The Spanish architect designer Gaudi would have loved it here. Handpainted, shiny glazed high fire tile work is de rigeur in Puebla. Building exteriors, courtyards, archways and floors are covered in tile or embellished with tile inlays. There is a Moorish quality to this town that is fascinating. As I look skyward, I see onion domes that top church chapels covered in tiles. There are tall church bell towers that look like the Medieval turrets of Tuscany villages. Streets are paved in quarry stone. Hotel floors are a mix of red, yellow or black onyx and the polished stone of millions of feet treading back and forth over centuries. The brass and copper studded doors, the fanciful grillwork, the Zocalo full of balloon vendors, dancing children, strolling couples, and courting novios add a remarkable flavor to the soup of Puebla de Los Angeles. This Zocalo is smaller than the one in Oaxaca (or so it seems) but its Jacaranda trees are 100 feet tall giving it a sense of greater majesty. A central fountain is reminiscent of Rome, complete with cherubs spouting water.
This morning we left the hotel at 8:30 a.m. and took a taxi to the Zocalo where we ate a great buffet breakfast for $80 pesos at the Hotel Royalty. This included fresh fruit (papaya, watermelon, pineapple), a made to order omelet (I chose two cheeses and onions), yoghurt, breakfast breads (one tasted like my marzipan wedding cake), fresh avocado, tortillas, and chips. Other options included sausage, scrambled eggs, cereal, chilaquiles, and pancakes. Or, one could order off the standard menu. Then, the walking began.
My friend Sam (short for Frances, go figure) and her husband Tom collect Talavera tile. They had been to Puebla before and this trip was a mission to search for more tile in their favorite La Reina pattern. I had no plan but to tag along. Ha, ha. We headed away from the Zocalo, stopping first at the tourism center to get a better map, then made our way down Av. Juan de Palafox y Mendoza to the El Parian district in the neighborhood of 4 Oriente and 6 Norte. This is Talavera Heaven, or at least one corner of it. Actually, there is one family of potters that pretty much populates the two to three block area. I learned that there are different qualities of the ceramics. The authentic “certified” Talavera is made in the traditional process. Then there is a variety called Rustica and another variety called Moderna. The difference has to do with the type of clay used, the overglaze, and the kiln firing process. Naturally, the traditional “certified” is more expensive and it looks like Majolica, but it is dishwasher safe and ovenproof. The mark next to the signature on the authentic Talavera is “DO4.” This is what you should look for on the bottom of the “foot” of the piece. So, imagine 100 stalls lining both sides of four blocks, all selling decorated tile. I’m a visual person but this was sensory overload. I managed to make a selection of two small plates that I intend to give as gifts. But as we were about to sit down for a respite and a bowl of homemade sopa de verduras (all fresh vegetables in a rich, spicy chicken tomato broth), I got swept into another shop by two very engaging young men, muy guapo. And, I spotted one of my best finds of the day — a lovely painted piece in soft colors of lemon, green and blue, a veritable plate full of lemons hanging in verdant foliage. This one is definitely a keeper. So, now my backpack has two plates in it and my handwoven plastic shopping bag from the Teotitlan market contains another plate, plus my traveling paraphernalia: scarf, jacket for when it gets cold later, camera, dictionary, notebook to record momentary thoughts and expenditures, plus bottled water. Sam is now laden with bowls and backsplash tiles. Tom carries another bundle, plus they both are sporting cameras with big lenses.
Our quest now is Avenida de Los Dulces. We are going in circles or so it seems, heading back toward the Zocalo, then making a turn onto Av. 5 de Mayo, passing the Iglesia Santo Domingo ( yes, we’ve been by here before), then going another block maybe, and making a right turn onto this street that is lined with candy shops — at least three blocks of candy shops many also selling high quality Talavera tile. Oh, no. We stop again, in and out, back and forth across the street, plying our way through mountains of dulces and then Sam and Tom find the ultimate Talavera tile shop where they place and order to ship back to Columbus, Ohio. Meanwhile, I meander across the street to discover another incredible find of extraordinary handpainted DO4 mugs, bargain (getting a 10 percent discuenta), and now find myself hauling around what feels like 50 pounds of ceramics.
By now, it’s time for comida and we haul our weary bodies into the Hotel Colonial restaurant in a restored centuries old building, across from the Autonomous University of Puebla, and settle into an elegantly comfortable dining room with great service and a fixed price menu of $90 pesos for a five course meal. The chicken mole poblano, for which Puebla is famous, was spectacular, rich and spicy. I did pass on the dessert, keeping in mind that I wanted another chocolate and nut coated chocolate bar at the nieveria on the Zocalo. After a stop through the municipal museum to see a black and white photography exhibit of Puebla circus life circa 1915, and a stroll through the balloon filled Zocalo, we indeed settled in for our evening “meal” of Italian Coffee Company coffee, ice cream and people watching before heading back to the hotel.
Such is life in Puebla.
To read more about the history of Talavera tile, go to:
http://gomexico.about.com/od/shoppinghandicrafts/p/talavera.htm
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Four Days in Puebla: Part Three or Stairmaster to the Sky
Packing it in once again, this third day in Puebla began with breakfast once again at Hotel Royalty (yes, we like it) and then a stroll around the Zocalo toward the Museo Amparo. I had arranged with our taxi driver earlier this morning to pick us up at the Zocalo at 1 p.m. and take us to Cholula where there is an archeological site and some remarkable churches. The Museo Amparo has an outstanding pre-Hispanic art collection, stone carvings, Mayan stele, ceramics, jewelry, funerary objects, and traditional European 17th and 18th century home furnishings fitting the Spanish nobility that settled the city. A lovely gift shop of Mexican handcrafts, a coffee shop/cafe, and a retail shop for Talavera de la Reyna that makes produces some of the highest quality pottery in town can also be found. A Diego Rivera portrait of Sra. Amparo graces the lobby space of what was once her majestic home. An exhibit of the work of contemporary Mexican artist Betsabee Romero captured our attention, especially the tires carved in Aztec patterns and then used to print designs on cloth. We spent about two hours browsing through the galleries. At noon, Sam and Tom decided to stroll around the Zocalo while I caught a taxi to the Uriarte Talavera gallery and factory at 4 Poniente 911 at Calle 11 Norte. I promised to be back at the Zocalo by 1 p.m. for our taxi trip to Cholula and I was!
I wanted to see for myself if there was indeed a distinction in quality between the work we saw yesterday strolling the Parian district and this pottery house that has been touted as one of the best in Puebla. Indeed, Uriarte Talavera is of exceptional quality and also carries the mark DO4. And, the prices reflect this. Pieces of equivalent size were double the cost of what we saw previously. But, I discovered the two rooms with the “seconds” which were marked down 50 percent from the original price. Okay, there were flaws. The glazes weren’t even or ran and blurred or skipped. Maybe the foot was imperfect or a piece had a missing lid. In hunting through the piles of plates, soup bowls, sinks, serving pieces, demitasse cups and mugs, I managed to find some treasures where the flaws were barely noticeable if at all. I found one lovely large globe handsomely painted in varying shades of deep and light blue, the glazes thick and juicy that distinguish fine Talavera, and made the purchase. Original price, 650 pesos, sold to me for 325 pesos. Now, it was 12:45 p.m. and I stepped out in front of the shop, hopped in a taxi seconds later, and easily made it to the Zocalo for the 1 p.m. reunion with minutes to spare.
We had negotiated a 90 pesos taxi fare to Cholula and it took a good 30 minutes to get there. We are finding that taxi fares in Puebla are more reasonable than in Oaxaca, but we have seen very few European visitors during this trip, also unlike Oaxaca, where there is a mix of travelers from the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Cholula’s main attraction is the Mixteca archeological site that was once a pyramid like those we see in Oaxaca however, without the fine detail. However, this one is unique in that there are tunnels running up, down and sideways throughout the interior of this structure. Walking through the tunnel after paying the 35 pesos admission fee made me wonder what would happen if there was an earthquake (Puebla has frequent quakes). The walls are narrow and the ceilings are low, shaped like a pointed vault. We twisted and snaked through the underground passageways for at least 30-40 minutes before seeing daylight.
The other attraction is the extraordinary church built over this pyramid, something the Spanish did repeatedly to lure indigenous people to the new religion. To get there is like taking a stairmaster to the sky. I must have stopped 10 times to catch my breath as I climbed nearly vertical stairs to the top. But the effort was well worth it. The gilded sanctuary is remarkable and behind it lies another smaller sanctuary (don’t miss it, it’s a gem) totally covered in gold leaf with stained glass windows of cherubs. The 360 degree views of Puebla and the valley are spectacular from this vantage point far above the town, and I could see the curl of steam coming out from the Popo volcano in the not too far distance. I spent a good 45 minutes at the top before going down. Otherwise, Cholula is a small market town, as much as I could see, with vendors selling candies, Guatemalan textiles, knock-off Talavera, and cheap jewelry. Worth a half a day if you have the time.
Our taxi driver returned to pick us up exactly at 5:30 p.m. as arranged, and by 6:00 p.m. we were sitting under the arcade of the Hotel Royalty. Corona for Tom, margarita for Sam, and a mojito for me. We each had our own huge bowl of guacamole and chips for dinner, and now adequately zonked, we headed back to the hotel for R&R.
The commotion, hubbub, honking, cacaphony of music, noise, traffic and rush of people is beginning to overwhelm me, and I’m now ready to get back to Teotitlan del Valle for a shiatsu massage with Annie, the comfort of the Zapotec countryside and village life. Four days in Puebla is definitely enough for me.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture
Tagged Cholula, Mexico, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Talavera de la Reyna, Uriarte talavera