Puebla

This morning we got up at the crack of dawn for a trip to Puebla. The bus ride took us through many previously unknown parts of the city, and after about 45 minutes, we finally got out to the countryside. The highway to Puebla runs through a mountain pass near the volcanoes, and the scenery actually reminded us of Washington state.

Leaving the sprawl...
 Volcanoes: Popocateptl and Iztaccíhuatl
 Please call me Popo!
Thank god we were protected by this tiny concrete wall in case of eruption!

Our first stop in Puebla was the main square called the Zocalo. There we saw the tallest church in all of Mexico, the Catedral Central.

Zocalo with Catedral Central in the background.
 Fountain in the central square.

Us with the fountain and the church!

City hall wishing Mexico a happy 200th birthday! Feliz Cumpleanos!

Our next stop included checking out the world-renowned Tavalera pottery which apparently takes six months to make each piece! No doubt absolutely true and not just a claim to jack up the prices for tourists!

Tavalera tiles on the facade of a museum.

Tavalera plates in a 100% genuine tienda with guaranteed factory-direct pricing!

Balloons anyone?

After browsing through the historic center, we made our way through a number of Catholic churches. Mostly built in the Baroque period, and thus mostly built of solid gold. They were a sight to behold, and if anything, I would say they were tastefully understated...

Ok...pretty normal...

Bling! Gold, gold, and then just for good measure, a little more gold!

...and if that wasn't quite enough, here's a wee bit more!

By comparison, the Catedral Central seemed quite plain, but it made up for it with 200+ foot ceilings.

This one seemed to have spent their money on crystal chandeliers, so not as much gold here.

White marble seemed to be preferred here.

Farther into town, we came across the ever-popular styrofoam, glitter and plastic flower look.

I think there might be a roughly 1:1 ratio of people to churches in Puebla!

We wrapped up the day in the artist's market. We didn't end up buying anything the whole day, so we decided to wait for the bus with a few margaritas, which made for a great pre-bus-ride/nap happy hour!

Artist's market

After leaving the artist's market and before the much deserved drinks, I (Eric) was foot raped by an overly agressive shoe-shiner named "Tony", who after chatting me up in English and after about 10 "NO's" from me with regard to the shoe shine he was offering for my...what else...gym shoes!!!...dropped to his knees and immediately drenched my left foot with his "cleaning solution". I told him NO! for the 8 millionth time and demanded that he dry it off. He pulled out a little towel from his kit and told me to put my foot on his little box which I did. Then the old bait and switch again! He swapped the towel for his little wet brush and got me a second time! Yanking my foot away I gave him 5 pesos and ran away, wondering if there was a crime victim's support group for this sort of thing and swearing to never talk to a street vendor again.

I felt better after three beers and a margarita.

Update: My foot did not fall off overnight, so I think I'll pull through!