México - Lovely ‘Little’ Puebla

 July 8-9

Hello everyone!

After spending the best part of two weeks in México’s interesting, intense capital, it’s time to start exploring the rest of the country. My first stop was quite close to Mexico City (CDMX), and has often been seen as its rival. Welcome to Puebla, the ‘little brother’ of the capital.

The world's smallest volcano

A pedestrianised street in Puebla's compact historic centre

Puebla is two to three hours southeast of Mexico City. It’s actually the fourth largest city in the country, with almost 3 million people living in and around it. That sounds a lot…until you compare it to the 22 million or so who reside in the greater CDMX area.

The cathedral was on the MX$500 note until 2019

A yet-to-open market: things seem to open later in Puebla 

Puebla was the first major settlement created by the Spanish which was not built over a previous indigenous settlement. This was due to its strategic position between Veracruz to the east and CMDX to the northwest. 

Puebla is about 130km from Mexico City

Tacos: ubiquitous

The ground is also a little bit safer than the capital, which is sinking and susceptible to earthquakes. This is why the spectacular cathedral in Puebla was built here rather than in CDMX: those steeples wouldn’t have survived.

At 69m, these are the tallest cathedral towers in the country

It was built between 1575 and 1640

It’s not the only religious building here. Far from it. It seems that there are hundreds of churches, almost at every corner of the historic district. 

The rumour is that there are 365 churches in greater
Puebla, one for each day of the year

Pretty at night, too

That part of Puebla is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a beautiful and surprisingly compact place in which to walk, with the vibrant colours mixed in with ornate talavera tiles synonymous with the region.

There are some colourful areas, such as Barrio del Artista 

This building is covered with telavera

There are actually a few things associated with Puebla - Spanish for ‘town’ - which can’t be plucked by its bigger neighbour. One is its cuisine, with delicious dishes such as pipían verde, a chicken leg swimming in a green sauce created by crushing pumpkin seeds. It also has a street known as ‘Candy Alley’, with sugary delights sure to send you to the dentist soon after.

This sweet, shaved coconut in candied lemon peel,
is a favourite of our tour guide's mother

Many mole varieties consist of a chicken leg drenched in sauce

Another is a drink called pasita, a raisin liqueur. Created a little over 100 years ago by a shopowner, the sweet yet strong drink has become closely associated with Puebla. The bar in which we drank this, complete with goat’s cheese inside the shot, has a challenge which will award MX$50,000 (just under US$3000) if they can drink 100 of them. A Spaniard has come closest, drinking 93. Before almost dying. 

There are many other flavours

You do take the cheese out before drinking it! 

Puebla’s place in Mexican history is also assured for two reasons. Firstly, it was the home of a family called Serdan. At the time, México was under the control of a leader (some would say dictator) called Porfirio Diaz. It is fair to say that the Serdans, whose house is now a museum, were not big fans. The country was struggling but those in power seemed oblivious. Time for the lower classes to respond.

Note the bullet holes, important for later

A newspaper clipping championing Diaz

Those against Diaz, called anti-reelectionists, started making moves in 1910. Specifically for Puebla, shipments of weapons began to be sent from CDMX, being stored in the house of the Serdans.

Some of the moved guns are in the museum

A sketch outlining clandestine meetings

Long story short, the police got wind of this, acquired a warrant and then attacked the house in November 1910. The bullet holes are still visible both inside and outside the building. The main protagonist, Aquiles Serdan, hid overnight but was killed the next day when trying to escape. What the attack did was to galvanise anti-government groups and kick off years of revolution, which arguably only ended with the creation of a new constitution in 1917.

There are bullet holes in the wall and mirror

The women in the family were arrested

The history most Mexicans would associate with Puebla, however, is from 1862. At the time, France (and England) had intervened in the country due to the Mexican President imposing a moratorium on loan-interest payments to those countries the year prior. Agreements broke down with France going solo to intervene militarily in April.

This large sculpture honours important
people involved in the Battle of Puebla

European influence is visible in the
architecture - this looks like The Ritz!

6,000 French troops descended on Puebla in early May. A battle ensued on May 4th, with a lot of action focused around a hill on the eastern side of the city, which was heavily fortified. They failed multiple times, before retreating in the evening of May 5. If you know a bit of Spanish, you’ll know that it translates to…Cinco de Mayo…

This fort saw a lot of action during the battle

It is now a museum commemorating the Mexican victory

Though the French did actually win a battle in Puebla the following year, the resistance from the first battle is now a celebrated holiday, particularly for emigrants in the USA. Ironically, one of the generals who played an important role in this battle…Porfirio Diaz!

The French victory paved the way for the Second Empire of Mexico

Generals are honoured at a nearby roundabout

This hill is quite large and can be accessed, if you want to escape the heat, through tunnels. These were used to store munitions during that battle but were used in the centuries before to transport water across the settlement to irrigate orchards and gardens in the new Spanish city. It is apparently the largest urban underwater aqueduct in the Americas.

The initial section is 152m long, with many more sections after it -
you have to return to ground level to access each section

Some of the tunnelling was discovered as recently as 2012

That hill is also infinitely bigger than another intriguing mound found in a northern suburb in Puebla. In a children’s park, actually. Not where you would expect to find the world’s smallest volcano…

It was allegedly born out of an eruption from a nearby
volcano (of actual volcano size) called Popocatepetl 

Ironically, the inside is supposed to be quite cool

Cuexcomate is 43 feet tall. That’s a volcano which is 13 metres tall. It’s technically a geyser which last ‘erupted’ a small amount of gas and ash in 2016. Don’t worry - the last major eruption was in the 1660s. Its chamber, which I couldn’t descend into as I read the wrong opening time, was used for storage. At various times, it stored meals…grains…bodies of suicide victims…

Arriving at 9am, rather than the 8am suggested by Google
Maps, would have allowed me to scale the peak

A mural found near the volcano...and next to a school...

Puebla is an example of how smaller can be just as beautiful and interesting. This charming, compact city has many things great (like its cathedral) and small (like its ‘volcano’). Puebla has been a pleasant surprise and an enjoyable place to explore.

Love you all,

Matt