What are we doing here???

Good to see the seniors getting into the swing at the Puebla Sunday market.
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Arriving at a strange hotel, in a strange city, late at night is often not the best way to start in that place...and being tired and hungry after a long bus ride didn´t help either.

Because we are travelling with our 2 children, we have prebooked most of our accommodation on the internet,following extensive searches, and have had some fantastic results. Our hotel in Puebla turned out to be fine, but on Saturday night at 9pm the place was like ghost house and it was located a long way(7kms) from the centro historico...which was not what we expected. We wondered if our taxi driver had abducted us as we passed through a deserted industrial estate and then 2 security gates to arrive there.

We wondered if our taxi driver had abducted us as we passed through a deserted industrial estate and then 2 security gates to arrive there.

Street scene in Puebla's historic centro.
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Our entry into the hotel was via a medieval style tunnel which finally opened into the eerily quiet reception area.

Breakfast on the Sunday morning was a delight however, with a brilliant buffet with fresh fruit, spicy chorizo and potatoes and the local specialty of Mole poblano on turkey- an interesting mix of chocolate and spices and various other ingredients to produce an almost savoury taste. There were lots of guests and the food was set out in a lovely conservatory. We realised the next day that they were not staying there, but had just come for Sunday breakfast/brunch.

Taylors vomiting bug continued although we were finally able to get some antibiotics to stay in him, so he and Piper had a quiet time in the room again and Michael and I caught the local bus to town and explored the markets. The local buses in Mexico are cheap (usually about 4 pesos each (45 cents), irrespective of how far you go. They are also very regular. That is the upside...on the downside they are old, dirty, polluting, uncomfortable and have cracked perspex windows. This is the reality of life here.

Puebla centro was a lot more beautiful than we expected. When we drove into town the night before on the bus, we wondered why our Mexican friends had put Puebla on the itinerary. We had no idea from Lonely Planet that this is a huge sprawling city. Puebla is reknowned for its pottery, but that didn't interest us much. As it turned out the centro had stunning architecture and lovely malls and on Sunday we had the benefit of the local markets, where we enjoyed delicious mango sorbet style frozen treats. Perfect for the very hot, sunny winters day.

We dined that night in the hotels empty restaurant, now back in its usual spot. Despite the lack of people, the food was great. Taylor was also able to keep some bananas down. The first real food in 4 days. We left Puebla with better memories than we anticipated on our arrival.

(Note to our enquiry from Puebla...the hotel is the Hacienda Molino, and it is in Puente area. The Sunday brunch was 55 pesos plus service. This place also seems to serve as a function area...there was also a christening celebration on the Sunday).