We are currently travelling through Mexico, and after visiting three historic cities, a silver mine, and a UNESCO sanctuary, we arrived in the city of Puebla de Zaragoza. Puebla has an historic centre city that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we’d heard it was quite lovely.
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| Our ex-convent apartment block, Puebla (UNESCO), Mexico |
We arrived in Puebla by bus after a 4.5-hour ride, then grabbed a taxi from the bus station to our accommodation. It was a cozy apartment in a residential complex that used to be a convent. We had a private terrace with lovely views of the garden and convent walls, and it was right in the heart of Puebla’s historic centre.
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| Our street in Puebla (UNESCO), Mexico |
We felt quite relaxed after our bus ride, so went out straight away to explore. Mexico’s long-distance transport system is bus-based and very efficient, and if you get the right bus, it’s also luxurious. Buses we’ve used have a short 15-minute check-in time, are equipped with toilets, charging point, wifi, lay-back seats with plenty of leg-room, and you don’t have jet lag afterwards. Very flash!
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| Some architectural styles of Puebla (UNESCO), Mexico |
We found Puebla’s historic centre to be quaint and compact, although the wider Puebla metropolitan area accommodates 3.2 million people. The original Pueblo was founded in 1531 and since then, its architecture has evolved in a variety of styles ranging from Renaissance to Mexican Baroque, which has earned it UNESCO status. We thought it both stylish and colourful.
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| Some street scenes in Puebla (UNESCO), Mexico |
The old city was very easy to walk around, and we enjoyed the vibrant street life, as well as the wonderful architecture. Every night, the squares were overflowing with people, street food was being sold everywhere, the lanes, squares and streets were filled with colourful Christmas decorations, and the specialist markets such as the antique market, streets of sweets, food and veg market, and artist’s quarter added even more interest.
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| Little fellow with worms (first bucket), Puebla (UNESCO), Mexico |
At one point in our wanderings, we came across a group of people selling cooked worms - Gusanos de Maguey (Maguey Worms). The “worm” is actually a caterpillar that lives in the leaves and roots of the blue agave plant from which tequila and mezcal are made. One little fellow even posed for a photo with them while mum stood by proudly, about to offer us a taste. We said “no gracias”.
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| Rural vendors outside Puebla, Mexico |
We saw the impressive cathedral and many churches and much, much more. But we knew there were some interesting sights outside the old city too, so we hired a taxi and headed out of town to visit an ancient monastery. Driving along, it was not a surprise to see that the small rural areas are far less endowed with wealth and infrastructure than the big cities and tourist centres we’d been to.
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| The active Popocatépetl Volcano, Puebla, Mexico |
Our drive took us past the active volcano Popocatépetl (prounounced Popa-kata-petal). It was smoking and impressive, and filled the window as we drove half way around its significant circumference. It is 5,465 m (17,930 ft) high, about 730,000 years old, and considered to be one of the world’s most dangerous volcanos. In fact, it erupted the week before we arrived there!
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| Original art in the Monastery of Asunción de Nuestra Señora (UNESCO), Mexico |
We finally reached the town of Tochimilco where we visited the ancient Monastery of Asunción de Nuestra Señora, one of the dozen or so 16th century monasteries on the slopes of the volcano. We were delighted to find that it was still being restored, and we could see the original artworks and building structure much as it would have been in the 16th century, albeit worn from time and use. It was great.
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| Monastery of Asunción de Nuestra Señora (UNESCO), Tochimilco, Mexico |
This monastery, as with the others spread around Popocatépetl, provided a model of architectural and urban planning for future monasteries and towns, and so are collectively, a UNESCO site. Leaving there, we drove on into the neighbouring state of Morelos to visit the ruins of Xochicalco (pronounced Sox-chi-calco), another UNESCO site.
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| Relief carvings at Xochicalco ruins (UNESCO), Morelos, Mexico |
Xochicalco city dates back to the 7th century and it has been occupied at various times by the Teotihuacan, Mayan, and Matanzima civilisations. We wandered around it for ages, notwithstanding the hot sun, admiring the scale and proportion of the stonework, old pyramid bases, and the relief carvings.
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| Architecture, plaza, palace and temple, Oaxaca (UNESCO), Mexico |
After a few days we were back on a nice bus again, this time headed to Oaxaca de Juárez (pop 255,029 in 2024). The historic centre of Oaxaca (pronounced waa-haa-kuh), is another UNESCO site. We were looking forward to seeing its mix of 16th century colonial Spanish, and indigenous Zapotec architecture and layout that includes plazas, palaces and temples.
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| Pedestrian streets and Christmas concert, Oaxaca (UNESCO), Mexico |
Like all the Mexican cities we’ve seen so far, Oaxaca has many pedestrian streets and an unparalleled vibrancy. We made good use of those pedestrian streets, while we were there and found it to be a really lovely city. We particularly enjoyed the Christmas celebrations with concerts and dancing in the parks.
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| One of the plazas at Monte Albán (UNESCO), Mexico |
After a few days of seeing the city sights, we took a taxi out of town to the ruins of Monte Albán, a pre-Columbian archaeological site founded in about 500 BC. We found a well-preserved collection of palaces, tombs, plazas and hieroglyphics built on a strategic hill overlooking Oaxaca city. It was one of the largest cities of its time, with an estimated population of 35,000.
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| Leigh with a stone showing carvings at Monte Albán (UNESCO), Mexico |
We wandered around there for a several hours, enjoying the views and stonework and were reminded of the thousands of feet that would have trodden there before us. UNESCO has recognised the Monte Albán archaeological site as an outstanding example of a ceremonial centre that shows the influences of various cultures including Teotihuacan, Aztecs, and Mayan.
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| Fretwork at Mitla archaeological site (UNESCO), Mexico |
The next day, we again grabbed a taxi and headed out of town. We were off to visit the archaeological ruins at Mitla, also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Mitla was established as a fortified village in around 900 BC. The site is small compared to Monte Albán, but it has some amazing and unique fretwork made of finely cut pieces of stone that have been fitted together without mortar. What amazing skills the artisans of the day possessed.
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| Meat stall at the market in Oaxaca (UNESCO), Mexico |
The next day back in Oaxaca old town, we visited the historic market and found it to be a colourful affair, selling everything you would want. We had a great time shopping there. Then, on our last day in Oaxaca, there was a protest march that we could see from our 2nd storey apartment. A steady stream of people marched by, chanting and singing. It took over 20 minutes from tip to tail, so there must have been many hundreds in that march. We never learned its cause.
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| Marg crossing one of the clean streets in Oaxaca (UNESCO), Mexico |
We feel we should mention the cleanliness of the streets in all of the places we’ve been so far in Mexico. But as with many historic cites around the world, what was once leading-edge plumbing and drainage, is now poor water pressure and clogged pipes. Makes us appreciate our strong water pressure at home! Our next stop is Merida, but that’s in the next blog.
This post is the fourth in a series that tells the story of our travel in Mexico and Central America. The first post in the series can be found here.