Time for stop number two on our Mexico trip: Puebla!

When our friend, Scott planned this trip for us (thanks bud!), he picked Puebla as a nice midway point between stops one and three to help break up the long bus ride. We hadn’t heard of Puebla before, and we really didn’t know what to expect here!

The bus ride was about two hours long, and it had a couple TV monitors that all played the Blue Beetle movie in Spanish. It was good practice!

My Spanish actually got pretty decent on this trip! I’ve never been forced to use it and hear it so much before. English is much more common in Spain, and Sean and I were both trying so hard to keep up conversations in Spanish. Luckily, we were pretty good at patching each other’s gaps in understanding!

When we first arrived in Puebla, we took an Uber to our Airbnb and got settled in. We’d booked a single room in a home that had several rooms listed, but I think we only glimpsed one other guest during our stay. The home was open, airy, and cozy.

We set off for a walk about an hour before sunset to explore the main areas. I immediately started shopping, both for snacks and trinkets.

We found the most adorable store that sold so many tiny dollhouse items! I especially wanted the mini water cooler (aaah!), but I settled for a tiny china set and several tiny tea cups and mugs.

We explored several churches, and I got my first ice cream cone! The lady was selling the ice cream out of what can only be described as those giant orange Gatorade cooler things. Pretty impressive they could keep ice cream cold like that! I would have just gotten the passion fruit, but she made my sample some maraschino cherry, and it was soooo good.

The sunset was beautiful, and we took our time wandering around.

Inside the most pretty church, a lady approached us to give us a gentle warning in Spanish. I nodded and said thank you, and then quickly high-tailed it out of there, assuming she was telling us we needed to leave for Mass or something. At the last second, I turned around to take a picture, and Sean almost swiped my arm off.

“She just said no photos!” Lol! I thought she was telling us to leave!

I asked, “Why didn’t you say anything when I immediately started running out of there?!” Apparently he thought I was just ready to go. Lol! We clearly know each other so well.

We wandered a bit more in search of proper dinner.

We checked out a few places recommended by our Airbnb host, but in the end, we were too curious about this loud, colorful Mexican chain to pass it up.

We’d been told by a waitress in Mexico City that we had to try “cemitas” in Puebla, some kind of sandwich. It was funny that we worked so hard to remember that, even writing it down, considering it was the number one item on every menu here! Sean had also read that Puebla is famous for “arabe tacos,” or Arabic tacos. Again, very hard to miss! The spinning cone of meat was definitely the default for all taco shops here! A combo I never would have guessed!

The agua frescas were also super yummy! Guava and Jamaica, which I now know is what they call hibiscus!

Even after all that meat, Sean was somehow still hungry and still curious enough to order another cheesy taco thing and another agua fresca. (Cucumber!)

The restaurant was decorated to look like a subway station, and there was even a train car on one side of the restaurant with several booths in it. They were playing Latin music videos the whole time, and I just kept cracking up at this one music duo who were trying to seem like such tough guys, but they looked like they were fifteen. They seemed pretty famous, though! Haha.

After dinner, we had a nice walk home in the dark.

Puebla is also famous for its artist’s quarter, so we explored what was open of it this late at night, and I picked up another few trinkets.

It was only about eight when we got home, so we decided to hang out in the lounge. Sean dusted off the guitar sitting inside, and we sang and played together. The kitty even came to say hi. It was so nice!

The bed was such a one-eighty compared to the Mexico City bed. That one was super soft and fluffy, and this one was quite stiff! Sean was excited.

We weren’t able to sleep in much because the windows and french doors on our room looked out on the open-air hallway, and the curtains were a gauzy white. Definitely not blackout curtains!

We still took it easy and eventually made our way to a cafe for a latte, hot chocolate, chocolate croissant, and croque monsieur.

The croque monsieur had strawberry jam in it, and it was covered in powdered sugar! Very strange and too sweet! Oops!

Then we set off to properly explore the artists’ quarter in the daylight. There is one main square lined with tiny studios that open into the street, and each is owned by a different artist. It was so neat! Some of the doors were open, gates closed, with the artist nowhere to be seen, but others had the artists lurking inside or working on their next masterpiece.

Sean bought a few little things from a young linocut artist, and then we explored the markets, where I bought some dolls for friends’ kiddos and resisted the urge to buy an entire tiny kitchen.

We were on our way back to the Airbnb to drop off our spoils when we passed a courtyard filled with a college band and a waiting audience. We debated staying or leaving, but I’m so glad we stayed! We watched the entire performance! The band was great, but the vocals and soloists were positively stunning. It was such a fun experience!

En route to our Airbnb, I bought some fruit to snack on, and then we took a go at the climbing wall.

It was challenging for such a small space! Not least of all because several of the holds were a bit loose and would spin when you grabbed them. That’s what you get with homemade spaces, I guess!

We made up little games for each other, my favorite of which was to go around the room using only the bottom half of the wall. It took me many tries! Here’s the pretty courtyard in the center of the home:

After our little break, we hopped in an Uber to head to the largest pyramid by volume in the entire world. Larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza!

We landed in the city of Cholula, and I immediately bought some art. I just love it when the painter is in the act of painting more pieces! He let me know the smoke out of the volcano was an “original” invention. I think he may have even used volcanic rock from the area!

We began our trek up the pyramid. It was pretty interesting, because most of the pyramid is overgrown with plants and grasses, so it doesn’t even seem like it was made by humans – feels more like a natural hill. But nope, it’s made of millions of clay bricks!

From the top, we could see the volcano, and Sean and I argued for a while about whether this was smoke or just a coincidental cloud.

Turns out I was wrong. It is, in fact, smoke! One of the nicknames is the “smoky mountain,” and hiking is forbidden because it is an active volcano!

About five hundred years ago, a church was built on top of the pyramid.

Shortly after we entered, a random man sitting in the pews started leading a call-and-response prayer that several people around him participated in. It was very pretty!

While we were taking photos, a giant local football team appeared out of nowhere to enjoy the sights together. It was quite the scene. I was super bummed to miss a big cheer they did when I went to find a bathroom.

One of the only parts of the pyramid that isn’t overgrown with vegetation is the large front steps that jut out from the main structure. Sean really wanted to climb the steps, but when we got there, we learned that the entrance was way on the opposite end of the pyramid for some reason. Very silly! Very annoying!

I climbed this tiny replica to get my fix, but it was made of cinder blocks, and they weren’t secured in any way, so it was pretty sketchy.

We then ran all the way around to the other side of the pyramid, only to learn that we had missed the opportunity to buy tickets by about two minutes. Sean was super sad, and I felt super horrible for not knowing that we should enter the archeological grounds before climbing the pyramid. We were going off of the site being listed as closing at six, but apparently they stop allowing entrance at five. Booooo.

We also had to keep passing by the little dude I bought that painting from, and he kept waving. It was awkward because I’d made a big deal about buying the art the first time I saw him in case he wasn’t there later, and then we passed him like three times after that.

In an attempt to lift our spirits, we headed toward the town center and bought an ice cream cone – chocolate!

And then we passed this cute little shoe store and I bought a pair of leather sandals (top row)! The man used an awl to add three extra holes to each strap because the existing ones weren’t small enough for my ankles. Apparently I’m a size 4 in Mexico.

We reached the center of town and the giant convent in the middle of it all. Such an old building! We reached its front doors right as a Mariachi band was finishing a tune. Sean was brave enough to ask if they were going to play any more music, but sadly, they were all finished.

The courtyard was very cool, but it made me wish so badly that we were back on top of the pyramid to watch the sunset! Just look at the crazy colors of the smoke from the volcano!

There was a giant market in the nearby park that we wandered for a while.

I also tried to climb this (slightly larger) mini pyramid, but apparently this one was off-limits. I was scolded! Oops!

We bought some cookies and sweets from a sweet lady, and Sean asked her where the best tacos were. She pointed to the street behind her and said, “Roberto’s,” so off we went!

Tbh, Roberto’s was a tiny bit sketchy, but Sean decided it was the best meal we’d had so far. I will admit that it was very yummy.

I’d been so curious about these gordito snacks if seen on the street, and it seemed like the perfect dessert. It was kind of like an English muffin, and I asked for Nutella inside.

But, um, what the heck?! The lady had a full griddle full of fresh ones, and instead she pulled a room-temp one out of some pile underneath her. She also charged me way more than she’d charged the old lady before me. Not cool!

When we got back to the main square, we were on the hunt for live music, but the only place we could find was basically just one lady doing karaoke as a performance. Bahahaha. It was pretty strange, and it was just us, two ladies, and another couple. Funny vibes!

I ordered this super yummy-sounding lemon cocktail, but I think they must have been out of something, and when the waitress tried to explain and ask my preferences, we didn’t understand, so we just said everything was fine. In the end, I got this crazy pink drink that was sickeningly sweet and topped with whipped cream. Very much not what I ordered!

At one point, the singer chose a song that was obviously about how much men suck. Something something hombre, yada yada imbecile, yada yada insufferable. And she kept pointing at Sean. It was probably even more funny since we didn’t know exactly what was being said. Afterwards, she tried to ask us if he was as horrible as the song let on, but we just shook our heads and laughed.

She tried to get us to sing at one point, but I don’t know any Spanish songs, and I wasn’t about to blast Chappelle Roan on those speakers that fed out to the main street.

Quite a funny evening! We bid the group farewell and caught an Uber home.

By this point, Sean was complaining about needing a haircut multiple times per day and every time I wanted to take a photo. Ever resourceful, I decided to text our Airbnb host to see if she had scissors and a broom we could borrow.

She was so sweet! A few minutes later, we got a knock on our door, and there she was, broom and scissors in hand. I gave Sean a quick snip on the sides, and he was good as new!

We also started watching Road to El Dorado, a Disney movie Sean insisted I watch because of its setting – a grand pyramid site. It was very cute, but we were too tired to finish it!

As I was getting ready for bed, Sean exclaimed at the sight of a giant red bug bite on my leg.

“Oh, that?” I asked. “That’s nothing. Look at this one!” I then showed him an even larger bite on my calf.

I’ll spare you the gruesome photos, though I did already share them with my cousins, haha. I just have a bad reaction to bites! It’s fine, it’s fine.

After that little debacle, we hit the hay and woke up in time for a nice breakfast, and then we bought some pastries for the road.

Before we left, I wanted to see the upstairs of the home because the photos online were so pretty. We tentatively walked upstairs, and I almost ditched, but Sean called, “Hello?”

A man we’d never seen before came to let us in, and it turned out he was the brother of our host, and the man who had built the climbing wall! His name was Isaac, and he was just as sweet as his sister. He gave us a tour of the home and brought us to the roof, where we could see the volcano in the distance.

He actually gave us such a nice little talk about the town, the area, and the mountains. He is a mountain guide, and that just made Sean want to come back to go mountaineering with him. He is also an actor, though, and he and his troupe perform dramatic tours of the city on the weekends! How fun!

I was so glad we met him, and I was super sad we didn’t have more time to spend together, but it was seriously time for us to check out and catch our bus!

Our bus to Oaxaca was quite long – over four hours. And yet, it really wasn’t too shabby! I had to use the bathroom on it immediately because I procrastinated in the waiting area. They played “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” in Spanish, which I thought was a pretty funny choice. Essentially, a group of golden girls takes a trip to Rome and chaos ensues.

Sean and I monitored the screen intermittently while reading and blogging, and Sean watched some of his own shows on his phone.

Once we got closer to Oaxaca, though, the views were incredible! Endless, endless saguaro cactus fields! Forests? I don’t know what to call them! The photos really don’t do the scene justice, though.

Very beautiful! And before we knew it, we were in Oaxaca! Our last stop! More on that next time.

Hasta luego/ til next time!

-Lizzy-wa