... US$ ≈ 13 Mexican pesos (M$) Tlachichuca Strictly one purpose town - setting up a climb of Pico de Orizaba. While not necessary, I spent the night here after the summit but it would have been ... read more

Yes, this happened in September, and I am behind. I apologize We left at about a quarter to seven in the morning. In the morning. I was not a happy camper. But I slept most of the way there, so it was alright I guess. It took about 2 ½ hours to get there, and most of the journey was through the mountains, on a two-lane highway, with quite a bit of traffic. Puebla and the small community next to it named Cholula, are well known for having many churches. There is a myth that the area has 365 different churches, one for every day of the year. In reality there are about 90 all totaled. Still quite a few for an area this size. I am sure that there are more bars though. Just like ... read more