I have really taken to this Mexican lifestyle! I had no plans, no reservations, nothing for my trip to Puebla and DF. I got up at the crack of dawn on Thursday and Alma's mom took me to the airport at 7. I waited for my plane. My airline was Volaris, Southwest's sister company in Mexico. They actually have a few flights to Mexico City from California starting next month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Nashville-Culiacán flight. But not holding my breath!
They have the same concept as old Southwest with the seat assignments as you check in. I had not signed in online this time because I hadn't had access to a printer. So I got there, waited in line only to be told I was in the line for the 8:30 flight to Tijuana. I didn't want to go there, so I went to the back of the line for Toluca (a town 45 minutes from DF).
Because of the flu drama, they were taking all sorts of precautionary measures. As I got on the plane, I was squirted with waterless hand sanitizer. I hate that stuff. Then they told us there would be no food or drink service to reduce germs and that we were not allowed to eat or drink anything we had bought. Good thing I hadn't wasted my money!
I slept most of the way (which is easy when you aren't interrupted by a drink cart- and actually, now that I think about it, I think on the plane back to Culiacán on my US trip, they served alcohol free of charge...). When I arrived, I wasn't certain how I was going to get around. I knew there were shuttles (one sponsored by Volaris) to different places in DF. I decided I would just take one to whichever place was closest to the East bus station. Then I'd take a taxi to the bus station. Then I'd get a ticket to Puebla and head out. This was beginning to sound expensive!
I grabbed my luggage (they handed us a juice box and a package of cookies as we left as a sort of apology for the new no-food-service policy) and went to the Volaris counter to get my shuttle.
Seventy pesos later, I had my ticket and had been told that I could get a bus from this location to Puebla. I wouldn't have to take a taxi or wait! Nice.
I got on the shuttle and watched the pilot episode of Friends. My how time has passed since it began. I remember being at Opryland visiting Patrick at Vanderbilt with Mom and Andy. It must've been Christmas time. Patrick was telling us about this great show he'd started watching and how we needed to check it out.
Anyway, I watched and thought about how the hairstyles would change over the course of the next few years. We got to the Volaris bus station forty minutes later, but it was no Culiacán bus station. It wasn't even to the quality of the Mochis bus station. It was like a drive through bus station. There was no food. There were limited seats (but I had gotten there first!). It was very clean. I actually think I saw Chory(Shania's cousin)'s mom or maybe even Shania's mom. Someone who had been on my flight from Culiacán. The man who picked them up did not look how I had remembered his dad, but he looked a lot like Chori. I knew I had booked my flight out of Toluca for Sunday morning at 7 am. If I was going to spend time with the DF boys, like we had planned back at spring break, I would need to change my flight by Friday in order to pay as few fees as possible. I would still face a minimum of $50. I texted Paloma to let him know I was in town. I had facebook messaged all three of the boys a few days before, but hadn't heard back from them.
I had to wait in the bus station for almost 2 hours, so I ventured out with my suitcase, backpack and pillow in search of some food. Cookies and grape juice were not going to cut it until I arrived in Puebla around 6 pm. There was a really nice guard out front who told me that there was an Oxxo within two blocks. If only he had also offered to watch my luggage. I got a croissant sandwich, a yogurt, some cookies and a coca light. It did the trick. I sat in the bus station and scarfed.
The bus came and three of us boarded and paid once we got on. It had to cross all of DF from West to East to pick up other passengers at some hotel. That took about an hour. Finally we were on the road.
I secretly wondered what would happen if I got to Puebla and there were no hotel rooms...
I slept a little on this ride, but not much. It started to rain when we were approaching Puebla. The bus driver called out the name of a stop as we had entered Puebla's city limits. I got nervous. Did I need this stop? Would the final destination still be Puebla or would I end up in another town if I didn't get off?! I asked him where I needed to get off for the zócalo, or main square, and he told me. It ended up being the last stop- the bus station. Easy enough.
I went out into the sprinkly weather and got a taxi. I chose the cheapest hotel from my Mexico book that happened to be on the zócalo.
My 45 peso taxi dropped me off at the door, one building from the zócalo. I checked into a non-smoking room. It was over 400 pesos, which (again, I've been here too long!) seemed steep to me for a small town in Mexico. I slid my credit card and was taken up to my room on the top floor. It had a great patio view from the common area. This hotel (and all that I had read about in Puebla) did not have air conditioning. It was comfortable weather, but I wouldn't want to have been stuck in there with a 1x2 foot window in the heat of the day.
I unpacked, changed into my flip flops, rolled up my jeans, and decided to see what I could that day. It was already 6:30, so I wouldn't be able to do "touristy" stuff, but I could get acquainted with the great set-up of the city. It runs on a grid; streets run one direction and avenues run another while even numbered streets and avenue are north/west of the zócalo and the odd numbered are south/east. Once I got oriented, it was very manageable.
There are three major things Puebla is known for: mole, Talavera pottery, and sweets. They have a street named "Sweet Street," so I decided that would be my first stop. It was also the closest destination from my hotel. I skipped around puddles and took in the sites as I walked that way. There was a "main drag" that would've been optimal for people watching had it not been raining...
I saw an area that was called "The Gallery" I think and stopped in for an agua de fresa (you can be jealous now Ashley- it was the same place as in DF). I took my retreat from the rain and people watched inside this covered outdoor mallish area.
Then I headed down Sweet Street. It's amazing how they do things in Mexico. You wonder how they ever sell anything. They sell all the same things at the stores on one street. I've heard of an area in DF where they sell all lamps on one street. Then the next street will be all hardware. Each store sells the same thing! That's what I was thinking here. It was all the same. I was full from my strawberry goodness, so I didn't buy any sweets. The only thing that really tempted me was the Talavera, but I just looked. I was going to go to the "factory" on Friday, so I didn't want to buy anything without seeing the best first.
I headed back to the hotel, with wet jean cuffs and feet. J. Crew flip flops are awful for rain; they're super slippery as I learned from experience my sophomore year at Lipscomb! I walked carefully through the crowds and the vendors advertising their churros, empanadas, and ice creams. How was I going to have room for mole if they kept shouting for sweets?! Not to mention I was still really full from my sweet delicious strawberry drink. I decided to put off mole for Friday and to have two tacos al pastor instead. I made it back to the hotel, had a shower and changed into tennis shoes. I rolled my jeans back up (it was cool again and I had gotten into town in my sleeveless and flip flops while the Puebla citizens were in their winter coats!) and headed out in search of something pastor. I actually wanted to try a cemita, which is basically a sandwich on sweet bread. I found a place that looked promising. Though by this time it was after 8. Oddly enough, this is an early-to-bed town. At least, early-to-house. The eat out time is more midday, so there wasn't much people watching to do besides foreigners. No fun.
I sat and ordered a cemita with pastor meat. They brought me my limonada and came back shortly to tell me they were out of the cemita bread but could bring me a torta (basically a sandwich on fluffy bread). Since the cemita is a cemita because of the bread, I said no thanks and changed my order to two tacos. I was sorely disappointed. Again, I've had incredible food this year, and most of it is from Sinaloa. I should just lower the bar whenever I travel!
I made it back to the room, made my plan for the next day to take advantage of as many hours as possible and still make it to DF in time to be at the Yoder-schrocks' apartment before Kate got there for her surprise birthday party.
No comments:
Post a Comment