Wonderful Puebla

Monday, Jan. 6, 2014--Puebla

It's still a holiday for some, so not all businesses are open and only a few of the tourist sites are open.  It's a sunny day, though, so out we went.

On the zocalo, there were trucks set up and a huge crowd.  It was a gift give-away.  Lines of families approached people with large plastic trash bags full of gifts.  For each family, a volunteer would pull out 2-3 gifts, then they would leave and the next family would step forward.  I was talking to Wes yesterday as we would see poor families on the streets telling him that it is sad to realize that not all children would be getting gifts for 3 Kings Day.  Yet this morning I had a different question:  Are the families and children getting these gifts the truly needy ones?  There is never an easy solution to a problem.

The cathedral was open, so we went inside.  What an impressive structure.  It was built in the 1500s and is massive.  It is also quite unusual.  As we entered, there was what seemed to be a large room built into the back third of the massive interior and taking up lots of space where there would normally be pews.  As we walked further into the building, we could see that it housed probably the most massive pipe organ I have ever seen and a large seating area for the choir.  The alter was massive, too, and reminded me of the one in St. Peter's Cathedral at the Vatican.  There has obviously been a lot of wealth in Puebla over time.

After just wandering a few of the streets of the large colonial center of the town, we went into the tourist office.  A lady there gave us suggestions for what to see and do, and she pointed out that the main museum in the city, Museo Amparo, would be free today.  We made that our next stop.  What a surprise it was.  The exterior was a beautiful colonial building covered with tiles.  Yet as we entered, the interior was a completely modern, mostly glass structure constructed in 1991.  The museum was much bigger than we expected, and it took us quite a while to explore all of the galleries.  There is a massive collection of Mexican-designed jewelry which was all high-quality and reminded me of the types of items sold by Marti's, the store that used to be in Nuevo Laredo and is now in San Antonio and which specializes in jewelry, clothing, gifts, and furnishings that are all made by hand by craftsmen.  Several of the halls housed a special photographic exhibit by the Mexican Kati Horna who was in Spain during the Civil War, in Paris also in the 1930s, and did lots of photography for Mexican publications.  Special pieces from the treasury of The Cathedral were also on display, as well as a small exhibit of art from ancient ruins in the area.  The rooftop of the museum provides nice views of the city and a wonderful place to sit in the sun and relax.

We were tired and hungry after leaving the museum, so we went to a restaurant near our hotel and had another multi-course lunch--noodle soup, rice, charcoal-broiled chicken, beans, guacamole, fresh papaya, and a red-colored juice drink.  Back at the hotel afterward, we relaxed before going out again.

Apparently the front which has brought cold weather to the U.S. has reached this far.  It's not super cold, but when we went back out around 17:30, we could have used jackets instead of pullovers.  About 1 1/2 times as high in altitude as Denver, Puebla is high enough in the mountains that most evenings are cool or cold.

People were out, but there were no more celebrations tonight.  The lady in the tourist office told us that things will remain quiet for a while when I asked her if there were any concerts that we might attend.  Therefore, we just walked the streets, looked in the courtyards of old buildings and in the shops that were open, stepped inside at least 8 churches, and enjoyed the nice Christmas lights that are everywhere.

Before returning to the room, we stopped nearby to try two of the specialties of the city--an arabe taco and a cemita sandwich.  Both are made with meat cut from a rotating spit like they use in the Middle East.  The meat is then cooked on a griddle with a picante sauce.  For the tacos, it was placed in a flour tortilla and rolled.  For a cemita, it is served on a firm bun with chopped cilantro and onions on top of the meat.

Interesting observations today:

1.  Texting while praying--Wes pointed out a man in the cathedral who was texting on his cell phone while kneeling to pray.

2.  Confiscating license plates--We watched a lady traffic cop as she removed the license plates from a car that had been parked too long (or maybe already had an outstanding ticket).  That should be a simple way to get the attention of the owner.

3.  Face painting--Face painting is popular here during the holidays.  Tonight I saw the best one so far--a young boy with his entire face painted as if he were wearing a Mexican wrestling mask.