PUEBLA - MEXICO

After a longer than expected stay in Jalapa, I finally made it to Puebla and enjoyed a few days exploring this colonial city which just happened to be celebrating its 475th birthday at the time of my visit. Despite there not being a whole lot to do in the city I still enjoyed wandering around the city centre and exploring some of the regions further afield such as the city of Cholula.

What most impressed me about Puebla was the range of architectural styles incorporated into the buildings around the city centre. In addition, the city contained many, many impressive cathedrals and churches. The interior decor of these buildings was absolutely incredible, the majority containing equisite wood carvings and a plethora of gold-leafing. The city of Cholula also contained a large number of interesting churches, almost all of which had been constructed by the spanish in an effort to convert the Mexican natives to Catholosism. In fact, I was told by a number of locals in the city that Cortes vowed to contruct 365 churches in Cholula as a result of public rejection of Catholosism. (As it turned out only about 40 were built, unfortunately but not coincidently the sites for each being immediately on top of archaelogical sites sacred to the native people).

Given that my visit coincided with both the weekend and local celebrations in the city, I found there were plenty of opportunities to go out. On my first night out I met some great locals and enjoyed hanging out with them for the remainder of the night. The following night I also attended birthday celebrations (Gaby) which was also lots of fun.