The little things, Puebla and Cholula

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The Little things:

One of the great interests in travelling is the little things. The frequency of opportunities to part with money is definetly one thing. Whether it is Indigenous Mothers with a small child asleep on their lap or to their side, selling supposebly hand-made goods, Mexican guys selling tack; cheaply made little toys, keyrings, battery powered cars etc. The sort of thing with about a five minute lifespan before disappearing deep into a drawer not to be seen again until you move house.
Particularly in Markets and especially in Mexico City the take-away stand seems popular here tacos are often the order of the day, but really anything can be found.

No opportunity to sell things seems to be missed. I find the most striking example being the vendors at religous events going around selling all sorts of things from sweets to near life size Virgin Marys! The story of Jesus going crazy tipping over tables in a temple because they had tuned it into a market springs to mind.

Puebla: Days 9-11 and Cholula

After getting pretty darm confused by the street numbering system in Puebla (mainly due to two main streets having pretty much the same name) I arrived in Puebla. Being Sunday there was plenty of entertainment in Zocalo. A large-ish crowd were watching some traditional dancing, I soon realised quite a few were actually watching the football on a 14in screen. Not being a great fan of traditional dancing I joined them.

The following day was spent in bed I attributed to some dodgy fish bought in the market. Next day I headed out to Cholula, these days basically an extentsion of Puebla, best known for a church built upon a massive man-built mountain. A result of pyramids built upon pyramid being built upon one another. The colonial legacy was to continue the idea yet destroy it. They continue it by building upwards but destroyed it by building a church allowing grass to build over the Mayan remains untils they disappeared from view. The church had a stunning interior and equalled in interest the tunnels below.

As the thought crossed my mind of it being quite peaceful up there, a huge 'BANG!' sounded, being largelly accustomed to random noises from my travels thus far, I thought little of it. After I few more, I became curious. I looked over the side of the balcony to see a father and his son firing flares up into the air, this still seemed a tad random until a marching band with lofted JC figues and flowers came into sight weaving their way uo to the top. Elderly ladies watched on with interest while the trumpters and drum player, looking exhausted, slumped down on the ground during the intermission.

Later I headed around the ground reading stories of how 6 and 7yr olds were once sacrificed to encourage the rains to fall. They didn´t say whether it worked.
There are also a vast network of tunnels under the pyramids which only about 1km of which is open to the public. It is pretty impressive none the less and you can get a decent feel for it. Obviously they were of a small stature, vertically speaking, as my near 2m frame can testify walking through in a crouched position.

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