Cholula

Cholula is a town not far from Puebla and it's definitely worth a visit. My Uber driver dropped me near the entrance of the arheological site where I bout my ticket to the museum and the pyramid. Hot day, cold mango with some flavoured salt as a perfect snack. The Great Pyramid of Cholula was not built beneath a natural hill, although it looks like it. The “hill” is the pyramid itself. On the pictures it's a very small part of it that was uncovered and researched my archeologists. Construction began around the 2nd century BC, and over time the structure was enlarged in multiple building phases, with new pyramidal layers built over earlier ones, eventually creating an enormous monument. After the site declined and was no longer maintained, the outer surfaces eroded and became covered with soil and vegetation, so the pyramid gradually came to resemble a natural hill. By the time the Spanish arrived, it no longer clearly looked like a pyramid, which is one reason a church was later built on top. A church on top of an ancient pyramid.

After my descent I waled to Zocalo and meandered in the courtyard of a Spanish convent: Ex-Convento de San Gabriel, one of the oldest colonial religious complexes in Mexico. It was founded by the Franciscans in 1529, built in the 16th century on the site of an earlier temple, and became an important center of early evangelization in central Mexico.

After a short break of chocolate ice cream and some music on Zocalo I meandered throug hte market and found an abuela serving some incredible lunch.