Teotihuacan Archeological Zone

Today I woke up at 6am, giving me an ample time to pack my stuff, read emails and have a breakfast before departing to the Teotihuacan Pyramid at eight. I reconvened with the rest of my tour group in the breakfast room at seven and started filling my plates with scrambled eggs and pancakes. I chatted with Juliette, a lady in her sixties from the U.K. and Max and June, a Singaporean couple who have traveled extensively in the past. At eight, we met our driver and loaded our luggage to the minibus before driving for 90 minutes to the Teotihuacan Pyramid.

“Favela” on The Way to Teotihuacan From Mexico City

It was a cloudy and windy day, similar to the weather in Montreal at the end of the autumn. We were welcomed by the official guide for the site, which was a very knowledgeable and friendly guy. Teotihuacan pyramid turned out to be a very interesting site from a scientific point of view, starting from the 13-degree water system and pi-related number for its pyramid size (220m x 70m), among other things. Touring around the whole site took us around 2.5 hours, including a 30 minutes hike to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.

The Moon Pyramid

Me on the Top of The Sun Pyramid

After staying for two days in Mexico City, today we are heading to another city located 2 hours away called Puebla. Maria, our tour guide, has told us the day before that we will be having a late lunch today at 2pm once we arrived in Puebla. First, we checked-in Hotel La Alhondiga that is located in the Zocalo (central square) of the city. It was conveniently located but feels a little bit dingy due to the mix of cold weather and ceramic floorings. Ten minutes walk away, we arrived at the restaurant and ate Mole Poblano, which is a traditional Mexican food made from chicken covered with chocolate-based sauce.

Lunch in Puebla

It was late when we finished the lunch, so I headed back to the Zocalo area and looked around Cathedral de Puebla, Amparo Museum and Templo de Santo Domingo, all of which located close to each other. Amparo Museum is particularly worth a visit if you want to learn more on the timeline of Mayan/Aztec/Itza civilization and the artifacts left by them. In Puebla, all of the historical and touristic sites are closely located, except for the teleferico (ferris wheel). Good news is that it cost only MXN 60 to take a taxi from Zocalo to the cable car entrance, with the cable car itself costs less than MXN100. For me, the view from the cable car is well worth the time and money.

Amparo Museum

Cathedral de Puebla

A Street in Puebla

San Fransisco Cathedral in Puebla

Santo Domingo Cathedral in Puebla

Zocalo in Puebla

The cable car takes me from one part of the garden to the other (round-trip is available), where I then ordered an uber to another city 20 minutes away called Cholula. Cholula is known for its archeological zone, a yellow building on the hill with mountain on the back of it. There’s a three-story building several blocks away from the site, where I stopped and took some pictures. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, and the sunset wasn’t very beautiful, so I went back to Puebla shortly after.

Cable Car in Puebla

Puebla Cityscape with Popocatépetl Mountain

Cholula Archeological Zone

I walked around further in Puebla to watch the street scene and hunt for more photos while waiting for dinner time. When it was around 9pm, I finally sat down on a second-floor terrace of a restaurant facing the Zocalo, eating rib-eye tortillas and drinking corona. We stayed for only one night in Puebla, so I was trying to make the best of it. But it’s safe to say that the mix of cold weather, few attractions and not very lively street scene, has made Puebla my least favorite city in Mexico.

Dinner on a Terrace in Puebla Zocalo