MEXICO - Cholula

Cholula is a bit more touristy and with this weekend being a Public Holiday weekend it is quite busy.  Today (Monday) has very much been a day to recover, so this post is a combination of what I have been doing wandering around over the past couple of days. This evening my hosts have planned a fun evening of entertainment for the "gringos" (I do hope it's not another 4am finish!). I'll let you know what we get up to tomorrow. In the meantime .......

Popocatepetl is looking very big here and we had some black smoke appear yesterday morning - those of you that have heard my tales of trekking on Stomboli and Etna will know that black smoke is not usually a good sign, but by lunchtime all looked well again.

Cholula is the site of the Great Pyramid, which was the largest pyramid in the Americas consisting of a number of structures superimposed on each other over six centuries. Over time however, it was covered with earth and took the shape of a hill and when the Spanish arrived, to assert their authority and stamp out pagan worship, "Los Conquistadores" built a church on the top. Today it is a curious mix of religious shrine and archaeological site.

As with the pyramids in Egypt there are tunnels and passageways inside.

What has been excavated and preserved can be seen outside in an archaeological park

This is an area that would have been an amphitheatre - like the Greek and Roman ones - and this has very good acoustics as guides were demonstrating by standing in the middle and clapping.

Then there is a steep climb up to shrine of Our Lady of the Remedies at the top (I'm already over 2000m above sea level  why do I need to go higher?) which is a local place of pilgrimage and is very ornate - the custodian/guide made a point of telling me all the gold was real and solid!

There is also a good view of the town from the top.

And finally a note about yesterday's wedding. The ceremony was much the same as in the UK but the reception was very different, especially the dancing. It's Latin America and the folk here have rhythm - as they say on Strictly "It's all about the hips darling". There is some really incriminating video footage of me out there somewhere .............