hello and welcome back to run the atlas today i'm talking about a very special region of
Mexico - Puebla, and the things you need to know before visiting here. i just returned
from a trip to Puebla and i learned so many things that i wish i knew before visiting
so be sure to stay tuned to the end to capture all of the details. And if you're from puebla
give us a shout out in the comments below and let us know your favorite things about your city.
so first of all puebla, why visit puebla? pueblo has just a little bit of everything that's special
about mexico from the pyramids, to the volcanoes, to the archaeological sites and of course
the cuisine this is a place you visit when you're interested in history culture and food but let's
can definitely do a day trip here but i recommend staying overnight so that you can really absorb
the culture and take some of the side trips because there's many wonderful side trips from
pueblo there are direct flights here from tijuana airport and various other parts of mexico you can
fly into puebla's airport we took a volaris flight so definitely be sure to check for some of the
cheap flights on Volaris and check in ahead of time on Volaris to make sure you secure your
seat. that's something we learned. there's no need for a car rental here when you get here everything
is really accessible right in the historic core so be sure to stay in the historic core.
i love how well-marked this city is speaking of places to stay there's a number of hostels
and there's really beautiful boutique hotels we stayed at one called hotel Purificadora.
this is a beautiful boutique hotel it really kind of immerses you into the culture because it's very
colorful and there's a lot of unique details it's built into the historic walls and there's also a
number of hostels that we passed by that looked really cool too so if you're on a budget or you're
traveling with your friends be sure to check those out one that i wrote down that looked really cool
was called casa pepe boutique hotel and it's really well situated in the historic core.
So some unique features of puebla the altitude is really high so it's about 7,000 feet high and
you'll definitely feel it if you're walking around you'll feel a little bit out of breath and if
you're doing a lot of activity you'll definitely feel like you need more hydration than normal.
so be sure to acclimatize a little bit before doing any physical activities one of the main
reasons why we visited puebla is because of the landscapes they're really beautiful and you can
see a volcano called volcano popo or Popocatépetl the actual pronunciation here: Popocatépetl
and it's so beautiful it gives it a majestic quality seeing it in the distance and framed by
churches in front but sometimes you can't see the volcano it's sometimes obscured by fog or
smog or clouds so be sure to stay a few days in puebla so that you can make sure you see
the volcano the time to visit would be winter or fall. spring and summer
can get very hot so it's something to note. and also while we were there in february
the weather changed dramatically from day to night. so daytime it was like summertime weather and then
nighttime people were wearing jackets. and speaking of dress people dressed more conservatively here
there's a lot of churches it's much more of a religious scene so i would definitely recommend
covering up a little bit more than your usual beach locations in mexico as for the culture
there are some unique things that we noticed Puebla doesn't have like the kind of Mexican party
scene that you see in like cancun or mazatlan or cabo it's more of a subdued culture more chill .
there are a lot of religious festivities. this is a city known for its 365 churches. that's actually
kind of a misnomer there aren't exactly 365 but someone in the past counted all the spires and
they're like how many do you think there are there must be 365 for every day of the year
but there are a lot and because of that you'll see a lot of religious ceremonies if you're here
on a sunday you'll likely see one so the city is also much more chill than mexico city there's not
as much traffic which i really appreciated it's easier to get around and you can definitely get
around by foot there are some wealthier areas too which i was really surprised there are some
areas within a golf course and a country club where there's multi-million dollar homes it's
interesting to see the spectrum of affluence in puebla and also it's very safe at night
i feel like this is really special to be walking around a historic district like this
at night and it's like you have the whole place to yourself
so you can get an amazing Michelin star quality dinner here for about thirty dollars per person
and that will include an entree an appetizer a drink and a dessert i was really surprised
to see how artistic the food is here just the presentation is really beyond
anything i've seen there are some really unique dishes here so for street food you can try the
chapulines these are crickets and they are boiled and fried and sometimes covered in different
spices and they are really high in protein and you'll even see them on pizza next is pulque
this is a hugely popular drink it is a fermented drink but it's very low in the alcohol it's kind
of similar to a kombucha but it's made from an agave so it has kind of like a stickiness almost
to it which is an interesting consistency and might take some getting used to. it has a lot of
medicinal qualities and when you drink it they actually say "buen povecho" instead of "salud"
because it's considered a food. some dishes that you definitely want to try number one is the mole
poblano. the mole here is out of this world it is so savory and so complex. the pollo adobo is also
really good if you're into something a little bit more chile based. one of the most famous dishes
that is synonymous with puebla is the Chile en nogada. i'm going to put a photo right here of
what that looks like and you can see the beautiful pomegranates on top. the thing to note about this
up freezing many of the ingredients so it doesn't taste as good as the hype
says it is. so if you want to try a really good Chile en nogada come here in September.
There are also a lot of unique ice creams that we noticed especially around a town called Atlixco
and so we noticed ice cream flavors such as vapor rub and cedar.
we just got Vaporub and cedar ice cream i can't believe i'm saying that
and the vapor rub actually kind of had that like numbing quality
but it's made out of a plant so if you're interested in trying something really unique this
is the place for sites you definitely want to take a side trip to Cantona if you're interested in
mexican archaeology and the mesoamerican culture this site is massive and there's
hardly anybody there you can see the pyramids and the sacrificial areas there's a lot of different
paths that lead throughout the site and there's many different ball courts over 20 ball ports
and there's actually a museum on site too so you can see some of the pottery and the obsidian tools
that they uncovered during this time period and it's amazing to see that they are almost like
they had just been created yesterday but they are thousands of years old one of the most interesting
side trips that we took was to cholula cholula like the salsa but not not associated with the
salsa so cholula has a beautiful church that's situated on the largest pyramid the pyramid
actually has not been fully excavated or uncovered which is really interesting and that's because
it would ruin the church on top which is a 16th century church built by the spanish so the church
on top you climb up a huge ramp to get to it and it's the church that you see as the icon of puebla
it's framed with volcano Popo in the background and it is absolutely gorgeous the view from up
above is also just extremely expansive there are some tunnels underneath the pyramid from
when an archaeologist was trying to excavate and learn about the the construct of the pyramid
and the tunnels were closed during our visit but they were said to be very creepy
so if you're interested in doing something unique check out the tunnels when they are open if you're
looking for something free to do in puebla check out Museo Amparo now this museum is free entry
and it has a beautiful terrace so aside from the collection of beautiful ancient treasures
check out the terrace get a coffee up there and check out the beautiful surroundings of puebla
this is talking about all the different churches that you can see from up here a lot of them are
from the early 1700s you can just see all the spires see if you can count 365 churches so mexico
is known for their pueblos magicos these are magical towns and they're noted for their unique
culture artisan crafts their history and their traditions and puebla has nine of these pueblos magicos.
they're really beautiful to walk around and in puebla they're known for their artisan craft
called talaveras and these are tiles so along the facades of the buildings you notice many
different unique tiles and beautiful ceramic work and i was photographing the different patterns and
some of them are made from natural colors you can see the buildings kind of glisten at night
and the tiles actually served a purpose because back in the day
they were used for cooking when they were cooking mole the tiles were really easy to clean
after preparing food and so they decided to extend the use to the facades and buildings to also clean
them as well and make it much more beautiful so it really adds a special quality to this town
something i haven't seen in other parts of mexico. i really enjoyed exploring Puebla. it wasn't quite
as touristic as other parts of mexico i felt like i was immersed in the culture. i would love to know
what your favorite things are about puebla and if you have a trip coming up put a comment down below
and i'll be sure to respond with some recommendations i hope that you enjoyed
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