World's Largest Pyramid (by Volume)

Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014--Puebla (with Side Trip to Cholula)

Cholula was a separate city at one time, but now it is a part of the Puebla metropolitan area and there is no undeveloped gap between the two.  We caught a bus there this morning and spent about 5 hours visiting the town which also has an old colonial center and an archaeological site that includes the world's largest pyramid when measured by volume.

There was a very nice, enthusiastic man at the tourist office who spoke no English.  That didn't stop him from telling us about the major sites to see, and we followed his advice.  We started with their zocalo which is HUGE and has two sections, a paved section and a landscaped section.  Booths were set up on part of the paved section selling 3 Kings Cakes from various bakeries in the area.  All bakeries in the area are still selling them, and we see people who are buying them.  We have not seen any indications of price discounts on them, though.

The Cathedral was having mass when we entered, so we just looked inside and left.  On an adjacent side of the zocalo, there is an even larger and more elaborate church which was part of an old convent (Convento de San Gabriel) that no longer operates as a convent.  We stopped first in its museum and library.  The guard working there was very happy to have visitors and spoke some English.  He made sure that we saw everything.  The library was quite impressive with many volumes from the 1600s and 1700s.  One display he showed us was a book inside a fishbowl which was meant to show the damage that bugs can do.  He fanned the pages to a particular spot and had us look inside.  It was filled with live worms (that looked like grub worms) eating away.  The church was large and impressive.  We've seen so many churches on this trip, however, that it is hard to recall specifics about any one.  Unfortunately, the Royal Chapel within the convent is closed on Tuesdays, so we were unable to see it.

From there, we headed to the archaeological ruins of Tlachihualtepetl about 3 blocks away.  The centerpiece is a giant mound which is the largest pyramid by volume that has been found in the world.  The Spaniards destroyed it and built a church on top, so the first thing we did was climb to there.  The church was nice, but the views of the town and the area were the most interesting.  After climbing back down, we bought a ticket to admit us to the ruins.  The giant pyramid, when explored in recent times, was found to have 8 km (about 5 miles) of tunnels within it.  The visit to the site begins with entering the tunnels and wandering until coming out the other side.  These tunnels were built for native people around 100 A.D.  They are small!  I could stand in them, but there was very little space above my head or beyond my shoulders on either side.  At one point, I began to feel claustrophobic.  The only way out, once in them, is to go back or to go forward.  I was approximately in the middle.  There are off-shoot tunnels which are blocked by grilled gates.  Fortunately, there was a long, lighted tunnel heading upstairs at about the point I started feeling closed in.  I stood there a moment looking up that long passage and started feeling a bit better.  I was glad when we exited.  Outside the tunnel system, we walked around ruins of outer buildings.  Then we went to a small museum which had a nice mural from the ruins and lots of examples of sculptures and pottery.

We explored the streets of the old town looking for a place for a late lunch.  Eventually, we entered the market.  A young man at Rosita's encouraged us to stop at his stall.  We saw the great looking sandwiches he was serving to a family, so we ordered the same.  He toasted a bun while making pork milanesa (a thin piece of pork which is battered and deep-fried).  On the bun, he spread fresh avocado and then put the milanesa on it.  He picked the leaves off a fresh bunch of cilantro that still had its roots with dirt on them (which would have impressed Arne), washed them, and placed them on the meat.  Then he put a layer of pickled peppers and onion.  Next, he cut slices of a local white cheese and covered the sandwich with a thick layer.  Finally, he put more avocado on top of that before placing the top of the bun on it.  It was a very big, tasty sandwich, and it was fun seeing how proud he was that we were eating there.

We returned to the xocalo to sit on a bench in the sunshine and watch people while drinking large fruit drinks we had bought in the market--pineapple for Wes and horchata for me.  Then we decided we were tired and were ready to head back into town.

As we have been doing every day, we went back out in the evening to watch people and to explore more of the colonial center of Puebla.  We discovered an old market that has been transformed into a shopping/eating area with a department store, small shops, and lots of small restaurants.  And we also found a very elaborate baroque-style church named Iglesia de Santo Domingo de Guzman with a super ornate chapel (Capila de Rosario).  Eventually, we bought another specialty here--freshly made potato chips being sold in a clear plastic bag.  I bought the spicy ones and had chile sauce and lime juice sprinkled over them.  Wes got a bag of plain chips.  He wanted to buy a large cola to keep in the room, so we ate the chips while walking toward the supermarket that is near our hotel.  We headed back to the room very tired.