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Published: July 29th 2016
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 sped along the congested streets I began to notice a significant difference between Puebla’s suburbs and its historic centre.
We arrived at Hotel Puebla Plaza at 2pm, checked in and dropped our packs into one of the smallest rooms we’ve ever stayed in. We headed out for an orientation walk of the historic centre at 2:30pm, passing in front of the towering
Cathedral de Peubla, which was just across the road from our hotel. We wandered the streets surrounding the Zocalo (Puebla’s central plaza) and checked out a few of the local restaurants. We picked up a tourist map of the historical centre and then headed back to the Cathedral de Peubla, which was fortunately open to the public (due in part to renovation works being undertaken to the cathedral’s extremely high ceiling).
We then walked to Vittorio’s for a late lunch at 3:30pm, which bordered the Zocalo and was a perfect spot for ‘people watching’. We shared a Puebla speciality –
mole poblano – which was described on the menu as a spicy sauce made according to Saint Rosa’s convent’s recipe, served with a chicken leg and rice. The mole itself was rich and sweet, and there was a lot of it, especially when compared to the amount of chicken and rice on the plate. Our tourist map described
mole poblano as chilli, nuts and chocolate sauce poured over chicken meat. It was too sweet for me, but the restaurant was a great place to sit and relax.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the quiet,
tranquil and bohemian streets of Puebla’s historic centre, remembering all the while the difference between this small section of the city and its gritty suburban surrounds. We walked past fascinating little antique shops, browsed the underwhelming El Parian handicrafts market and rested in a few of the city centre’s many churches before heading back to the hotel around 6pm. Thunder had been threatening all afternoon, and it suddenly broke at 6:30pm, with lightning and rain settling in for the night.
We headed out to Pozoleria Matamoros for dinner at 7pm in the pouring rain. We ordered
pozole cabeza rojo (soup with pork head and chilli broth), to which we added onion, lettuce, radish and a type of chilli powder. The soup was made from a corn base and was packed full of various pig head segments, and despite my dubious description (I’d never get a job in a restaurant), it was delicious. The soup was also served with tostadas, which were very tasty. I made the mistake of ordering my second
chelada since being in Central America (beer with tomato juice, a type of tabasco sauce, salt and chilli). It was as awful as the first time I tried
it in Rio Dulce (Guatemala). I can only describe it as an absolute waste of good beer, so this will be the last time I order a
chelada or
michelada!
Having finished our meal, we walked through the rain to a hip little bar called A Go Go for a fairly ordinary frozen margarita before heading to Arena Puebla at 9:30pm for a
Lucha Libre wrestling extravaganza. The arena was old and amazing – much of the crowd were in upper seating that was caged in with wire, while we were at ring level, only four rows back. A resident group of extremely loud supporters were sitting in the uppermost seats, and they had drums, horns and anything else they could find that made a noise. Food, drink and merchandise vendors were continually walking through the crowds, and they were doing a roaring trade. There were a lot of kids in the audience, each wearing the trademark mask of their favourite wrestler. I loved the family atmosphere, and I loved the way the wrestlers went out of their way to high five young kids on their way out of the arena.
An old couple were sitting in front
of us – they had brought along a few sandwiches and snacks, and they just sat calmly and watched. They didn’t get excited like Ren, who was yelling, jeering and punching her fist in the air when a baddy wrestler got thumped. The whole thing was filmed for television, and at one stage the camera was focused on us, and I had to tell Ren to tone it down just a little until the camera panned to someone else in the crowd. 😊
Each bout followed the same tried and true routine – the goodies would get an early jump on the baddies, the baddies would come back and thump the goodies into submission, and then through sheer strength of character, the goodies would somehow find it in themselves to smash the baddies and win. Some of the fight choreography was impressive, but mostly it was so terribly bad and over acted that it was brilliant. The referees were as entertaining as the wrestlers, the crowd loved every bit of it, and so did we.
The highlight of the night was when Mascara Dorada, Mephisto and Maximo took on Caristico, Negro 4:40 Casas and Atlantis – Maximo was
as camp as they come, dressed in hot pink with ‘Kiss Me’ emblazoned on his way –too-tight singlet. This was pure comedy, and we couldn’t stop laughing. The lowlight of the night was when Rey Cometa, Esfinge and Guerrero Maya took on Okumura, Fujin and Rayin – it was clear from the start that the Mexicans were going to beat the Asians, and the crowd loved it. The worst wrestler of the night (and possibly of all time) was Police Man-King Jaguar – I think he came up with his title in a moment of extraordinary self-delusion. He wore an extremely tight police uniform and his wrestling prowess was almost as bad as his facial expressions.
People started leaving at 11pm, even though the wrestlers were still carrying-on in the ring. It was mayhem, and it was fantastic. We wandered back through the wet streets (the rain had stopped) to our hotel and crashed around 12:30pm. It had been a long travel day, and we were exhausted.
We woke late at 7:30am, prepared our packs and headed out to Tortas La Florecita for breakfast at 9am. Ren ordered
huevos divorciados (two fried eggs, one covered in red salsa
and the other covered in green salsa), while I ordered
chilaquiles verdes con huevo (fried tortilla chips with eggs and green salsa sauce). The meals were fantastic, and the green salsa was hot! I also ordered a coffee, which was far too strong to be enjoyable (and I normally like strong coffee).
After breakfast we walked to Templo de Santa Domingo, which houses the amazing Capilla del Rosiaro (Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel), before heading to the Biblioteca Palafoxiana (the first public library in the American continent). However, we decided not to explore the library.
We then walked to Calle de los Dulces in the historic centre, known colloquially was ‘Sweets Street’ due to the fact that most of the shops sell traditional sweet delicacies unique to Puebla. Ren picked up a couple of
tortitas de Santa Clara (round shortbread biscuits topped with a sugary pumpkin seed glaze) and a small packet of
camotes de frutas (made from sweet potato and flavoured with fruit) that she had been wanting to try since we arrived in Puebla. We made our way back to the hotel at 11:30am, as we had a four and a half hour trip to
Oaxaca ahead of us, and our luxury ADO bus was leaving Puebla’s bus station at 1pm.
SHE SAID... We left Mexico City after our wonderful street breakfast on Motolina street and travelled on a very comfortable ADO bus to
Puebla City in the central highland State of Puebla. The trip took about two hours, and we travelled through hilly terrain full of pine forests. There were also small hillside towns where surrounding land had been cleared for small farms of corn and pasture, and sprawling urban towns that lined the highway for kilometres. Unfortunately, about an hour into the trip – when we should have had a good view of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl volcanos – big thunder clouds took over the sky.
Puebla sits in a valley surrounded by volcanoes and snow-capped mountains. It’s Mexico’s fourth largest city, and even though it’s a rapidly growing city, it has managed to balance new building development with its stunning colonial architecture. We arrived at the bus station and caught taxis for the 20 minute ride to our hotel. It was an interesting drive, as we caught glimpses of the outskirts and outer suburbs of the city that were
very different to the old town where we were based.
Our hotel Puebla Plaza Hotel looked great from the outside… a renovated building with a location that couldn’t be beaten – half a block from the famous Catedral Basilica de Puebla. However, we were housed in the back of the building in a damp new section that had been modelled on a rabbit-warren. Our room had no natural light (which I seriously detest), questionable sheets and hair oil marks above the bed where people had rested their heads against the paint work. It was so pokey and small that I had to step over my pack to get into bed. Oh well, like I said, the location couldn’t be beaten.
One side of the Zocalo (Central Square) was totally taken up by the block long magnificent cathedral with incredibly high bell towers. The architectural style is described as Renaissance and Baroque, built over the 16th and 17th centuries. The front facade and two impressive bells towers are dark grey stone, while the rest of the church is painted in a rich red with white trim. It’s so impressive that it used to feature on the old $500 peso
note. The interior was incredibly grand and ornate, with many interesting chapels – I loved the small dome which was very impressive and a little reminiscent of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The whole church was in much better condition than the cathedral in Mexico City. We sat for a while in the cathedral and watched two guys on very high scaffolding painting the ceiling and cleaning the angels around the octagonal Altar of the Kings.
The other sides of the Zocalo are surrounded by arcaded buildings full of shops, restaurants and cafes. The area was full of people and had a certain buzz to it, even on an overcast Monday afternoon. Fernando had given us a brief orientation of the area around the Zocalo, and he had pointed out a few eateries which specialised in the various dishes that Puebla was famous for.
Puebla is apparently obsessed with food and known as the ‘kitchen of Mexico’, where pre-Hispanic native food has been combined with Spanish influenced dishes. The two most famous local dishes are
mole poblano sauce and
chiles en nogada.
Chiles en nogada (stuffed chillies with a walnut sauce and pomegranate) is a seasonal dish (July-September),
and sadly we missed out on trying it.
Every family apparently has their own closely–guarded recipe for the iconic
mole poblano (mole is pronounced mo-lay). Generally it’s supposed to be an earthy, spicy-sweet, thick brick-coloured sauce of numerous ingredients like chiles, chocolate, nuts, seeds, vegetables and ripe fruits. It’s served over chicken, pork or the traditional turkey. The elaborate preparation is a multi-person and multi-day ritual, so it’s usually only served at weddings and other family gatherings.
We joined Natalie, Jacob, Danette and Ziggy at Vittorio’s near the Zocalo for a late lunch, as I really wanted to try the
mole poblano. The mole sauce was rich, thick and had a layered fruit/chocolate/peanut/chile flavour. The sauce was poured over a quarter chicken and accompanied with rice and a basket of homemade corn tortillas kept warm under a covering cloth. Andrew isn’t a fan of mixing sweet and savoury, so I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t like the sweet flavour profile of the
mole poblano. I knew the mole would have a sweetness to it, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so sweet. Nor was I expecting the starchy texture. However, it definitely gave me an idea of
the complex flavour, and the more I had of it, the more the flavour grew on me.
After our late lunch we walked around the city centre and eventually found ourselves in the more suburban streets with local churches, small neighbourhood squares, overgrown parks (popular with high school teenage couples) and a netted sports ground where kids were being put through their paces in soccer training, with parents watching from the outside.
We walked to the Barrio del Artista where local artists displayed their paintings on the street, and after a few more blocks we were back in the colourful colonial streets surrounding the Zocalo. If I had been in a shopping mood, I could have spent the whole afternoon looking through the beautiful antique shops and arty boutiques that lined the side streets. The whole old town centre was full of beautiful and well-maintained colonial architecture, some adorned in gorgeous
azulejos (painted ceramic tiles) – an influence of Moorish architecture. It made me realise that the Spanish who came to Mexico in the early 1500s were probably much more Moorish than the Spanish in Spain today.
We made our way to the popular Mercado el Parian
which was full of stalls selling traditional crafts from different regions throughout the state. Many of them were selling pieces of the beautiful but very expensive Talavera pottery that Puebla is world-famous for. We had decided that we wouldn’t buy any ceramics until later in our trip, so were ‘just looking’, but it gave me an appreciation of the craftsmanship that dates back to the 1500s. It is an old art of Spanish tin glazing (another Moorish influence) which was interpreted through the pre-Hispanic methods of making pottery. I saw some lovely pieces, all intricately painted and with the characteristic milky-white glaze, but the market had many obvious imitations of the real thing too (even to my untrained eye).
There were also brightly coloured textiles, regional traditional costumes, blankets, shawls and tablecloths for sale. I can appreciate the wealth of skill and cultural heritage in the work, but both Andrew and I have subdued, minimalist interior decor tastes, so we never end up buying any traditional textiles when we travel. I can see why the Parian market is popular but it just wasn’t our thing, so we left after a quick look.
The mighty fist of Thor had
been menacingly hovering over Puebla ever since we’d arrived, and later that afternoon the invariable thunderstorm came through, but with very heavy rain this time. We got very wet walking to dinner at Pozoleria Matamoros, a place that specialised in
pozole.
Pozole is a hearty, soupy stew of
hominy (processed maize kernels) and pork. Traditionally, the stew was eaten during special Aztec ceremonies, apparently with chunks of human sacrifices!
The
pozole here came with a choice of either red or green broth, and meat choices of chicken, pork tenderloin or pork ‘head meat’. Following Fernando’s advice, we both chose red broth with pork ‘head meat’ (as this was the most traditional way to have it). It was mainly pork cheeks, but Andrew kept expecting an eyeball to float past in his bowl. The soup was served with
tostadas (toasted tortillas) and a plate of shredded cabbage, sliced radish and chopped white onion (with the usual chile and lime on the side). It was very delicious (I’m definitely trying pork cheeks again), and it was also very, very filling. I couldn’t even finish half my small serving.
We had tickets to see a
lucha libre wrestling match later
that night. However, we had a few hours to kill after dinner, so we went to a local bar and hung out with the trendy young things of Puebla, while drinking rather average but strong two-for-one frozen margaritas.
We eventually walked to Puebla Arena, the venue for Monday night
lucha libre wrestling matches. I know it’s very much a part of Mexican tradition, but I’ve never been keen on people punching each other up – even, or especially, in the name of entertainment.
Lucha libre is a form of freestyle wrestling that’s a mix between a sporting event and a circus performance, with a lot of theatre thrown in. It has become world-famous for the coloured fanciful signature masks worn by the fighters.
When we got to the arena, we had to line up in male/female queues for body and bag searches. As soon as we stepped into the venue, I could sense the excitement in the air. I’m not sure that I’ve seen many things stranger than
lucha libre. When the round started, the crowd began yelling wildly at the
rudos (bad guys) or cheering on the
tecnicos (good guys). There were drums and vovuzelas in the
audience, and just general mayhem. There were sellers of
lucha libre masks, hot food, cold drinks, chips and so on. We watched over two hours of fights, each increasing in skill and theatrics.
I was very amused by the interaction of the crowd with the wrestlers. It was essentially a Monday night family outing for most of the crowd, but I heard every Spanish swear word I knew being yelled (sometimes unexpectedly by the elderly woman sitting behind me)! We were about five rows back from the ring and I was very glad we weren’t in the ring side row, as very frequently the wrestlers threw themselves or got thrown out of the ring and into the first row – sending the spectators scrambling out of the way. It was all part of the over-the-top theatrics. The closest we got to the action was when one wrester decided to stumble into the aisle close to us, and he sat there for a while he got his breath back… totally revelling in the attention from the crowd around him. 😊
I really hadn’t been expecting to find
lucha libre entertaining, as I just don’t see the point of fight
sports. However, there was something bizarrely funny and strangely entertaining about two tank-like men in glam costumes engaging in choreographed combat. The costumes were hilarious in themselves, and some of their masks were so ornate that I wondered how they could even see each other. I even found myself yelling along and jumping out of my seat at various unfair calls in the fights. I think Andrew was a little embarrassed. 😄
Lucha libre is taken very seriously in Puebla, so it was probably a good place to experience it. For all my initial reluctance, I’m very glad we went to a match, as it’s such a unique part of Mexican culture – and one that we’ll probably never see again.
We walked back to our hotel via the very quiet city centre streets, and past the beautifully lit cathedral. I really wasn’t looking forward to going back to our horrible hotel room, but the return was obviously unavoidable. However, as grossed out as I was about everything in that room, I must have been very tired, because I still slept well.
The next morning Fernando took us to breakfast at Tortas la Florecita, and he’d asked
that we meet early, as the popular eatery didn’t take bookings. Egg dishes were their speciality, and I ordered
huevos divorciados (literally divorced eggs) which is usually two fried eggs, one covered in
salsa roja (red salsa) and the other covered in
salsa verde (green salsa). I have this breakfast whenever I see it on a menu at home, and it’s my second all-time favourite Mexican breakfast. The dish came with refried beans and some tortilla chips, and the salsas were both delicious. What lifted the deliciousness level of the dish even more was the chipotle salsa on the table. It was smoky, sweet and addictive! Andrew ordered the
chilaqueles verde con huevos, which was fried tortilla chips with eggs and green salsa sauce, and he was very impressed with it too. By the time we ate our very delicious meals, we weren’t surprised that there was a queue of people waiting for our tables.
We walked to the Santo Domingo church which looked very unassuming from the outside, but the interior was another matter. The Dominicans loved their gold, and the church was impressive with Baroque gold altars and a stunning onyx pulpit. However, the main attraction here
was the highly opulent Capilla del Rosario (Rosary Chapel). Dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, every inch of the chapel was covered in heavily gilded plaster, decorative tiling, beautiful large paintings and more sculptures of angels and cherubs than I’ve ever seen in one space. They all vied for my attention, and it was a bit dazzling and overwhelming. The rosary is depicted by faces of little cherubs on the side walls of the chapel, but the symbolism would have been lost on me if I had never prayed the rosary. I read that this was the best example of Mexican Baroque art, and I can absolutely see why. However, as with any elaborately ornate or iconic structure that I encounter, I’m always intensely aware of the ugly power, money and brutality that goes with these things.
For the remaining hours we had left in Puebla, we walked to Calle de los Dulces, or ‘Sweets Street’ (actually called Avenida 6 Oriente). As you may have guessed, I was in heaven in this street. The long street was lined on both sides with shops that sold a wide variety of sugared treats in pretty much every shape and size.
I loved the ones that were typically Mexican in the shape of sacred hearts, guitars and sombreros. As well as confectionery, there were plenty of cookies and other baked goods on sale too. The most popular sale item seemed to be gift baskets filled with a variety of sweet goodies.
We bought a box of
camotes de frutas, Puebla’s signature caramel-type sweets made from sweet potato and flavoured with fruits (orange, coconut, pineapple, strawberry and lemon), along with a bag of
tortitas de Santa Clara, which are sweet shortbread type cookies topped with a sugary pumpkin-seed glaze – apparently first created by a nun in the Convent of Santa Clara. I loved the
tortitas de Santa Clara, but the
camotes de frutas were a bit hit and miss depending on the fruit flavouring. The coconut and pineapple ones were my favourites.
We walked back to the hotel, picked up our packs and caught taxis to the bus station to our much anticipated next destination.
Next we travel to Oaxaca City, in Oaxaca Mexico.
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Feasts and fights!
As usual, I was drooling over your tasty treats and have noted them for my next visit. As a veggie eater, I had cheese enchiladas with mole, and it was perfect--not at all too sweet or starchy. I imagine in Oaxaca, you'll be trying more. Your brekkie looked yummy, though I'm curious, since the "divorciados" were your second fave, what is your first? As for the fights--I loved your wild descriptions. La Paz, Bolivia, also has these outrageous Luchas Libres, but also with 'cholitas'--indigenous women in flouncy skirts! I also loved the buildings with 'azulejos' in Puebla--that Moorish influence is strong in their ex-colonies and still also in Spain. While I loved Puebla, my heart is in Oaxaca--I look forward to your next offering.