Stranger in Oaxaca

The start of my adventure began this past November when I received my acceptance letter into the ProWorld Service Corps program. I will spend two months assisting members of the community in an Anthropology related project, most likely affiliated with the Union de Museos Comunitarios. Follow me through the entire ProWorld experience as I make my way from all of the preparations and finally embark on my journey to Oaxaca, Mexico!

Monday, October 30, 2006

Our Weekend in Puebla

Last weekend the girls and I had originally planned to take a trip to Puerto Escondido to see the beach. But at the last minute we decided to go to Puebla because our project schedules required us to be back by Monday. Rachael and I have good friends who live in Puebla who offered to put us up for the weekend. So we took them up on their request, piled into a bus and left for Puebla early Friday afternoon.

After we arrived, we took the city bus down to the centro to see Puebla´s zocalo and have dinner. We ate at Sanborn´s, which is a Mexican chain restaurant you can find virtually anywhere. But they have awesomely large banana splits, so the other Maggie and I shared one. As you can see, we were filled with joy upon the arrival of our lovely dessert creation.


It was also really nice to explore another city that doesn´t have graffiti on all of the buildings. Virtually every surface of Oaxaca is covered with "Fuera Ulises!" We were actually able to see what a "normal" zocalo looks like without protestors, tents or barricades. The photo on the right was taken in Puebla´s centro.

Puebla is very historic and beautiful. One can find any number of things to do there. However, you are certain to find a ton of churches to visit during your stay because Cholula, a neighboring pueblo, boasts a hefty sum of 365! Saturday morning we visited this church, which rests atop one of the largest pyramids in the world. Apparently this pyramid´s size is comparable to those in Egypt. I had no idea! The climb to the top is rather steep (and the pyramid doesn´t really look like a pyramid in my opinion), but the trip up is completely worth it because the view is spectacular.

We also had time to visit the local mercado de artesanos, which was one of the highlights. You can find any number of things as you wind your way through three or four blocks of vendors selling everything from collector´s items to antiques of all kinds. Rosie and I met a really cool jewelry artisan from Belize named Joe. He and his "gal," as he referred to her, met there and began selling jewelry in other parts of Mexico. They recently relocated to Puebla and are planning to find other markets as well. They had a really cute puppy and very nice jewelry. I really like Puebla. The population is very eclectic because the community has a number of universities that bring in international students. Puebla also draws in a large population of individuals from parts of Europe and South America.

The photo on the right is of the huge cathedral located in the center of Puebla´s zocalo area. It was great to see this part of the city on a Sunday morning because everyone was out and about doing their shopping and preparing for the week. Rosie and I sat at a cafe located across from the church and watched as families hurried on their way to mass, children played in fountains and elderly men stood chatting about the latest news in the paper. Puebla was a much needed break from the chaotic state my city is in right now.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home