Arriving at the outskirts of Puebla, we thought we were in for much of the same as we had already seen. But Puebla is absolutely amazing - the most beautiful place yet, and definately more of the Mexico you see represented in pictures.

We arrived after 6pm on Friday, so just headed out to find some dinner, but we could already appreciate the great vibe and beautiful buildings. Puebla is famous for its churches and thousands of colonial buildings decorated with painted ceramic tiles. It´s a very Spanish city (as in Spain)and you can definately notice that are less native Mexican people around. Perhaps as a result there seems to be a lot less people begging and just standing around doing nothing.

We have been glad that we are here over a weekend as we have seen some great little markets and there are heaps of people out and about. On Saturday we set out to explore, glad that Puebla isn´t as steep as Taxco! Only 50m or so down the road from our hostel is the Templo de Santo Domingo. Fantastic as most buildings are here. We walked around the zocalo and checked out the Catedral. For some reason there were heaps of girls around dressed in white wedding-type dresses. We thought it maybe had something to do with the Catholic church/communion? We´ve seen some horrendous dresses in some shop windows - the "meringue" dresses are definately "in" here! We were taking photos like crazy - the buildings are gorgeous and every few steps you take there´s another one! Sadly, I think we are starting to resemble those annoying Asian tourists...

We found a cool little shop that sold beautiful ceramics and also some gorgeous tin and tile mirrors. I was extatic - I love them, and almost passed out when I saw how cheap they were! Needless to say I bought one, and I´m already planning on returning to Puebla as my last stop before I fly home, so I can chuck out all my worn out clothing and stock up! We also went to the Museum Amparo which had some really great artifacts in another beautifil building. Unfortunately for us, people still speak very little English here, so we had some trouble ordering our lunch. A troop of giggling Spanish boys, but we managed in the end!

Later that afternoon we stumbled accross the Barrio del Artista area where lots of artists have studios. We walked through a cool jewelry market, and found a funky little restaurant where we had PIZZA! Yum!

This morning we walked down to the Boulevard Heroes Del 5 de Mayo and caught a bus up to the Cerro de Guadalupe, a big hiltop park with a few museums and other attractions. The park is past it´s prime, but we had a good giggle at the 300+ people dancing in a square. They were led by one very energetic little man - got some footage on video, hilarious! We walked around the Fuerte de Guadalupe, a run down but still very interesting fort. It wasn´t open yet, but we could walk through the ruins which was pretty cool. You are supposed to be able to see 2 volcanoes from the top, but there was so much smog, we could have been looking at a hill instead! We caught the bus back again (sadly the dancing had stopped) and got off at the Teatro Principal. Back again in the artists area we ambled along little streets filled with ceramics shops and MORE mirrors! I nearly hiperventilated! There was one full-length mirror on a stand for a bit over $100. Maybe I can get one back on the plane...

We also had yummy icypoles made from real fruit - basically a frozen mango on a stick (for about 70c). Delish! There were heaps of markets around again, and both Lise and I succumbed to some jewelry. I bought a beautiful handmade necklace, but will prob have to wait till I get back to Melbourne at the end of the year before I´ll have an occasion to wear it!

It started raining and hailing really hard this afternoon, so I´m going to spend it trying to figure out where to go next! Oh what a tough life! We´re heading back to Mexico City tomorrow morning, and Lise flies back on Tuesday so it´s solo from then on for me!

I managed to buy a Mexican sim card this afternoon - I´ll e-mail the number out soon. It was probably the most challenging transaction yet as the guy was not very friendly! In the end he resorted to a language translation program on the Internet to figure out that I was trying to ask how to recharge the card! I´m going to see if I can find a cool spot to hang for a week or two to learn some Spanish. Preferably near a nice beach! It´s amazing how quickly you pick up key words and how effective sign language can be! I´ll be a "Charades" champ when I get back!

Adios!