MEXICO - Puebla

After a very welcome and good nights sleep, I have been left to my own devices today as everyone gets ready for the wedding tomorrow. The only thing I had to do was transfer from Puebla to Cholula 17km away where the wedding is taking place.  Oh and by the way that also means 17km closer to that grumbling volcano!

I therefore spent the morning and early afternoon strolling around Puebla's historic centre, just seeing what I could find - and wow the architecture is amazing.

First up I paid a visit to the cathedral the main sight of the city on the main square called Zocalo

In a parallel street behind I wandered into the Casa de la Cultra and came across the Biblioteca Palafoxiana. Originally the private library of Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza it was donated to the city in 1646 on condition that it's use should not be limited to the clergy. Consequently it became the first public library in Latin America. 

After a good wander through the beautiful streets I happened to return by the Casa de la Cultra and heard lots of music coming from the main courtyard. On going inside I saw that a "concert" of traditional dancing was taking place. In one of the dances they were standing on wooden boxes, dancing with only their legs moving "Riverdance style" but just to reinforce the fact that only their legs were moving the dancers were balancing a tray with 4 glasses and a bottle of beer on their heads!

Late afternoon meant that I needed to move on to Cholula and instead of an Uber I decided on one of the strangest train journeys I have ever been on.

Now Mexico doesn't do trains - at least not for passengers - there are no long distance train services here and only a few suburban trains around Mexico City catering for commuters. Mexico City does of course have a metro which is one of the busiest in the world. However, in 2017 the local government in Puebla started a train service between Puebla and Cholula specifically to move tourists between the two. It only does three return trips a day during the week but at weekends is much more frequent and it's - wait for it - completely free. It was quite busy but not to the point that there were many people standing for the 30 minute journey.