Puebla -Part II

I woke up to a cacophony of bells the next day.

Our hotel room afforded a great view of the city-a skyline studded with steeples, ornamental domes and tall bell towers, flanked by the mountain ranges beyond. I woke up at the crack of dawn, to the collective peel of what must have been fifty-odd bells, clanging from the belfries of all the churches in Puebla. And trudging to my balcony to have a view of the city in its morning glory, I was in for another surprise. Towering behind the tallest bell-towers in the horizon, illuminated by the pink glow of the rising sun, was a majestic snow-capped volcano- the Popocatapetl. One of the most famous (non-dormant) volcanoes in Mexico, there it stood, lazily billowing a thin cloud of smoke from its frozen mouth. It was spectacular, awe-inspiring... Take a look:





Once i managed to wake Prathyooshan (who, btw, had slept through the cacophony of bells, birds AND my oohs n aahs about the view), we went for a lovely walk around the zocalo, watching the city slowly wake up to life as the sun crept up the sky. Visited a few more churches...(i really hvnt dwelt on the churches coz there only so much I know about architecture.. but i can tell you this.. opulent interiors, elaborately painted domes, stained glass windows... it’s as good as it gets!!) and rounded off the morning tour with a breakfast of absolutely scrumptious churros, full to dripping with chocolate sauce.



Next on the agenda, was Puebla’s pretty little neighbour, Cholula, which had a interesting history of its own. The story dates back to pre-Columbian times, when Cholula was one of the most important cities in the Aztec empire, with close to 365 temples dedicated to the Aztec gods. And the most famous temple of all was the large pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, which according to the Guiness Book of records, is the LARGEST pyramid in the world! However, things changed when Hernan Cortez (the Spanish explorer who conquered the Aztec empire) arrived on the scene. Wishing to make a lasting example of Spanish might over the natives, he ordered a mass massacre of natives, destroyed the Aztec centres of worship and vowed to replace each and every temple in the city with a catholic church. And the most important church of all, Iglesias de Virgin de los Remedios, stands ON TOP of the large Aztec pyramid!

The church was magnificent ...



And the view, exhilarating...



And the Aztec pyramid, trapped forever under the burden of the Catholic Church...



A quick tour through the craft market at the foot of the pyramid, and we were on our way back to Puebla. Cholula had much more to offer – its local market, lively zocalo, and all its churches including the famous Royal Chapel with 49 domes- and it wrenched my heart to leave without exploring more of the city, but we had no choice. We were heading back to Mexico City that evening and that left us with just about half a day to go back to Puebla and.... SHOP!

Like I wrote in my last post, Puebla is known for a great many things –food, churches, architecture, et al. But what I didn’t mention then, was that Puebla is most famous, all over the world, for its art of pottery, Talavera. Talavera comes in all shapes and sizes, as tiles, vases, dinnerware and decorative items. In fact, Puebla is even known as The City of Tiles, because of the extensive use of Talavera tiles to decorate buildings, houses and church domes.



So, there we were, shopping for authentic Talavera Poblano! The first couple of shops we visited were rather unimpressive with the shop-keepers trying to sell shoddy designs and chipped china...But then we struck gold... A large shop filled with absolutely gorgeous stuff. We went gaga over everything they showed us and the shopkeeper was so pleased with our enthusiasm that he even took us to his hundred-year old workshop-cum-showroom, which was stacked roof to floor with talavera ware.

Check out the showroom...



And as far as our shopkeeper friend can be trusted, those frescos you see on the wall are original...painted over a hundred years ago!



And he was so kind; he even introduced us to his pets! Ahem!



After the first-class shopping experience, we had just about half-n-hour to kill before we headed back to the bus stop. We decided to visit the Museum of Religious Arts.



Now, this is interesting. This building had been considered a usual private home for many years, until some time back, when a secret passage was discovered, that led to a convent. Another secret path that was discovered from the convent ended up in a neighbouring church. The story goes that even though the convent was closed by the Reform Laws of1857, the nuns continued to run it secretly till they were discovered in 1934. The austere chambers in which they lived, the instruments that they used for self-flagellation... The museum was indeed interesting, but our excitement waned when we realised that there were no explanatory material that gave details of the convent, nor were there tourist guides available who could speak English. We went around on our own trying to tag along with Spanish-speaking tour groups, catching snippets of information here and there, but altogether, it wasn’t a great experience.



We just had about enough time to rush to the hotel, collect our baggage and rush to the bus stop. Both of us fell silent as the bus pulled out of Puebla and across the mountains towards Mexico City-we were reliving what most definitely had been the trip of a lifetime.

wanna see more of Puebla? Click here