Puebla: The City That Keeps Surprising Me
okay, so i'm sitting here in this little cafe in puebla, mexico, trying to figure out how to describe this place without sounding like every other travel blogger. the numbers 3526953 and 1484474577 keep flashing in my head - maybe they're coordinates? nah, just some weird timestamp thing. anyway, let me tell you about this city that's been messing with my expectations since i got here.
first off, the weather's been... interesting. i just checked and it's 11.51Ā°C right now, but feels like 10.15Ā°C. perfect sweater weather if you ask me, though my california bones are definitely feeling it. the humidity's at 55%, which means my hair's doing that weird thing where it's neither curly nor straight - just confused.
if you get bored, mexico city and orizaba are just a short drive away. but honestly? i don't know why you'd want to leave. puebla's got this vibe that's hard to explain. it's like the city knows something you don't, and it's just waiting for you to catch up.
i heard from this guy at the hostel that the talavera pottery here is actually better than anything you'll find in spain. sounded like drunk advice at the time, but then i saw it for myself and... well, maybe he wasn't so far off. the colors are insane - like someone took a rainbow and cranked the saturation to 11.
random thing i learned: puebla has more churches than days in the year. someone told me that, and i thought they were exaggerating. they weren't. i tried to count them once, got to 47 before giving up and just accepting that i'd never know for sure.
food-wise, holy moly. i went to this place called *el mural de los poblanos after reading about it on TripAdvisor. wasn't disappointed. but then again, i've yet to have a bad meal here. even the street food's been consistently good. though i did overhear someone saying they got food poisoning from a particular taco stand near the zĆ³calo. take that as you will.
what really gets me about puebla though is how it's not trying to be anything. it's not like those cities that are all 'look at me, i'm historic!' or 'hey, check out my modern side!' puebla's just... puebla. and somehow that's exactly what makes it worth visiting.
oh, and before i forget - if you're planning to visit, bring comfortable shoes. the calle de los sapos* (frog street) is adorable but murder on the feet. also, don't trust google maps completely. i've ended up in some interesting places following its directions.
anyway, that's my messy take on puebla. it's not the most organized post, but then again, neither is this city. and that's precisely why i like it.
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