Puebla

Puebla is Mexico´s fourth biggest city, but we were only staying for one night so we decided to stick to the UNESCO heritage-listed centro historico (as most people do)...

We arrived quite late, and since our hostel was somewhat below average we decided to hit the town straight away in search of some of the live music that Puebla is known for...after accidentally walking into a gay bar (made or awkward moments for our American amigo that we had met in our hostel!!), we finally found the artistic area with live music outdoors...was a great atmosphere and almost the complete package except for the fact that it was a mere 5 degrees!!!

Not used to the sudden freezing temperatures - we hit the sack pretty early and I managed to get myself up for a light jog around the centro historico the next morning...it is another beautiful city that has cobble stone streets lined with brightly coloured colonial buildings (photos to follow!!).  And where did I find myself, but in the middle of a Mexican Marathon/Fun-Run!!!  I literally ran to the end of our street and into the middle of the last leg of the race, and figured it would make for a memorable experience so joined in running the final 500 m of the race with all my Mehicano amigos!!  I even passed through the finish line!  They have DJs on every street corner to pump you along which was pretty funny, and even though I got a few stares - thankfully I was wearing a white t-shirt, similar to the official race t-shirt, and none of the police stopped me!  To be honest the most amazing thing for me was that I had never seen so many Mexican´s exercising!?  Tho alot of them were pretty red-faced and worse for wear after their 5km feat...the actual marathon runners looked a little better!

After my fun run race, Maya and I hit the streets and spent the day wandering the centro historico, and shopping in the various markets - on Sundays, Puebla´s streets are filled with antique markets, art markets, handicraft markets, jewellery markets etc...we did a bit of damage but could have bought a lot more - there were heaps of really cool antiques from old typewriters and luggage cases, to everything kitschy you could imagine!!  I bought a vintage little sun dress from a sweet old Mexican lady which will be a nice memory!

Our final escapade in Puebla was to try the national dish of Mexico, funnily enough named ´mole´ (!!!!!!!!!!!!) which originated in Puebla.  Initially, Maya and I thought it was a spelling mistake on the menu and laughed hysterically - how uncultured?!!  Now we know that it is actually pronounced ¨mol-ay¨ and is a rich sauce made from a huge list of ingredients incl. spices, chiles, nuts etc and they use it to serve with enchiladas or chicken/meat dishes...It even has a bit of dark chocolate in it which makes it slightly sweet.  We went to the local hot spot (recommended to us by the lady at the camera shop) called La Fonda de la Santa Clara and ordered chicken enchiladas with ´Three Different Moles´ (that is green, red and brown)...and we rated it an average.  It was a bit sweet and rich for us, and was similar to a curry that didnt quite have the flavour hit - but good to try nonetheless...at least we now know not to laugh when we see ´mole´ on the menu!!

LiZZie
xx