Craig and Amy in the Land of the Mixteca: Happy to be back in Puebla again

When we arrived at the bus services in the Mexico City airport, it was so pleasant to be reacquainted with the qualities of Mexican courtesy I enjoy so much. One of the guys checking our luggage said, to his buddy, "hey! Oso! (meaning, "bear!"), these two go together." Mexicans are so kind to each other with nicknames, and sweet teasing. When hours later (it was a late rush hour in Mexico City, so getting to Puebla took 3 hours, not 2) we arrived at our little hotel, the front desk guys were similarly so sweet. And when we made our way through warm but dark midnight streets to the covered arcades that line Puebla's very beatiful main square, or Zócalo, it was a warmhearted matron who took us in hand, helped us get dishes, wine, beer, news of the Giants' game, etc all settled in, well past 11:45, even though we knew at least part of her staff was ready to close up. What a sweetie!

Anyway I know Mexican courtesy isn't that unusual and not everyone has it. But we keep being the recipients. And the entire town, on Thursday, was in an especially pensive mood, because it's a university type town, lots of young students here were taking part in little meetings and sing-ins about the disappeared students over in Guerrero state... Quite far from here really... But not at all in these guys hearts. The sang of their grief they wrote placards posted photos. It was really moving.

The touristic things we have been doing have been quite nice, Craig's captured them well! Pueblo has a lot of charm and is such a blend of beautiful architectural styles and its food is such a blend of major cuisine styles.

But in this trip especially, the sweetest aspect is just being back in a familiar, pleasant, and comfortable world. Little things like the sweet chattering of birds that you hear in this part of the world every morning... The constant pleasantries people exchange... The comfort of really great waiters and waitresses who really seem interested in your having a great time and don't rush you... Well, it's really nice. A great way to enjoy a period of time with Craig that has echoes of great trips here, and of past great trips other places. Great cheap AND great refined cuisine, very majestic ruins, fine arts, comfy beds, cheap and plentiful public transportation, makes for a quality of relaxation and rejuvenation thats pretty hard to come by up where we live. Also, sharing it with our friends, Jake and Laurie, who are a big reason we are together.

Craig, Jake and Laurie - the 'hill' behind them is actually the worlds biggest pyramid in total mass, Cholula it just hasn't been uncovered yet but apparently there are plans now to do this