Way back in the beginning of February I spent the long weekend in Puebla with friends.
Saturday we went to Puebla -- the capital of the state (to see post from my visit with my parents to Puebla click
here). Our "tour guide" for the weekend (Chang, a new friend who is from Puebla and was kind enough to invite us to stay with his family) introduced us to
cemitas -- a Puebla standard
. It's a (huge) sandwich differentiated mostly for the type of bread (sesame seeded egg roll according to wikipedia?).
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| enjoying the (huge!) cemita |
From there we spent some time in the artisans market and then wandered around downtown Puebla.
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Puebla was originally called Puebla de los Angeles
and is sometimes referred to as Angelópolis
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So. Many. Balloons.
(Zócalo, Cathedral in the background) |
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| Municipal Palace |
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| church |
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| church |
That evening we headed to Atlixco, which is the third-largest community in Puebla. We met Chang's family and enjoyed a delicious meal, including home-made mole! Puebla is known for it's food, but his mom's cooking was definitely the best I've had of the various Puebla staples. Case in point: From my previous experiences I would probably describe mole as interesting, but his mom's mole was delicious!
Sunday morning we had tamales and atole and/or coffee for breakfast with his family. I had a sweet tamal, but there were also tamales with rajas or mole. Once again, the atole his mom made was the best I've tasted so far.
From there, we set out to explore Atlixco. On our way into town we saw:
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| A cat with clothes.... |
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Cutting flowers, with the Popocatepetl volcano in the background.
Atlixco (and Puebla in general?) produces a lot of flowers |
Chang's mom bought Tati and I ceramic pots to cook with, similar to the type she uses. We climbed up to Capilla de San Miguel, a chapel on top of a large hill (small mountain?) to get a view of Atlixco and surrounding areas.
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view of Atlixco. Climbing up to the Capilla de San Miguel
(with the pots his mom bought us) |
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| view of Popocatepetl in the background |
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| view of Popocatepetl |
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Plaza of the Dance of the Huey Atlixcayotl
(like the Voladores de Papántla). Since it's high up on the hill,
"flyers" can be seen from all around down below |
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| flowers on a cactus |
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| view of Atlixco |
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| Capilla de San Miguel |
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| Atlixco |
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| Atlixco |
Coming down from the hill/mountain, we continued our tour of Atlixco.
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| Franciscan Convent, built around 1550 |
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| Franciscan Convent, built around 1550 |
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| Franciscan Convent, built around 1550 |
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| Temple of the Third Order |
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| selling flowers in the Zócalo |
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| mural of the history of Atlixco |
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| mural of the history of Atlixco (ceiling) |
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| mural of the history of Atlixco |
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mural of the history of Atlixco
The tree where the eagle landed,
which was the sign to build the city there.
We saw the actual tree earlier in the day
(the spring has dried up)
but I didn't get a photo. |
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| mural of the history of Atlixco |
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mural of the history of Atlixco
Day of the Dead and Independence Day |
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| mural of the history of Atlixco |
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| talavera |
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| mural of the history of Atlixco |
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| Mural of Liberation from the Oppression Porfirio Diaz's Regime |
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| Mural of Liberation from the Oppression Porfirio Diaz's Regime |
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| church |
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| Zócalo |
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| Zócalo |
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| lime nieve with red wine |
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enjoying our nieve and sorbet and
(don't remember what its called, but its sweet
and made out of seeds) out of our pots |
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| view of Popocatepetl + the Franciscan Convenet + the Capilla de San Miguel |
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| church |
We went back to Chang's house and enjoyed some more delicious food and a great view of Popocateptl at sunset.
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| view of Popocateptl from a friend's house |
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| view of Popocateptl from a friend's house |
We watched the Superbowl -- it wasn't the same without the commercials! I also realized my vocabulary to talk about American Football is rather limited. We left during the 3rd quarter to go to the bus station, but were able to watch more at the terminal and got the final score on the bus.
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watching the Superbowl at the
bus terminal |
For me, one of my favorite aspects of the weekend (besides exploring Atlixco of course) was spending time with the family -- Chang's mom and niece and nephew. They were so sweet, welcoming, generous -- all the best of the Mexican stereotype. It was interesting to see and hear about the migration experience from those that stay behind. I have worked with migrants in the US and studied migration, but hadn't really seen it "up close" on this side of the border. Chang's niece and nephew live with their grandmother because their mom lives and works in the US. They've grown up with their grandmother and know her better than their biological mother. They even call her mom. Along with other stories, it was an interesting first-hand view of how migration affects families.
