Activity Summary.
Tuesday 18th April - Day 229
Travel to Puebla
Lunch at Antojitos Tomy “De la esquina” (cemitas)
Walk around Puebla:
Zocalo
Catedral de Puebla
Parian Market
Artist Quarter
Sunset walking tour to Los Fuertes parque
Happy hour beer & pulque
Dinner at Acapulco (moletes)
Wednesday 19th April - Day 230
Luke not very well
Day trip to Cholula:
Santuario de la Virgen de los Remedios
Zona Arqueológica de Cholula
Centro de cholula
Mercado Cholula
Cumbia dance class
Thursday 20th April - Day 231
Nicola feeling unwell
Cancel journey to Oaxaca
Extend stay in Puebla
Ill vege out day
Summary
Puebla
It’s a very pretty city but in terms of things to do here there isn’t a whole lot that would fill a lot of time. A walk around the city took us an afternoon and it was mainly the hostel and activities that kept us entertained for our time here.
From here there are a decent number of hikes that could be done that Luke was very tempted by:
Iztaccihuatl
La Malinche
Both would have cost in excess of US$80, the former being the third highest peak in Central America. It was consistently smoggy when we were here however and while Luke has been itching to get a mountain hike in, visibility, cost and difficulty in getting there (would require a tour for both) ended any desire to pursue these. He also got pretty ill for 2 out of the 3 days here so that would have either been very unpleasant or derailed his plans.
Cholula
Similar to Puebla in that there wasn’t a whole lot to do here, bar visit the old temple and have a short walk around. Was easy to get to and worth the visit from Puebla.
Transport
Puebla
Hostel (Mexico City) -> [Uber] -> Terminal de Autobuses de Pasajeros de Oriente -> [Bus] -> Central De Autobuses CAPU -> [Cab] -> hostel
Cholula
We got an Uber there and back for very little cost (~$100 each way). The bus between here and Puebla seemed overly tricky and was not worth the hassle nor extended time travelling.
Accommodation
Puebla - Casa Pepe Hostel Boutique Puebla
Number of nights - 2 / 1
Price per night per person - £9 / £17
As far as hostels go, this is probably up there with being one of the best we have stayed in. The beds were created with privacy in mind, having a sort of rectangular box structure with a draw curtain that meant we could shut away from the rest of the room. This structure was a little flimsy (compared to Pai) and did move a lot when someone turned, or in the case of Luke, required to relieve himself on the regs but the pod system did make it all a lot more comfortable. Each pod had a power socket (including USB), a shelf, a light and mini safe along with a larger bag one in the main room. Pretty much ticked all the boxes required for comfortable dorm sharing.
The hostel ran daily activities which were good fun and meant we were able to meet a fair amount of people with ease along with an attached bar and decent happy hour. The food was ridiculously expensive at this bar so we went elsewhere.
The WIFI was good, the caveat being it wasn’t in our room tucked away in a corner of the building but was fine everywhere else. The community area in the middle of the hostel was well kitted out and made for an easy space to chill in.
The location was amazing (although central Puebla is very small) and the best picture of our Puebla trip was just right outside our hostel.
When we had to get a private room it was like being back in the states without any of the high cost, with two Queen size beds and private bathroom meaning we could veg in discomfort in peace.
Great Hostel.
Diary
We left our hostel at a reasonable time and got an Uber to the bus station. It was easy enough to buy bus tickets to Puebla and so simple we booked into the bus leaving in 10 minutes. Nicola wasn’t so sure we would make it but Luke’s endless optimism won out, even if he had to stall the bus as she went for a last minute wee. The bus gates all have metal detectors but seeing the size of our 4 bags and tourist noobish behaviour the guards just waved us through.
It wasn’t too long a bus to Puebla and it was pretty comfortable. The bus had a Spanish film on for passengers to watch, plenty of space (although the wriggler (Nicola) always wants more) and with a toilet. Good to know for some of the longer journeys we would make.
Once at the bus station we collected our bags from under the bus, walked through the station from prepping an Uber to actually being able to call it the price had doubled. So we decided to do one of our least favourite things to do while travelling, speak to a cab driver.
Luke’s Spanish was good enough to order a cab but agreed to a price over what he expected, turns out he needs to work on his 20s and 30s. It wasn’t much cheaper than the Uber but in order to cut off likely flapping Luke made the call.
We checked into our hostel straight away, dumped our bags and went off for some food. Luke had found a place called Antojitos Tomy “De la esquina” which according to a blog made the best cemitas poblana, a monster local sandwich with pork or chicken schnitzel, Mexican string cheese, avo, salad and chillies. As Luke is writing this and looking at the picture it makes him feel ill having decided to get the same sandwich a few days later when he took a turn for the worse. But at the time he was ravenous and demolished the whole thing with joy. Nicola was a bit more reserved, eating half now and saving the rest for dinner.
Once fed we had a short walk around central Puebla:
Zocalo - a nice square where Luke told some kids to get out of his picture. The mother, who he thought wouldn’t understand, apparently gave him some serious daggers. It was a very nice area however.
Catedral de Puebla - churches be churches.
Parian Market - a market interestingly inspired by The Philippines. They had some lovely pottery and decorations that made Nicola very unhappy she couldn’t purchase anything.
Artist Quarter - a quaint street with plenty of little art shops and an artistic statue.
We had a sit down at the artists quarter for a while as we worked out what we wanted to do with the rest of the day as it didn’t take a whole lot of time to walk through central Puebla. Initially Luke suggested going to Los Fuertes parque and using the cable car up but it turned out the hostel was running a sunset tour there so we jumped on that instead.
We met up with the 10 strong group and walked the 30 minutes over to the park. It was a nice group of people and would continue to socialise with them while in Puebla. The sunset at the highest point we could get to at the park (a large part was closed in order to build a stage for a big ol party in a few days) was alright, but the smoggy haze of Puebla (turns out just Mexican cities in general) as well as cloud cover made this less spectacular as there was potential to see Popo and Itza in the background.
We spent some time here before the sun dropped and went back to the hostel. Luke was determined to make use of the happy hour available at the bar but because of the tour we had missed 30 minutes of it. When others in the group laughed off his attempt at charming the tour guide to sweet talk the bar all was thought lost until it wasn’t. Take that Jamie.
This was probably the first time Luke had been drinking quickly for a long time. For 80 pesos (£3.50) it was an open tab for an hour. Luke managed 4 beers which isn’t bad for someone who’s taking a career drinking break. Nicola had pulque, a Mexican milk like liquor made from agave and tastes a bit nutty. Nice but not something that’s drunk in great excess.
We spent a few hours in the bar with the sunset group before hunger took over most and we went over to the Zocalo. Half wanted a sit down meal while the rest of us fancied cheap and cheerful so Luke and a Dutch lady directed the team to the same hole in the wall food joint called Acapulco for Moletes, essentially a large deep fried taco. Pretty nice.
We called it quits as we didn’t want Luke to be hungover as he is weak.
It was not a good night all round for Nicola and Luke.
Luke started getting pretty nasty stomach cramps at about 2am which in turn meant he was rolling around on the top bunk quite a lot and therefore shaking the structure so much this kept Nicola awake.
Luke ended up having to get up and down from the top bunk (fortunately the room wasn’t pitch black) quite a few times over the next few hours to deposit his insides. Thankfully there were communal toilets near the reception desk outside of the room and he didn’t have to obliterate the sole toilet in the room, which just so happened to be closest to Nicola’s bunk. Interestingly he wasn’t the only one up and about at 4am as a drunken Danish father and daughter were still running around the hostel. When they were told to go to bed by the receptionist they pointed at Luke and said ‘why doesn’t he’ - o he wished he could stay in bed.
The cabin feature of the bunk beds meant that most of Luke’s pollutants were contained to his coffin at least.
The next morning Nicola wasn’t very happy with Luke’s wriggling (pot kettle black much) but swiftly forgave his indiscretions when he explained his bowel situation. Nicola met up with Jamie & the Dutch lady for breakfast while Luke slowly gathered himself together and grabbed some easier on the belly food from Oxxo. It had seemed like the runs had abated for the time and he would be able to make it to Cholula for our day trip.
We got an Uber with Jamie, an Australian backpacker, to Cholula which was only a 30 minute drive away by car but 1.5hrs by bus. We were happy to not have the faff, Luke more so than the others.
Once in Cholula we hit up the sights around the town. We bought entry tickets for something historical nearby, although none of us were sure for what, and made our way into the pretty small Museo de Sitio de Cholula. It wasn’t all that impressive and then continued up the hill to the main tourist sight.
Santuario de la Virgen de los Remedios - the church was atop a large hill in the town with nice 360 views around. Again the haze was ever present so the mountains couldn’t be seen in the background but the church was alright. It was pretty warm and the slog up the hill didn’t do Luke any favours.
Zona Arqueológica de Cholula - turns out this was what the ticket was for. We had a walk around the old temple / city site which has one of the largest temples but is predominately underground. The tunnels for this temple were closed for us so we couldn’t have a walk around these sadly.
Centro de cholula - short walk through the centre of town.
Mercado Cholula - more like the markets we had in Asia which sold just about everything; meat, veg, fruit et al. We came away with some cheap fruit and veg for dinner to get away from fried Mexican cuisine as a change.
Once done with our touring we got another Uber back, despite the idea of getting the bus being thrown around, and we were back at the hostel early afternoon. We spent the next few hours in the hostel lobby chilling, Nicola got some bakery goods although we’re nothing on the Mexico City haul and Luke had a much needed afternoon nap to try and regain some energy for the evening.
In the evening we joined a hostel run Cumbia dance class in the bar. This was pretty good fun and each of us cycled through dance partners (classically more women than men) while learning a few basic moves. This was not all that easy for either of us who are well versed with throwing down with little shame but in a largely uncoordinated manner. Putting a rein on Luke’s hips felt like sacrilege.
The performance at the end of the group was a little nerve racking but we both got a chance to dance together for the group which was fun. Hot, sweaty and beat we took off pretty swiftly after the class finished and had our avo, tomato, onion and bread dinner.
Nicola started to not feel so great later in the evening so she kept herself occupied in the room while Luke, having a renewed sense of energy, socialised at the bar with a few people over a beer. He did get harassed by a local toe cutter which was a wholly weird experience as he didn’t understand any English, Luke & Jamie understood little Spanish and the French girl ended up translating odd bits of conversation while laughing. Turns out the English have widely known terrible toes. The guy eventually left after we ignored him for about 10 minutes and Luke could finally leave for the room and take a much needed shower as Frenchie accidentally knocked half his beer over his lap. He probably didn’t need it however given his insides problems.
Nicola woke up early and was not feeling well at all. She hadn’t been sick but was feeling woozy and like Luke, was exploding out of her asshole.
Nicola woke Luke up earlier than intended for our expected departure to Oaxaca and the executive decision to stay another night in a private room with two queen beds and a private bathroom was decided. Very reasonable price really. Luke sorted with reception, Nicola cancelled on our travel buddy in Jamie and asked if we could move into our new room earlier than the 2pm check in time. The guy at reception was a legend and sorted this out for us in 30 minutes.
Luke put Nicola to bed, got her some water and lemonade to sooth her ailments and after we both snoozed for a bit he went and got a cemita for lunch. This went down terribly for Luke who over the course of the day got more and more ill and now holds this sandwich in complete disdain.
We pretty much spent all day in our respective beds doing very little but sleeping, watching tv and feeling unwell. We had a short walk in the evening thinking it was good to stretch our legs but Nicola got very tired very quickly so we turned around. As we came out of the Oxxo the heavens well and truly opened up SE Asia rainy season style.
Not a day held in high regard in the travel diaries and would be the start of an illness that would linger with us for a while.
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