On this trip we purposely veered off the Mexican “gringo trail” to explore some of Mexico’s least visited but most worthwhile sights and cities.
Landing in the small but friendly airport on the outskirts of Puebla, we spent our first two nights in the university town of Cholula. From there we journeyed (by public bus, always) to Xalapa before side-stepping over to the port city of Veracruz. We then hugged the Gulf coastline on our way to Papantla, tumbled through mountain shortcuts to the indigenous village of Cuetzalan and finally zig-zagged our way back to Puebla for a final night’s rest.
What were the highlights? The pure tourist in us reveled at wandering through Puebla’s bustling Sunday markets, then delighted in discovering an "untouristy" outdoor danzon performance at a plazuela in Veracruz. The amateur archeologist in us crooned while counting niches at El Tajin, then cursed while ducking through tunnels beneath the Gran Piramide of Cholula. But the traveler in us will never forget watching the waves of fog lap in and out of Cuetzalan’s main square each evening - confirming the town's appellation as a "pueblo magico".
If you can do without white-sand beaches, can speak a little Spanish and can endure some twisty mountain bus rides, this journey will reveal a side of Mexico that few North Americans see. Fascinating ruins, indigenous mountain towns and grand colonial cities await – and all amazingly without hordes of tourists.
Date(s): April 2008. Album by David Kohl. Photos by David Kohl & Ross Rosenberg. 1 - 83 of 83 Total. 17269 Visits.
Map of Puebla and Veracruz states Map highlighting the towns we visited.
View of Cholula's "Nuestra Senora de los Remedios" Church
View of Cholula's "Nuestra Senora de los Remedios" Church This church, translated as "Our Lady of the Remedies", unbelievably sits atop a hillside covering the largest (by volume) pyramid in the world.
View of Mt Popocateletl On a clear day (and with an excellent deep-focus camera), Mexico's second highest peak (18,000 feet) can be viewed from the covered pyramid's hilltop. We never saw this dramatic view; it was too hazy. This is scanned from a postcard.
Pyramid This diagram (from the Blue Guide to Mexico) shows the successive enlargements of the pyramids beneath the hill. The first pyramid was estimated to have been constructed in 200AD; the last, in the 12th century.
Tunnel entrance The only way to glimpse the original pyramids is to enter one of the tunnels carved into the hillside.
Tunnel There is a network over 5 miles of tunnels beneath the hill. But only about 1,000 feet of these tunnels are accessible to tourists.
More Tunnels In 1934, archeologists first discovered the pyramids hidden beneath the church.
Exterior site excavation Outside the tunnels, some recent excavation work can be viewed.
Portales along Cholula's zocalo When Cortes first viewed the city of Cholula, he reportedly called it "the most beautiful city outside Spain". The set of 46 portales (seen here) lining one side of the main plaza is said to be the longest in Latin America. Cholula's zocalo (main plaza) is the second largest plaza in Mexico.
Parroquia de San Pedro In 1519, when Cortes heard about a plot by the Aztecs of Cholula to ambush the Spanish, the Spaniards took their revenge: they massacred between 5,000 and 10,000 Cholulans. Cortes then vowed to build 365 churches - one for each day of the year - in Cholula. But he succeeded in building only 39 - mainly atop ancient ruins.
Villa Arqueologica Villa Arqueologica (once managed by Club Med), where we stayed in Cholula, was a peaceful oasis with a welcoming pool. And it was only about a 10-minute walk to the archeological site and a 15-minute walk to the zocalo.
Puebla's zocalo This city, founded in 1531, was originally named Puebla de los Angeles - the city of Angels. The Spanish wanted it to surpass the beauty of nearby Cholula. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862) where the Mexicans won a decisive battle against the French.
Chess girls A chess tournament was in progress in the zocalo during the first Sunday we were in Puebla. In Puebla, Hotel Colonial is a traditional hotel right off the zocalo. Rooms vary widely. See a couple before choosing.
Balloons and clown
Clown close-up
Demonstration There were several demonstrations in the zocalo protesting the government's decision to sell shares of Pemex (the government-owned oil company) to outside companies (from the United States).
Puebla building This city of over 1.9 million (the third largest in Mexico) has a large, beautifully restored colonial center. Puebla was honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
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Street vendor Origami for sale in Puebla.
Origami close-up
Courtyard of Posada del Cafeto in Xalapa View from our room of the courtyard of this charming hotel Posada del Cafeto
Exterior of the hotel in Xalapa In the late 1980's, Xalapa grew from a small town of 30,000 into a city of nearly 500,000 in a few short years. Traffic throughout this hilly town is a nightmare.
Callejon del Diamante A pedestrian side street filled with street vendors and small restaurants. There are several pedestrian alleys scattered throughout the town center.
Downtown Xalapa View of the Palacio de Gobierno near Parque Juarez in the heart of Xalapa.
Museo de Antropologia de Xalapa "El Rey" (The King), the largest of the museum's seven colossal basalt Olmec heads. It is estimated to weigh more than 20 tons.
Olmec Head detail These heads are approximately 3,000 years old.
Olmec head The museum's layout was inspired by the shape of the state of Veracruz. The "niche-shaped" windows are meant to evoke the designs at El Tajin.
Veracruz zocalo Cortes made his first landing in Mexico on an island offshore of present-day Veracruz. Today, the zocalo is the heart of the action in this city of over 500,000.
Gran Cafe in Veracruz Gran Cafe de la Parroquia is one of the cafe traditions in Veracruz. People hang out for hours here sipping coffee, reading newspapers or catching a quick bite to eat.
Cafe lechero But the main draw here is to order cafe lechero. First, a small amount of deep, rich, black coffee is delivered to your table in a tall glass; then, by clinking your spoon against the glass, you'll signal a waiter to come to your table; he will pour -often from a great height - a stream of steaming milk from a large kettle into your glass. Amazingly, he doesn't miss.
Exterior of our hotel in Veracruz We stayed in one of the multi-level, spacious rooms at the Meson del Mar in downtown Veracruz.
Papantla main square The steep, hillside town of Papantla is in the heart of Mexico's vanilla-growing region. It is also home the voladores who, on Sundays, spin down from the skinny 82-foot pole which looms above the church tower. The voladore monument can be seen couched between the tower and the pole.
Papantla Map No map of Papantla could be found in any guidebook. This was obtained from the tourist office. It is basic but serviceable. We stayed at Hotel Tajin
Voladore monument at sunset The 1988 El momumento al Volador (to be precise) hovers above Papantla on its highest hill. It was erected to honor the voladores (meaning "the ones who fly").
Voladore monument The statue features a voladore caporal (or captain) playing his three-holed flute (chirimia) in preparation for the four other flyers to launch their dizzying flight.
Voladore close-up Totonac voladores perform to honor the four directions of the earth. It is an acrobatic but solemn ritual. It was originally only performed once every 52 years to celebrate the beginning of a new calendar.
Voladores in flight (Postcard View) Before they ascend, the voladores begin with a ritual dance around the pole. Then, they climb the pole. Atop the pole, the caporal plays his flute and drum. The four others tie ropes around their waists and drop backwards as the wood frame begins to turn. They spin left 13 times for a total of 52 rotations among the four voladores.
Pyramid of the Niches Of the 150 structures that have been identified at El Tajin, only 20 have been excavated and restored. Probably the most famous of them all is this iconic building.
Pyramid of the Niches The 60-foot high pyramid was originally thought to have been covered with red-painted stucco. The interior of the niches were thought to have been colored black.
Pyramid of the Niches The core of this building is rubble and then covered with slabs of sedimentary rock. The building was originally topped with a temple.
Pyramid of the Niches Archeologists believe that there were originally 365 niches - corresponding to the days of the year - embedded in this building. Each niche may have contained an offering.
Ballcourt El Tajin is a Totonac word for "thunder", "lightning" or "hurricane".
Monumento No. 5, El Tajin This unusually shaped building has niches running along the bottom course as well as along its top course.
El Tajin El Tajin is the largest - over 6 square miles - archeological site in northern Veracruz. It was not discovered by the Spanish until 1785.
Overview of the site The site is assumed to be first occupied around 100 AD. Most of the buildings date from 600 to 900 AD. The site was thought to have been abandoned by 1200 AD.
Ballcourt panel See the next photograph (Item #7) for a description of what is really going on in this panel.
Explanation of ballcourt panel Description 7 explains what is going on in the previous panel.
Ballcourt panel
Glimpse of Parroquia de San Francisco A look down one of the many cobblestone streets in the hillside village of Cuetzalan. The town was founded by Franciscan friars in 1547.
Parroquia de San Francisco In front of this church is a voladore pole. But there were no voladore performances in the square the weekend we visited.
View of the main square's clock tower Cuetzalan (pronounced kweh-TSA-lan) is located about 113 miles north of Puebla. This town of 16,000 is nestled in the Sierra Norte mountains - sometimes referred to as the Sierra Magica (magical mountain range).
Another plaza view The town was first established as a Totonac settlement, then taken over by the Nahua and finally conquered by the Spanish.
Local women cooking tlayoyos Tlayoyos are traditional regional fare: thick tortillas are stuffed with a pea and avocado leaf paste, then topped with a green or red salsa.
Pig for sale Scene from Cuetzalan's Sunday market. The market has an astonishing array of goods for sale: spices, fruits, vegetables, home-made wines, shawls and, of course, pigs.
Pig head mask? We just didn't think this would fit in our carry-on.
Chickens for sale Not exactly oven-stuffer roasters.
Natural remedies? Display case in a Cuetzalan pharmacy.
Display case detail
Display case detail
Ballcourt at Yohualichan About 5 miles outside Cuetzalan lie the Totonac ruins of Yohualichan.
Yohualichan Probably built about 400 AD, Yohualichan (which means "House of Night") appears to be a close cousin to the ruins at El Tajin.
Yohualichan The "niched" design of many of these administrative and ceremonial buildings bears a strong resemblance to the designs at El Tajin.
Yohaulichan The buildings "melted" look is probably due to earthquakes which have often rocked this area.
Yohualichan On a Saturday morning, we had this site almost to ourselves. It was a quick 10-minute bus ride from the center of Cuetzalan.
More masa please A woman mixing masa - probably for tlayoyos - at one of the many food stands just outside the ruins of Yohualichan.
Women talking There is a small village adjacent to the site at Yohualichan. These two women were conversing at the entrance to the church.
Waiting Local woman waiting outside the Yohualichan stone church. The area around Cuetzalan is home to a large variety of ethnic groups.
Portrait The indigenous groups - which make up over half the local population - still retain many of their traditions: language, dress and social customs.
Woman in repose Woman resting on the sidewalks of Cuetzalan during the Sunday market.
Cuetzalan Market
Cuetzalan Market
Las Brisas This scenic waterfall is a bumpy 5-minute ride from Cuetzalan and then a 10-minute walk from the bus stop in San Andres Tzicuilan.
Las Brisas close-up Even though you are in the mountains, it still can be hot and humid during the day. These cooling waters brought some relief.
Las Brisas Ross took an unintentional dip in the pool beneath the waterfall.
Las Brisas But the water was too cold for some of us.
Coffee blooms Coffee is grown in many areas in the hills around Cuetzalan.
Hotel Posada Cuetzalan Hotel Posada Cuetzalan, where we stayed in Cuetzalan - only a short walk down to the main plaza but a longer walk back up.
Courtyard view of the Posada Cuetzalan One of the two courtyards at the hotel.
Cuetzalan Map None of the guidebooks had a map of the town. This map proved invaluable. It was purchased at the Farmacia San Francisco - about a block off the main square.
Voladore performance An evening voladore dance performance in our hotel's courtyard. Later that night, we saw a complete voladore show at the nearby Pena Los Jarritos.
Fog of Cuetzalan From our hotel room we overlooked the hills surrounding Cuetzalan. Almost nightly, a fog would drift into the village.
Fog A close-up view of the fog surrounding the Santuario de Guadalupe - church known for its unusual decorative rows of clay pots (los jarritos) along the exterior of its steeple.
