PUEBLA + CHOLULA

Whenever I tell people that I studied abroad in Mexico it’s typically met with a snarky “well, that’s not really abroad” comment.

And to those people I say: fuck off. While it’s a quick flight to Mexico City and you’re not leaving the general North American tectonic plate, it’s more abroad than your average European program and I’ll die on that hill.

One summer in college I spent six weeks in Puebla, Mexico as part of my Spanish *almost* major (waaaay more than a minor, just not enough for the fancy paper) and in between the bouts of violent food poisoning I was able to see some absolutely unbelievable things that I’m so grateful exist on this earth.

In the zócalo, or El Centro, you can find Puebla’s main tourism hub. It only makes sense, and this is pretty much the case for any Spanish Colonial era city. However this is where you can find some of Puebla’s most elaborate architecture examples.

Nearby in El Centro is Capilla de Rosario, a chapel built in the 17th century that is literally filled to the brim with gold. This fact will never not shock me, but in the mind of Catholics back in the day, the gold was a gesture to prove a point of just how devoted they were to God and was a surefire way to flex and get into heaven. May not have actually meant anything for their afterlife, but it sure makes for a cool visual experience for the rest of us.

Next to Puebla is the town of Cholula, which is also a Pueblo Mágico and is known for having the largest Aztec pyramid in the region. The catch? It’s grown over with grass and trees and there’s a massive Spanish church on top of it. We hate to see it! 

I learned that if you spot any church perched upon a seemingly out of place hill, it’s definitely an overgrown pyramid the Spanish colonizers decided to spite build on. Absolutely batshit.

One of the many bonuses of Puebla is the nearby towns and ruins that will equally cause your head to spin all the way around. Cacaxtla in neighboring state Tlaxcala is no different. My host mom hooked it UP and since her neighbor was one of the founding archaeologists to this site, he gave us the tour himself. This was in its heyday in the years 600 - 900 A.D. (!!!!!) and is known for absurdly preserved Mesoamerican murals.

Plus there’s an actual town nearby that’s worth staring at as well.

A bit further away, but technically within the state of Puebla is another designated pueblo mágico called Cuetzalan. This tiny mountain town is the closest I’ve ever come to feeling that I stepped into another dimension. I’ve never seen or experienced anything like this, nor have I ever felt a humidity more oppressive. Yet, I forever feel like an actual garbage human for even half complaining considering I saw a woman carrying a backpack of full-sized logs like it was nbd. I am simply not worthy!!

So, what have we learned here today? Not sure, but you need to go to Mexico.