Sheryl Update

On Wednesday night after we got back from Cholula, we went to a restaurant called Nuni. It was a highly rated restaurant with a tasting menu. I normally don’t like this because as I like to say, “I eat with gusto rather than precision.”

In other words, I scarf my food down so fast I don’t notice the flavors. But, this place was not expensive and the menu looked good.

First course was a watermelon and beet salad. Delicious.

Second course for me was ceviche. The little yellow things were not fish eggs but little fruits. So good.

Since Jeff is allergic to fish he had a duck empanada. Also amazing.

The restaurant was so small we sat right next to the chef. After each course Jeff would say in perfect Spanish something like, “Chef, this dish is exquisite. The flavors are astounding.”

I would point to my plate and say in Spanish “Good.”

This, was the fanciest tamale I’ve ever eaten. Really good.

Pictures of steak never look good. But this was delicious.

Mango passionfruit flan. Looked weird but incredible.

Chocolate mouse with ice cream and mushrooms. Yes I know that sounds bad. But it was amazing.

On Thursday night we decided to go out to a different restaurant and just get appetizers and salad.

We ordered the guacamole without grasshoppers but the waiter talked us into getting them on the side to try. Jeff went first. He was feeling pretty confident.

As you can probably tell, he didn’t like them a whole lot.

I was disgusted just looking at the dish of them but I went next and tried them anyway.

They weren’t bad. Sort of tasted like anchovies. I then tried them with chips and guacamole and the grasshoppers. I have to say, it was a tasty combo. Although that was enough. I won’t be chowing down a bag of them anytime soon.

On Wednesday we went to the nearby town of Cholula. There are the remains of an Aztec pyramid and then a church way up top. The plan was to start at the pyramid base and if we had energy walk up to the church.

Before we started we saw a lot of indigenous women selling handicrafts.

We should have known it was going to be confusing when we bought tickets. At first the ticket office was closed. When I asked around they said it was because the ticke seller had to go get lunch.

When he cane back I could only see or talk to him through this little hole.

Before we could see the pyramid we had to go through the museum

This statue seemed to know we were going to be tricked.We started up the hill which was not signed. We kept going up and up never seeing any pyramid.

Finally we got to the church which was beautiful, but was not a pyramid.

Jeff seems a lot less bothered that we just scaled a mountain by mistake. The church was beautiful. They didn’t allow photos inside which is good because I would post 30.

If it wasn’t cloudy you would see a volcano between the statues.

Also a very ornate door.

We walked back down the hill and asked around until we finally found what was left of the pyramid. It was interesting but woulds have been more so if we had not just walked up a very high hill.

There was a part you could climb which Jeff did. On his way down I mentally reviewed our medical insurance policy.

He made it down the 1500 year old steps without problems. Then it was on to tacos.

On Tuesday we went to the Parque Ecological for a nature walk. The park was great with trails and lots to see.

This aviary looked cool but it was closed. Or we couldn’t find the entrance. It could have been either.

It’s really dry here, but these flowers were popping up which was really pretty.

After our walk, we went to this mini mart for water. The sales lady was so nice and excited to talk to us in Spanish. She told us that her daughter was in dental school in Baja and then would come back to Puebla to be a dentist. She said , “I’ll show you. ” she opened a door at the back of her store and voila a dentist office.

It was all ready for her daughter to start her dental practice at the back of the mini mart.

Next we went to the market to buy Dragon Druit. We red that it’s a super fruit abd good for inflammation. In Panama one piece of fruit was $4. Here it’s in season and you could get 2 pounds for the same price. We tried the green ones but bought the red ones.

There were also a lot of flower vendors with amazing bouquets. We enjoyed the market but left before we got to the gross meat section

On Monday Jeff and I started the day at the cathedral. Jeff wasn’t as into the church as I was so he waited outside. When I came outside I saw him talking to a group of people. I assumed it must be a cult.

It turns out it was a group of nursing students that needed to give a presentation in English for their school.

After they gave us their presentation they took our vitals. We both passed.

After we wanted to find a place to see the square from above. It was 100% not our fault that McDonald’s had the best rooftop terrace.

After a quarter pounder and fries I had a Spanish lesson. Then later in the day we went out for a local drink made from raisins with goat cheese.

For dinner we went to this restaurant in a beautiful setting. It was a restored house from the 1600’s.

It was so gorgeous inside.

Unfortunately they must have spent all their budget on the design and had nothing left for food or waiters. It wasn’t good. So we left and went to a to another place with amazing food.

This is a duck empanada with mole sauce. Amazing.

On Sunday we walked around town and just relaxed and took in the sights.

Our hotel has a great breakfast included with our room. One thing I was not expecting was Jello. They love Jello in Mexico. I had a language mishap when getting coffee. They’re was a carafe of coffee but I wanted the waiter to pour it for me. I was afraid of spilling it. I should have said:

tengo miedo – I have fear, or I’m afraid.

unfortunately I said:

tengo mierda – I have shit.

I realized it right away but didn’t know how to explain it so I just took my coffee and ran.

After breakfast we walked around and I tried not to take photos of every building. We heard music and stumbled on a orchestra.

We also stumbled upon a fried grasshopper saleslady.

We saw several more vendors. I guess they are in season. We didn’t try them.

Puebla is famous for their pottery. I may need to buy some. It would be a nice addition to our storage locker.

For dinner we went to a Mezcalería which is like a wine bar but for Mezcal. Mezcal is like tequila but made from different kinds of agave. We told the bartenders what we liked in flavors and they brought us different ones to try. I don’t like Mezcal but they found one that I liked.

Almost every restaurant we go to I order chips and guacamole. I skipped it here. You can see why when you read the menu.

We got these instead. They did not have any grasshoppers in them.

Jeff and I got up on Saturday and packed our suitcases. They were so full everything would fall out if we opened them. We each put on the clothes we left out to wear on the bus and realized we matched.

There was no time to open our suitcases and repack so we had to just be nerdy gringos and match for the day.

The bus was like boarding a plane. We checked our luggage at a counter, went through a metal detector, and watched as our luggage was loaded.

Everyone got a bottle of water as they entered.

We didn’t match as much sitting side by side.

We watched the movie Shang-Chi and the Ledgend of the Ten Rings. It was so weird to watch a movie that took place in China dubbed in Spanish.

Three hours later we made it to Puebla. Thus bus was great. Lots of legroom, AC and cheap, only the equivalent of $10 USD.

On Friday we went to the neighborhood of Polanco. This is the upscale part of town with outdoor cafes and luxury shopping.

Even here on these tree lines streets traffic was bad. But it didn’t have the noise level of other areas.

Even the street performers were classy.

We strolled around, had lunch and then went to a park.

The ultra rich don’t wear tee shirts from Walmart and baseball caps from Under Armor but it was fun to pretend.

On Thursday Jeff and I went to the Aztec Temple which is right in the middle of town. It turns out Aztec is a term made up by a German in the 1800’s. The Mexican term is mexica.

The site is huge, seven city blocks.

And it’s truly in the middle of town. Here’s a wall of stone skulls with a church from the 1500’s behind it.

They were really into skulls.

As if a wall of carved stone skulls wasn’t creepy enough, they also did this.

The attached museum housed all the things found at the site which is good because the museum is air conditioned.

This stone tablet was so big you needed to be up.2 floors top see it.

And I think they must have invented the recorder we all played in third grade.

The green instrument is made of stone but looks exactly the same.

This guy might have invented corn on the cob

This was something to put an offering in. I love the face on it.

And of course one that looks really pissed off.

Then it was back to the apartment to have a Spanish lesson.

On Wednesday I woke up with some digestive issues. Jeff worked in the morning while I slept and made repeated trips to the bathroom.

By the afternoon I thought I was better. From the look of the photo of me waiting for the Uber perhaps not.

But we got to the museum and started with the famous Frida Kahlo painting above. I was feeling pretty good. There was a lot of amazing art to see.

But there were some bathroom breaks.

I spent an unusually long time looking at this painting because there was a bench in front of it and I needed to rest.

By the time we got to the sculpture garden I was feeling better.

And then less better.

And then lean on Jeff, time to go better.

But even though I spent almost as much time in the bathroom as in the galleries I’m so glad we went. It was a beautiful museum.

After we got back I took another nap and felt OK.

On Tuesday we went to the Anthropology Museum which was truly amazing. It was so big we only made it through half of it.

Before we even entered we saw this dance being performed. Or, some lost a contact.

We started on the second floor and were not impressed. The above was ok but we weren’t blown away. We were confused until we went back down to floor one.

The below statue was giving me the side eye.

I think we all know if I was an artisan in this time which one below would be mine.

Jeff thought the one on the left might have been a kid’s artwork.

The above one looks disgusted.

I think the above statue has a bird on his head but it also looks like a faucet.

This is my ancient role model. Not just sitting down but half reclining.

After a few hours I was done. If there had been beds in this tomb I would have taken a nap.

And then we went out to lunch. The restaurant at the museum was really good.