Puebla, Day One

Well, I got here, as I am often fond of saying.  It wasn´t at all difficult.  I had an overpriced but delicious breakfast at La Pause then returned to my guest house to finish packing and clear away all my personal detritus, to make it a bit nicer for the good person cleaning my room.  I return there in two weeks.  I had a half hour wait for my taxi and passed the time seated in the patio where I began a new drawing and chatted with the owner´s graddaughter, a girl of about four.  She likes animals and drawing and showed me some of her drawings.  Seems like a very bright, very honest kind of kid.  Funny, I am not into kids but I tend to take them more one by one, the way I take adults.  The cab driver was really nice and is quite used to gringo passengers practicing their Spanish with him.  In the bus terminal I had a hell of a time getting into the pay washroom with my luggage because the turnstyle is very narrow and twice, on the way in and out the same gentleman helped pass my backpack over the turnstyle for me.  Note to self: next time pee before you get in the cab.
     The sprawl that is Mexico City is something undescribable and must already be the stuff of legend.  On the outskirts there are many really sad looking slums.  The landscape towards Puebla is quite lovely with lots of open fields and pine forests and hills.  Entering Puebla itself was a bit of a sad experience.  As with Mexico City Puebla appears to be ringed with slums and even as the congenial cabdriver drove me to my hotel a lot of it seemed rough and hardscrabble till we moved towards the city centre.
     The city itself has breathtakingly beautiful heritage architecture.  As soon as I checked into my hotel I went out to find a vegetarian restauant, following the cab driver´s directions.  It is on a rather elegant boulevard called Avenida Juarez and goes uphill.  I passed the restaurant.  It is called la Zanahoria (or the Carrot.  Go figure!).  It seemed a little early to eat so I continued walking uphill determined to stop only once I reached a white domed church at the top of the hill.  The church itself is closed but there is a memorial plaza, called the National Flag Memorial with a huge Mexican flag waving above.  It is at the top of the hill and I think it might be one of the highest points in Puebla.  There was a youth group of maybe a dozen or more teenagers there playing a game with multi-colour hoops.  One of them was also carrying a large wooden cross shrouded on top by what seemed like sack cloth.
     On the way back down the hill I stopped for a bite in la Zanahoria.  The food was delicious but the ambience crowded and so noisy that I had to wear earplugs.  I´m still going back.  The food is good, economical and I don´t mind wearing earplugs while eating.  From there I walked towards the zocalo and visited the cathedral.  There was a mass going on and I didn´t want to stay because it was already getting dark and I am new here so not really wanting to get lost at night.  The crowds on the pedestrian mal were incredible and this kind of reminds me of just why I usually don't go out Saturday evenings while I´m in Mexico.