Into the country and back in time

Yesterday, which was Monday, we came back from the mountain trip to wonderful, tropical Quetzalan, to Puebla, and immediately went by bus to cholula. Well despite others giving Cholula great reviews, we didn't really like it as much as other places... Seemed run down and shabby and empty. And catering to tourists. We did have a really good time walking around town especially in the evening, enjoying mexico's version of Halloween in which tiny children go around in costumes for Four Days having a very great time. They don't collect much, since halloween is new here, but are so excited and innocent. Also we had our first day of the dead markets in which many stalls of sugary figures of skulls, sheep, lambs, ducks, small plates of fake foods and chocolate are sold, along with day of the dead bread which is supposed to look like bones, and my favorite, the delicate paper cuts, with hilarious scenes of the dead having a good time. Also we had an amazingly good street breakfast this morning made by two brothers in law which was tamales with chocolate mole and chicken filling, tamales with cheese and strips of roast poblano chile, and a special tamale of corn meal dough with savory chicken or roast chile flavoring, wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. We also for lunch, yesterday, had a three course meal for three dollars which was a soup with crabmeat in a rich red savory broth followed by pesto or shrimp ceviche followed by fish grilled with either garlic, or a rich tamarind sauce, followed by gelato.

Well today we took a chance on another great field trip out of Puebla, to towns called Atlixco and Huaquechula, and this time we loved it. The countryside southwest of Puebla is so beautiful, green rolling hills with distant volcanos, and fields of golden marigolds, being harvested by the truck and container full, alfalfa, amaranth and sesame seed, and corn. There are small volcanic cones here and there. Many of the fields have small crosses out in them, and the whole place feels unite eerie, towns have very special ways of remembering the dead such as in the tiny village of Huaquechula where they set up 3 story white shrines full of angel figures. Our favorite stop of the day was the utterly charming town of Atlixco, with a central square filled with tropical trees and flowers like what we know of only by its Hawaiian nickname of the shark bite tree, with huge crowns of orange blossom. Atlixco has huge markets filled with women shopping for the fragrant flowers they need to build their altars, because custom says that the spirits of dead loved ones will only visit if the aromas entice them, so people were buying white stock, mock orange, fragrant Asian lilies, rosemary and other fragrant flowers by the huge armful. We took combis several times today and there was barely room for human beings because of the bunches of aromatic flowers.
In Atlixco, we ran into a group of pretty teenage girls, all dressed as Catrinas. Catrin and Catrina are famous cartoon figures well known in Mexico, rich skeletons dressed in costumes from the 1890s gilded age, she wears a long dress with a bustle and a veil and a fetching hat. Her husband is a skeleton who wears top hat and tails. And they have a little skeleton dog, too. A smiling happy skeleton dog.
So here was this cute group of fifteen or sixteen year olds, in whiteface, with long velvet dresses and hats and veils. Adorable. Giving away free samples of sweet bread next to the wrought iron "Italian coffee company" pergola in the main square next to the town's "carpet of flowers, " a block long picture of catrina made entirely of potted flowering plants, next to a government building with a rich 1870s facade and an immense fortress like cathedral from the 1670s. We really did not know what century we were in. It was all old world charm and we just sat and sipped cappuccinos and enjoyed ourselves in this lovely park with its tiled benches, wrought iron fences and cute children in little dracula costumes waving plastic Halloween pumpkin baskets.
Then we went into the Casa de Cultura, where local amateur artists had made about 30 paper mâché Catrinas with fanciful faces. There was even a tyrannosaurus Rex catrina! They all had great hats and dresses to complement the imaginative faces.

Tonight we're back in Puebla which is shiny with rain. But we got to see some great 'altars' which high school
Students made, honoring 1) ancient Mexico 2) John Lennon 3) science fiction writers 4) what's good and bad about Mexico today and 5) Steve jobs. All with photos, flowers, paper cutouts, candles and pictures carefully made with flower petals and seeds. And we got to dance in the street to Cumbia music.