More bus adventures and Puebla

---

So yesterday I was abandoning Queretaro to go to Puebla. I was quite looking forward to it as quite a few of the backpackers I had spoken to weren't going there, so I thought I might see a bit more original Mexican culture.
I had asked the previous day at Queretaro's bus staion and had been told that I had to go via Mexico City as there were no directs to Puebla. And they alos told me that I had to change from Mexico city's Northern coach station to Poniente (also known as CAPO - bear this in mind for later).
So I got a reasonably early start (left the hostel at 9.15) and got the camion to the station. There I bought my ticket on the 10.10 to Mexico City (158 pesos, economy service) and got settled for the 3 hours journey. It went pretty well but I didn't sleep so I was a bit bored. Until 2 hours in that is... Because at that point, the last passengers on the bus got off and it was just me and the bus driver. I was sat at the front (I always try to because you get a better view of the landscape and I think you also get a bit more space for your bag) so the driver – Carlos, as I would later find out – started talking to me. So I basically got a one hour conversation with a local, all in Spanish and I managed to understand a fair bit and answer about as much. I listened to him telling me his story: he used to be a shop-fitter and changed to bus driver because it gave him the opportunity to talk to more people. Then he told me a bout the police and the different kind of police you get and how they are all corrupt and stop the buses to ask for their papers and then extort money from them. He also informed me of “the sleeping woman”, a mountain I would see on the way to Puebla and that looked like I let you guess what. He told me about the legend of the mountain and of the one next to it (but I didn't get it all) and then proceeded to tell me that when in Puebla, I had to taste the “Mole poblano”, a local spicy dish or sauce made with lots of different ingredients. Finally, he attempted to teach me how to swear in Mexican, explaining that the people of Mexico City swear a lot. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of it!
I got to the station at 1.15 as expected (after he stopped the bus at a garage to go and have a chat about fixing his car!) and proceeded to go to CAPO to get the Puebla bus. It involved 2 changes and took about 45 minutes. But when I got there, I couldn't see any companies advertising the Puebla destination so I went and asked, only to be told I was in the wrong station and I had to go to TAPO, not CAPO. Up until that point I thought CAPO stood for “Central de Autobuses Poniente”, but then I was confused as to what TAPO would mean... “Terminal de Autobuses something or other...” Anyway, I asked how to get there and she said to get the tube to “Sala Zaro”. I made her repeat it 3 times but still didn't really get what she said, so went and had a look at a metro map and found somewhere called “San Lazarro” and, after checking with someone else, set off to get to TAPO.
When I arrived, they didn't have a list of destinations and prices per operator, but instead, people who claimed to sell tickets for all companies (I'm still not sure that was true, but that's where the biggest queue was, so I decided to go for it) and got on the 3.12 to Puebla, which cost me 106 pesos and took 2 hours.
5.15, I arrived in Puebla, so far so good. I had instructions to get a certain bus and a small map of around where I was staying which I had drawn the night before. I had the option of “urban buses” or “suburban buses” and decided the first of the 2 was probably what I needed but it quickly emerged that was not the case. After a bit of faffing and asking different people, I finally managed to make it to the correct “bus stop”. I waited and waited and no bus with the name I wanted turned up. So I asked again and the street sellers did a wonderful job of pointing me in the right direction: ie on a bus that wasn't really going to where I was going but would get me nearer and somewhere where I could catch another one. And then the people on the bus told me where to get off and what next bus to catch. And then the next bus driver told me where to get off. Thank god for that! But then... Then... Then I was in no man's land (centre my ****, or did I not read the advert right?) and I couldn't find the hostel. I was on the right street, I knew I'd got off the bus in the right place and the only 2 people I managed to bump into on the street didn't think there was a hostel nearby. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I walked past it 3 times without realising because it wasn't properly signposted and eventually found a couple of people who were able to help. By the time I got there, it was almost 7.30pm and I had seen none of the city.
The hostel itself was in fact somebody's house where they'd made a couple of rooms into guest-room and dorm and we shared the rest of the living space with them. I say “we”, but I was the only guest and I felt a bit ill at ease, like I was invading their privacy and of course, they could kill me, cut me up and serve me for dinner and nobody would ever know. Thankfully they didn't. In fact, quite the contrary... I really couldn't fault their welcome. The husband even walked me to the bus stop to show me how to get into town and later I had quite a lengthy chat with both of them about all sorts of things. I was informed that we were 5km away from the centre and I had to get a bus there, but was I really sure I wanted to go because it was night-time and it might be dangerous? I said yes because I was only there for one night and got advised to take as little with me as I could and hide my camera, money and other valuables. That didn't fill me with confidence (and the thought crossed my mind that if they wanted to steal my stuff, they wouldn't say any different!) and I set off, a bit more worried than I probably should have.
I got into the historic centre just before 8pm and had a flying and disappointing visit. A mixture of getting paranoid about being robbed or attacked from what the hostel's owner had said and therefore not wanting to get out of the beaten track, but also the fact that most of the buildings weren't lit up at night were the main reason. I did enjoy the huge cathedral (managed to have a look inside just in time as they shut at 8pm) and some of the pretty buildings' façades (very different from where I'd come from, a lot more ornate – sorry, I'm rubbish at architecture). By 9pm, I'd had enough and decided to head back, which involved a different bus and then a walk for 6 blocks (I had been assured this was a residential and safe area), where I managed to get a bit lost again and was definitely not a happy bunny...
In the end I made it back without any problems and breathed a sigh of relief. I had a quick go online (but the wifi didn't work), had some food (unfortunately didn't get to try the Mole) and went to bed.

Overall, a day not to remember and that left a taste of disappointment in my mouth, just because I feel I didn't see as much as I should have. I thought of staying an extra day, (especially as my original itinerary involved stopping in Mexico City, which I decided not to in the end) but as nice as the owners were, I didn't really want to stay there any longer and could be bothered moving to another place closer to the centre. So I listened to the call of Oaxaca and decided to leave reasonably early again, in order to try and avoid the whole night-time arrival again.

---

Comments

[delphine]

oh dear
hello, pourtant ca n'a pas l'air si moche d'apres les photos!! une journee dans les transports donc, pas cool du tout moi aussi, j'ai parle espagnol avec des representants sur le salon. je suis tte contente car j'ai tout compris et surtout, ils m'ont compris.. yahoooo bises