Cacaxtla, Cholula Day 5

We start the day with a cnntiental breakfast.  Much simpler than the elaborate breakfast buffet in Mexico City.  Good orange bread, choice of fresh orange juice or jugo verde (green juice) made of celery, pineapple juice, nopales (cactus), etc.  Several of hus had hot chocolate  -- YUM.  We also had some pulque bread that Juan bought after the boat ride at Xochimilco.  It used to be made with pulque but now they don’t use pulque.  Very good dipped in the hot chocolate. 

A ride through the countryside to the ruins of Cacaxtla.  This is a huge palace built on top of a hill so the view of the surrounding valley is really nice.

 But Cacaxtla is most known for murals that were found there by looters.  The lower levels had been filled in which protected the murals.  Some of them are quite gruesome depicting the sacrifice of prisoners.  There is also a mural depicting the creation of humans through corn.  The Colors really are this bright and clear!

It is quite a long way to walk and many stairs to climb to see the murals so not everyone makes the trek up. 

From there we continue to see two unique churches.  Traffic is bad so it takes longer than expected but worth the drive.  Both are of the baroque style with every inch covered with decoration.  The first one, San Francisco de Acaputapec.  The outside is all tile work and the inside has lots of gold!  I can’t imagine going to a service in one of these places.  I would be distracted by all of the little hidden figures.  Lots and lots of fresh flowers that are changed out every Saturday.  The aroma was divine!

 

The next one is only a few miles away.  It is also baroque but has more indigenous influence.  The figures have a folk art look to them.  Still every square inch is covered. 

Time for lunch.  We drive to the center of the town of Cholula.  People are enjoying the  zoocolo.  We chose one of the many sidewalk cafes for lunch and all choose the “Running Meal” which is the special of the day.  You can choose from one of 4 choices for an appetizer, then 1 of 4 choices for the next course and then finally choose from 4 things for the main course.  All of that for about $5.00.  Sure better  than American fast food!

After lunch we all feel like a siesta is in order so just do a drive by of the pyramid of Cholula.  It is the biggest pyramid by volume in the world. Each side is 400 meters long.  There are about 10 kilometers of tunnels inside the pyramid that archaeologists have dug to discover all of the building times of the pyramid.  About 10% of them are open to the public. 

This is the last day with our first driver and our luxury Mercedes transportation.  Tomorrow, we will do a walking tour of the central part of Puebla and then take a taxi to the bus station to go to Oaxaca.