Puebla

Again a very quick tour through Puebla, in the interests of getting this blog up to date... so there will be a couple more of these quick tours after this. Puebla is one of the few towns that was not built on the site of an Indian settlement, so it has a far more formal feel to it and laid out in a logical grid pattern. (It was founded on the spot where a priest had a vision of angels ) The highlights in here for me were more to do with people rather than the place itself. Outstanding was the Museo Amparo with its wonderfully displayed artifacts, in particular with a timeline showing the occurrence with other contemporary world cultures (although I don't rate Great Zimbabwe as matching any achievement in construction anywhere in the world for it's time), as well as a view of life of the wealthy in colonial New Spain.

Café de Brujas, a great venue for live music as well as the odd buskers (seen here) I spent many happy times there sipping Coronas and eating tostadas whilst being entertained in the warm evenig air.

Violetta, who heard my guitar playing and then borrowed my guitar to demonstrate that she was a really great player herself. We spent a very happy couple of days swanning around Puebla together. Much more fun when you can talk about things with someone who shares your tastes! Also it was so great to meet Fabienne and Pierre again, whom I'd first encountered in Mexico City. Fabienne was building an amusing photo portfolio of "tortured christs", each church seemed to have effigies more flayed than the last. The Mayans in San Cristobal really go for the gore in a big way.
A modern day bearer of the cross?
The ornate façade of the local tile factory
The chapel at the top of the pyramid at Cholula, which is handily only about 16km from Puebla and the original colonial settlement. The locals here tried to ambush Cortes after he had been sent here by Moctezuma and in terrible fit of revenge, he slaughtered the entire village numbering 6000 inhabitants, and swore a church would be built on every destroyed temple. He didn't quite succeed in that quest
The beautiful light in the Capilla del Rosario of the church of Santo Domingo. The interior is completely coverd in gold leaf and it was utterly spellbinding in the changing evening light. My photo does not do it justice.
The Zócalo in Puebla. Very pretty and formal and the site of their local arts festival. The opening act was Hossam Ramzy supported by marimba and percussion, but Egyption drumming does not work in that combination. The music at Café de Brujas was better. It was a shame, there was so much pride and money invested in that show.
El Parián crafts market as it was opening in the morning.
Casa del Sol... I really loved the façade
The artists' studios adjacent to El Parián.
Apologies in advance for any mistakes I'm making in the attempt to get this post published: I´ll try to modify it as I go along, as well as check that I have the correct names for all the places shown..