The Heart of Mexico

You may be surprised I am describing Puebla as the heart of Mexico and I have some bigger in mind.  Until this trip I had only visited the coastal resorts of Mexico and while they are nice, I feel they cater to the tourist.  Not a criticism but a reality which makes financial sense.  In contrast, my experience in Puebla surprised me because of the warmth and friendliness of the people and the beauty of the interior of Mexico.

Without exception, everyone I spent time with couldn’t have been friendlier.  I was lucky to be working with a group of local students at one of the several universities and their enthusiasm and sense of ambition to do good was very evident, it was very exciting.  I see a generation who have high expectations for their country in future and who are rolling up their sleeves to contribute.

The bigger surprise was the architecture and culture of central Mexico.  The food was excellent and writing this reminds me of the bakeries; it was very hard to walk past that sweet bakery smell without stepping to in to try or buy something.  When I see a sign for a Panaderia in Portland, I will be certain to drop in.

My last post talked about the architecture in the churches and while not as ornate, the street architecture was every bit as interesting and eye catching to me.  I sense many of these streets have changed little in the past hundred years if you took away the cars.  We stopped by a liquor store which looked the same as a photograph taken of the interior in the early 1900’s.  This wasn’t the norm but it isn’t very hard to imagine what it was like.

I have shared some pictures of the city of Puebla: