Our Mexican Adventure

A month ago, we left our readers hanging with an unfinished account of our 2nd journey from Chicago to Playa del Carmen. We seemingly dropped off the universe between Mexico City and Puebla. Yet, nary a reader inquired as to our well-being. This either attests to our lack of readership or proves that our readers really suck. In either case, a sense of obligation probably stemming from our Catholic school days (and also so John will stop nagging Libby about it), compels us to finish our trip report.

So … Puebla. After our harrowing ride through Mexico City, we settled in for a much-needed 2 night break in Puebla, a large city in central Mexico which attracts both business and leisure visitors. Puebla’s historic center, a Unesco World Heritage Site, boasts beautifully preserved colonial architecture with many buildings sporting painted ceramic tiles (azulejos). A church rounds every corner (seriously!). Historically significant buildings are signposted with brief blurbs in Spanish and English. It was the perfect place for our aimless wanderings.


To fuel our walking tour, we snacked on perfect churros (check out La Churreria Antigua Catedral if you’re in town, but skip the greasy donuts), scrumptious baked goods (only rivaling those of Mexico’s Walmart bakeries — go ahead and laugh), and tacos arabe. Mmmm … tacos arabe. Mexico, and particularly Puebla, has a sizable Lebanese population. The Lebanese brought with them their practice of roasting meat on a vertical spit rotisserie. Adapted for pork (How do they explain that to Allah?), these have become very popular all over Mexico, only with regional differences. In the Yucatan Peninsula where we live, the pork is marinated with a local spice called achiote (or annatto), and called tacos al pastor. In central Mexico, tacos arabe are herbed pork on pan arabe, a cross between a tortilla and a pita. Served with steamed onions, these are mmm mmm good!

Unfortunately, our stay in Puebla ended on a sour note when we encountered one of Puebla’s “finest” on our way out of town. Considering we had done nothing wrong, we assumed we’d take care of this annoyance with a little “consideration”. Not so lucky. After an hour of intimidation tactics and seizure of John’s driver’s license, we finally gave in to his outrageous mordida demand. Only time we’ve been robbed in Mexico! Angered by the incident, we planned to file an official complaint and publish the guy’s name and badge number. However, a native Mexican and former resident of Mexico City dissuaded us from doing so as she believed it could come back to haunt us. Judging from recent Puebla news, she’s probably right.

We’ve probably said too much already. If you don’t hear from us soon, check the Puebla jails. Oh wait, we know you won’t bother.

Puebla Photos