The New York Times just published 36 Hours in Puebla, Mexico by travel writer Freda Moon, who did a similar feature about Oaxaca a few months ago. Freda listed many of my favorite things to do, see, visit, shop for and eat. Puebla is unique. The city is a blend of Spanish colonial with Moorish-Moslem influences brought from Spain during the conquest. This is evident in both architecture and food. In the early 1900’s, the city became a favorite of German immigrants, one reason Volkswagen selected Puebla as a manufacturing and assembly site in the 1960’s.
Here are a few extra tidbits of WHAT TO DO AND SEE IN PUEBLA to supplement Freda’s list:
1. Pan de Zacatlan: Relleno de Queso. I stumbled upon this authentic European-style bakery walking from Talavera Uriarte to Talavera Celia and after a meditative moment at The Rosary Chapel in Santo Domingo Church.
The pastries here are amazing. Most are stuffed with sweetened queso fresco and taste like eating a cheesecake empañada. The shop sells fresh cheesecakes, cheese, the flan ranks a 9+ in my book, and it’s OMG for the Pan de Elote. I sampled just about everything and my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I had the empañada con queso for dinner during a rain-thunder-lightening storm so strong that I didn’t want to leave my comfortable hotel room. The rest of the goody bag came back to the U.S. with me. My son and I ate what was left for breakfast in Long Beach, California, the next day.
Pan de Zacatlan, 4 Oriente No. 402, Puebla, Pue., Mexico, tel (222) 246 5676, pandezacatlan@hotmail.com. Open every day, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, Sundays and festivals, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
La Dueña, Pan de Zacatlan
Hungry for meat? Turn left out the door and a couple of doors down is a traditional restaurant serving lamb grilled on a spit with homemade pan Arabe (pita bread). These are all over town, a testimony to the influences of pre-Catholic Spain imported to Mexico.
2. Talavera Uriarte, 4 Poniente, No. 911. So much has been written about this venerable ceramics house that there’s not much left to say. Their customer service is impeccable, quality superb, and packing and shipping always reliable. Nothing ever arrives broken. Ask for Ana!
Maceta for my sister. Uriarte drilled a perfect drainage hole while I waited.
3. Talavera de las Americas, 7 Poniente 510 . Col. San Pedro Cholula, Cholula, Puebla. Tel. (222)261-0367. Their operation is a very small, family-owned business and they “bend over backwards” for the customer. It’s worth the visit to Cholula since the painting on the clay is very fine and detailed, the clay body is very light, and the work rivals it’s better known competitors at half the price! We have purchased here directly and enjoyed the experience.
4. Hotel Real Santander, 7 Oriente, No. 13, Puebla, two-blocks from the Zocalo. These are not rooms, they are spacious luxury suites with thick comforters and towels, and excellent beds, starting at 800 pesos a night in the off-season. Hotel Real Santander is a perfect, quiet hideaway between the Museo Amparo, the photography museum, and …
5. Across the street is La Quinta de San Antonio, my favorite antiques shop in Puebla. Contact owner Antonio Ramirex Priesca by email.
6. Churches on every corner, too numerous to list them all. When you get there, follow the city guide and map to explore. But, be certain to FIRST VISIT the Rosary Chapel at Santo Domingo Church. The gold and glitz dazzles.
Some of the sculpted heads here remind me of the interior carved wood and painted figures in the extraordinary indigenous church at Tonanzintla.
7. Talavera Celia. You can find this good quality DO4 Talavera ceramics at Celia’s Café. 5 Oriente 608, Centro Histórico Puebla, Puebla. C.P. 72000. Tel: 01 (222) 242 36 63, near the antiques district and weekend flea market.
A note on Talavera Ceramics: there are only 10 authorized DO4 makers of traditional talavera ceramics in Puebla, Mexico. More talavera is produced here than is Spain where the antique methods have almost died out. I list only the best quality talavera ceramics makers on this blog and you can be assured that they all produce DO4 highest quality. I would steer you away from buying from Talavera Armando — their customer service and shipping is poor and their products arrive broken.
On a personal note: I will usually book a flight in and out of Mexico City, take the ADO bus from Oaxaca to Puebla, spend a night or two, and capture the colonial charm that makes Puebla so special. Then, I will go to the Estrella Roja bus station on 4 Poniente to buy and board a luxury Saab Scania bus complete with WiFi heading to the Benito Juarez International Airport for my flight to the U.S.
Oaxaca Organic Indigo Blue Dye — Añil or Teñido de Reserva
Indigo blue color is derived from an organic botanical plant that grows on the coast of Oaxaca in the village of Santiago Niltepec near Tehuantepec on the Isthmus. Do you hear the añil in the name? It takes 200 kilograms of plant material to end up with 1 kilogram of the hardened rock of blue that has dried from the fermented paste. It’s what Levi Strauss used to make the original blue jeans during the California Gold Rush and even today, a bit of natural organic product is used to “stimulate” the chemical color of blue that was developed in 1904 during the Industrial Revolution.
Eric Chavez Santiago, the Museo Textil de Oaxaca‘s director of education, keeps a stock pot of indigo going in his dye kitchen almost constantly. Eric says it can be refreshed with fructose crystalline. He recently took a workshop from French dye master Michel Garcia who uses mango skins to activate the dye chemistry.
During a three-hour indigo dye workshop at the museum that I took from Eric, I learned that indigo has been in use for thousands of years in Egypt, Africa and India. It was used by the Mayans, Incas and Zapotecs of Oaxaca! It is grown in South Carolina, U.S.A. and most of the world’s production comes from San Salvador. A small production, boutique crop, only 100 kg of añil is produced each year in Oaxaca state, but the market is growing as more local people are using natural dyes in their woven textiles. They only produce the indigo in Niltepec. They don’t dye fabric with it there.
It is tricky dyeing with indigo. Añil oxydizes in water and becomes yellow green. It is very important to gently immerse what you want to dye into the dye bath so the indigo is not disturbed by movement. No stirring allowed! When the cotton or silk or wool is removed from the dye bath, the fabric color is yellow green and changes to blue as soon as it meets the air. Multiple dippings are required to get a deep, intense blue and the indigo must not be “tired,” according to Eric.
During today’s workshop, we create shibori and tritik designs on the white cotton cloth we bring to dye. We have not actually created the dye bath — it is already prepared for us! Eric Chavez Santiago offers this indigo dye workshop once or twice each month at the textile museum. Check the museum’s calendar for exact dates. The cost is 50 pesos and you bring your own fabric to dye. Very fun.
See my next post for more about Oaxacan indigo.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Oaxaca rug weaving and natural dyes, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged anil, blogsherpa, blue, class, indigo, Mexico, natural dyes, Oaxaca, organic, shibori, tritik, workshop