Is Puebla the Place for Us?

When he retires, Vince and I are planning to spend a few months each year living and traveling in Mexico. We don’t want to buy a second home. That would be too much work and responsibility. We just want a friendly, beautiful, interesting place where there are things to do, comfortable lodgings, good restaurants, and nearby pueblos mágicos or historical sites to visit. We spent two weeks in the city of Puebla recently and wondered if it could be the place we’re looking for.

It’s relatively easy to travel to the city of Puebla. We had a direct flight from San Francisco to Mexico City, stayed the night at the DH Collection Hotel in the Centro Histórico then took a two-hour bus ride to Puebla the next day, all without incident.

Our AirBnb apartment in Puebla was in a great location within walking distance of the zocalo or main square. The two-bedroom, three-bath apartment was clean, quiet, comfortable, and well-furnished. A rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl in the distance was an added benefit. There was also a security guard on duty twenty four hours a day in the apartment building. Jaime and Javier took turns manning the station. They were friendly, competent, and always eager to help us in any way. We enjoyed our daily conversations with them.

We also enjoyed exploring the city of Puebla. We visited the cathedral, walked the Callejon de Sapos, and strolled through the Barrio de Artistas as well as the Mercado Parian. We went to several museums in the city: the Museo Amparo, the Biblioteca Palifoxiana (the oldest library in the New World), the Fuerte de Loreto (where the Cinco de Mayo battle occurred), and the surprisingly modern Museo de Barroca.

Puebla is the birthplace of Mexican Talavera, so we went shopping for ceramics at the Fábricade Armando and Fábrica de Talavera Uriarte. We bought a few hand-painted, intricately-designed plates to adorn our kitchen back home.

Talavera ceramic tiles also adorn the facades and interiors of many churches and buildings in Puebla. We visited several, but the most spectacular was the Templo de San Francisco Acatepec. The façade of this beautiful church, built in the eighteenth century, is completely covered in a mosaic of brightly-colored talavera ceramics. We had never seen anything like it before in our travels to Mexico.

There was a lot to see in the city of Puebla, but we also visited a few nearby pueblos mágicos. Cholula, a popular destination, was only a 30-minute Uber ride from our apartment. Its main attraction is an archaeological site that includes a huge, partially excavated pyramid. This pyramid is claimed to be the world’s largest by volume. Vince arranged for us to have a private tour of the site with a young archaeologist, Carmen. Carmen was very knowledgeable and personable. We spent several hours happily conversing with her while she led us around the excavated base of the pyramid and up to the top of the steep hill that covered the rest of the pyramid. There was a church at the top with spectacular views of the volcano. We enjoyed our tour with Carmen so much that we arranged another tour of the archaeological site Cantona with her for the following week.

On Friday night, we took a break from sight-seeing and experienced some of the culture instead. Vince had purchased concert tickets to see one of his favorite Mexican pop groups, a brother-sister duo called Jesse and Joy. We ate at the food court in the mall before walking to the auditorium nearby. The concert was quite an experience! Over 5,000 spectators sang all the words to every song at the top of their lungs throughout the entire concert. At times we could barely hear the band or the singers, but it was great fun nonetheless.

On the weekend, we took an Uber to another pueblo mágico, Atlixco. Atlixco is a charming, picturesque village that hosts a big open market of flowers and plants in the main square on Sundays. We strolled around the square admiring the variety of plants while attempting to identify some of the unknown exotic species. Afterwards we explored the surrounding town. We walked to the Escalera Ancha where there is a mural of a man and woman painted on the steps of the stairs. Later, we took a taxi to the chapel at the top of the hill for more views of the volcanoes.

The next day we took a two-hour bus ride to the city of Xalapa and spent the night at the Posada Del Cafeto. The following morning we taxied to the Museum of Anthropology. This museum houses an incredible collection of mostly Olmec artifacts from the Veracruz area. We were lucky to have a smart, articulate guide who provided a wealth of information. The tour and the collection were fantastic and well worth the trip to Xalapa.

Our last day in Puebla, we visited the Mesoamerican archaeological site of Cantona, located about an hour and a half from the city. Carmen, our guide, and her partner Jaime, a professional chef, picked us up at our AirBnb in the morning. They drove us to the site while we munched on the snacks that Jaime had prepared. When we arrived, Carmen explained some of the exhibits in the small museum and then led us out to the huge expansive site. We spent hours wandering through the remains of the ancient city. We climbed several small pyramids and walked down stone-lined paths past the remains of houses, sacrificial platforms, and many of the over 20 ball courts that exist there. When we rested, Jaime provided snacks to give us more energy. After the tour, we found a cool, shady spot under the trees where we ate a delicious picnic lunch that Jaime had made for us. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day and a great way to end our two-week vacation in Puebla.