December 27

Because I liked Puebla so much and hadn’t visited the Cholula Archaeological site I decided to bus back and arrived in early afternoon after a 3 hour journey to the Hotel Tamara.

As it was the Saturday after Christmas and a school holiday, the town was incredibly busy and traffic clogged. There was some  pedestrian street that seemed to go on forever entirely devoted to stalls selling all variety of merchandise. I strolled for a while, soaking up the buying frenzy and picked up some snacks at a health food store (which are fairly prevalent). I also checked out the Cathedral.

The streets were so crowded and noisy I couldn’t get excited about leisurely exploration. I couldn’t find a suitable Mexican place so I opted for an upscale Italian place next to the hotel. I was dubious but they served up an excellent black rice with squid.

December 28

Cholula

Yet another expedition out to  Cholula! (It was closed last Monday) First a lengthy trek across town to the bus station which at least gave me a chance to appreciate Puebla architecture.

Then the hour-long bus ride and the trek to the archaeological zone in central Cholula which is one of the world’s oldest continuously occupied towns. The mound of earth below topped by a church is actually an ancient pyramid now overgrown with grass. Begun around the 5th century BC it’s the largest pyramid in the world by volume and the world’s largest monument.

Fortunately I had already hiked to the top last week and didn’t need to do it again!

Cholula’s rise and fall more or less paralleled that of Teotihuacan. It declined for unknown reasons around 800AD. But its strategic position was too good, the land too fertile and it eventually was resettled and became a regional powerhouse by the time the Spanish arrived. Cholula.was.allied.with the Aztecs which made them a target for the Spanish and their allies. The circumstances are.contested but around 6000 of them were massacred by the Spanish and their Tlaxcalan allies which put an end to the city’s influence.

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Most of the excavated remains are from residences.

One of them has this wall mural, a replica of which is displayed in the Cholula museum. It  depicts quite a party

At the end of the visit I ducked into Ciudad Sagrada for the best mole I had in Mexico