San Pedro Cholula, Puebla, a small village in Mexico, is an eternal touristic attraction. Especially for backpackers that know it’s cheap, colorful and a gastronomic experience.
I grew up in Pueblo Mágico, spanish for Magical Village, a campaign that allowed places in Mexico to conserve traditions and cultural places, to be restored. Here are 11 memories of what it was like growing up in San Pedro Cholula, Puebla.
If you’re from San Pedro Cholula, Puebla there’s no better word to break the ice than pyramid. We have the greatest pyramid in the world. There are taller constructions, but Tlachihualtepetl, which means hand-made mountain, is by far the largest. It is believed to have started in the year 300 BC and its construction ended almost 1000 years after.
When Spanish conquerors arrived to Cholula, they saw this huge temple that meant only one thing for their mission of Christianization: an obstacle. They covered the whole pyramid and built a church on top of it. Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, which means Our Lady of Remedies, is a spot used as a reference for any address. It is the most significant spot in the whole village. Pyramid was always the place for a cultural hang out and a breath-taking sight of Cholula and part of the city of Puebla.
Whoever climbs the pyramid, gets to see the concrete area surrounded by colorful arcs and a park. This has been the main meeting point for cholultecas. This ranges from families that go for an ice cream, to train rides with Disney characters, or a pony ride and a souvenir picture of the moment. Lovers can meet in one of the many cafés, some with live music on Saturday evening. There are also Mexican cuisines with lovely sunshine while you listen to ambulant vendors sell arts and crafts.
As most villages in Mexico, San Pedro Cholula, Puebla has a patron feast almost every week. We have hundreds of churches and each saint has a celebration. The last days of August to September 16th, there’s a huge fair. The fair has games and tons of sweet or spicy snacks. Horror houses and carnival games were the main stars until concerts came around. On the last day, there’s a traditional trueque, which represents the ancient business model of Cholultecas, trading corn for beans or flowers.
As a small village, there’s no safe place. You will literally find everyone on their way to the grocery store, from the neighbor to your best friend. Even if you don’t plan it, you’ll be at the same red light every day.
In the early 2000s, there was a McDonald’s at the end of a mini high way from Puebla’s capital to Cholula. I remember going in first grade, and everybody was talking about it. If you didn’t have your birthday party in this place, you weren’t cool. The most amazing thing about this McDonald’s was the playground with an extreme slide, at least it was for a bunch of 6-year-olds. There was also a jungle themed mural which had a rain forest style.
Unlike the Christmas bazaars in Europe, Cholula has an almost tropical style. From the beginning of December, you can find a lot of plastic huts that offer handmade Xmas decorations like figures for the nativity scene, lights, reindeer hats and of course, food. All of this is located at the park next to the zocalo. There’s a popular beverage that’s base is chocolate but cold and made with water instead of milk. It’s called champurrado and half of it is foam.
If something defines the beauty of a colorful village, is the main avenue in Cholula, full with handcrafts shops, ice cream stores, snacks or miniature galleries. Since 2012, all the frontages have been restored and to keep the colonial air, no iron doors are allowed, only colonial style ironworks/smithy.
Most Mexican markets are all the same. Some have witches that will charge hundreds of dollars for an “amarre” (a black magic way of keeping someone close and in love), some specialize in piñatas, others in gastronomical curiosities and some others in pets. This one has a bit of everything, from chicken and ducks to sell as pets, cemitas (a typical burger-like from Puebla) and toy shops. One of the most unique seasons is winter, when you can smell the wood sellers from miles away outside of the market, making chimneys and houses. It is the whole Xmas experience.
There are literally hundreds of churches in Cholula, more than one per street, and each is dedicated to a particular Saint of catholicism. This means that for every church, there’s a patronal festivity. Closed streets, gigantic colorful flower arrangements carried by tens of pick ups in caravan. Remember Michael Corleone’s wedding in Sicily? A band just like that one and the same amount of people, of course, once they arrive to the “godfather” of the saint. They enjoy rice and mole for lunch and maybe even some mezcal.
Puebla is famous for its gastronomy, even considered Word Heritage for its history, variety, and of course, deliciousness. And desserts could be the exception; milk based candies, dry fruits, digestive based sweet creams and more, that’s the taste of our sunday walks, having a candy store in almost every corner, it’s almost impossible not to fall for these pieces of heaven. Although typical candies are sold in most parts of the country, Puebla has a candy dedicated street downtown, and Cholula shares the tradition of its neighbor city. No wonder why we have so many dentists in our beautiful village, to keep the sweet traditions alive.
Cholula is less than 30 miles from Popocatépetl, an active volcano that people from Puebla call Don Goyo due to an old legend about a man that claimed to be the spirit of the volcano and made an apparition every time there was an eruption coming, to keep the villagers calmed. A few weeks before Christmas, there was a security alert to evacuate the surrounding areas of the volcano, due to activity and a possible eruption. On the 18th, people from Cholula had the safest and closest view of the event, which happens to be a unique spectacle for a whole generation.
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