El Carmen

We expected an easy ride to Puebla as we had ~500 m of elevation to drop over a distance we thought would be about 90 km. However the road rolled up and down and made us feel like we were hardly moving. Then we were denied access to a toll road for the first time in Mexico so had to take the longer free route through Tlaxcala and into Puebla on hectic highway 121. We breathed a collective sigh of relief once we made it within the city limits and traffic slowed to a crawl as we rode through a busy market to Omar's house. We had met and connected with Omar's cousin Omar (yes both of the same name) in coastal State Park campgrounds of Oregon and California as he and his friend Kish were riding from border to border of the US west coast. As he knew we'd be heading through central Mexico, Omar mentioned that he had family in Puebla if we found ourselves passing through the city. Despite being within Puebla city limits, Omar's family's home felt like a jungle in a rural village, with lots of trees and plants in the garden surrounding the house, in addition to 9 dogs and 20 birds! As soon as we arrived we were seated and given water to relax (or as they say here descansar = de tire yourself). We chatted with Omar and his mother Alicia, then later Omar took Karl, Francois and Holly out on the town (Helene wasn't feeling well, so stayed in to relax). We searched for tacos arabes - without luck due to the late hour - but got to see the city all lit up at nighttime and the squares still full of people hanging out on a warm Friday night. Puebla's architecture is quite different from the other cities we have visited and we enjoyed wandering around and later getting a view of the city from a viewpoint at the Zona Histórica de Los Fuertes.Read more