Our final days in Mexico

It’s hard to believe, but in just a few hours we’ll be boarding a plane and heading back to the United States. We have a 20-hour layover in L.A. – we’ll be spending it with my wonderful Uncle Ron and Aunt Pam – and arrive back in Washington on Wednesday evening.

Yesterday we woke up in Puebla and did a little more sight-seeing. Our first stop was the Taller Uriarte Talavera, a pottery workshop. Talavera is a type of majolica earthenware which is glazed and fired at very high temperatures. The style originally came from Spain, but has become uniquely Pueblan. We received a tour of the factory from a man whose family has worked in the factory all 200 years it has been in existence.

The pottery is all hand-made and the process very labor-intensive. It takes approximately six months to make a piece. The tiles we’ve seen all over the buildings are Talavera. The tour was very interesting and the pottery is just beautiful.

Next we went to Puebla’s Catedral, which has three organs and a large octagonal main altar. From here we wandered back through the zocalo, were Selso got a much-needed shoe-shine. Back at the hotel, we packed up and then hit the road.

We drove about 15 miles to Cholula, a city that is home to the largest pyramid ever built in Mesoamerica. Unfortunately, most of it is still buried and a church sits on top of the mound.

We walked up to the hill to the church first – it is very pretty.

Next we walked through the inside of the pyramid. The kids loved this! About five miles of tunnels have been dug through the pyramid, but only a small portion of that is accessible to visitors. It was kind of spooky and we all thought it would make a great haunted house. After exiting the tunnel, we were able to see some other parts of the ruins that have been excavated.

By now it was 3:30 p.m., so we made our way to Mexico City. We spent last night in a hotel very near to where we stayed our first week here. It almost felt like coming home when we saw the familiar Parque Alameda and Palacio Bellas Artes.

This morning we couldn’t resist breakfast at Café El Popular (I had an amazing omelet there our first week that I’ve been dreaming about since) and one last look at the Diego Rivera murals at the Palacio Nacional.

And so we say, Adios Mexico! We’ve had a great time and look forward to coming back someday!