Puebla

We left Mexico City behind this morning. As we drove southeast, the flat city gave way to rolling farmland, then as we drove into higher altitude, pine forest.

We made a couple stops on the way. The first was at a very new and modern truck stop that had everything you'd find at your interstate Casey's or KwikStar, and more.

The second was at an older, less fancy gas stop where we got a good view of one of the two, 17,000 foot volcanoes that dominate the topography and mythology of central Mexico.

Puebla is an industrial city, and we passed many huge manufacturing plants on the way into town. The largest was a Volkswagen assembly plant that is the largest that company maintains outside of Germany. It seemed to go on for miles.

The heart of the city is colonial and largely well-preserved. There was no pre-colonial settlement here, so no ruins pre-dating the Spaniards. The cathedral rivals that of Mexico City, and the central plaza is beautiful.

Our tour leader took us on a brief orientation walk around the central plaza. We ate lunch at a cafe just across the street from the cathedral. The main course was a cemita, a sandwich local to this area that is generally filled with shredded pork, cheese, or other meat -- usually with avocado and spices. But our cemitas were pretty bland.

After finally getting to check into our hotel room (which is not nearly as fancy as the one in Mexico City) we returned to the plaza and boarded a tour bus. The bus took us around some of the main attractions with commentary in English.

It was a good overview. The big claim to fame here is that the fort on the hill above the city center was the location of the famous battle of "Cinco de Mayo" where Mexican forces defeated the French in 1862.

We just barely got back in time to accompany our tour leader on a walk to a churros shop, where we enjoyed a bag of sugary churros and a couple of hot chocolates for about $6.

The evening rainstorm hit just after we returned to the hotel, so we managed to stay dry.