Weblog: Mexico Day 1: Hanging out in Tonantzintla and Puebla
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I got up at 5:30 to make sure I wouldn't miss my bus and hung around for about an hour waiting for the ticket booth to open. It had rained the night before, and there were huge puddles in the bus waiting area. There were cleaners trying to empty out the water intro drains, basically using big squeegies. It took them more than half an hour, for just one puddle. Do they have to do this every time it rains? Wouldn't it be easier just to fix the drainage? One of those little contrasts that I always enjoy.
The bus ride out of Mexico city was all in the dark, unfortunately. It took a long time to get out of the city. Many cars very early in the morning on a Saturday. People drive really fast. Police cars with sirens on are ignored. Multiple traffic accidents slowed progress. Enjoyed seeing a row of six VW minibusses, and many VW bugs (known as Vochos).
As we passed over hills it was beginning to get light, revealing lovely scenery, and much corn. Got into the CAPU bus terminal in Puebla. They really know how to do bus terminals in Mexico. Had an airport-like feeling, in many ways. Tried out my phone card in a payphone but it didn't work. Turned out I just had to wait a few seconds. Silly me not being able to read Spanish. Waited about five minutes and Edward showed up to pick me up. We took the "scenic" route through Cholula to his place in Tonantzintla. I broke his passenger seat by moving it too far back.
The rest of the day is mostly a blur. We walked from Ed's place to "downtown" Tonantzinla and INAOE (where he it getting his astronomy PHD). Tonantzintla is kind of a dump, but INAOE is very pleasent. The corner store near INAOE sells awesome sandwiches (you know, incase you're ever there). We drove to Cholula to Ed's mechanic to get the car seat fixed. Somewhere on the way I saw painted on a building something that I interpreted as saying "Video and Botany". I have no idea if that's what it actually meant, but it's a phrase that I want to find a use for. It would make a good name for a web site, although I have no idea what I'd put there (videos of plants?).
We drove to Puebla and wandered around downtown, looking for something to do. Quite a pretty downtown, and very busy. There are supposed to be some spectacular churches, and indeed they are from outside, but they were all closed. We then met Natacha, Edward's girlfriend, and had dinner at a restaurant.
oh, I forgot to mention that on day one I also learned to drive standard at the INAOE parking lot. It went well, I only stalled once on my first attempt at hill starting.
Posted on Sat, 5 Oct 2020
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