(silvena) Dear friends, we have been kind of lazy our last two days in Merida, just waking up late after nights of about 35 degrees and several merciless battles with mosquitoes :), having a cup of coffee which here is alwasy mixed with some sugar and spices, and wondering around town aimlessly. Yesterday we left the blissful small Merida and flew back to Mexico City, after which we took a bus to Puebla (2hrs away). The views from the bus climbing up the hills south of Mexico City towards the plateau where Mexico City is built, were quite something. On the way to Puebla, we circiled two volcanoes, one of which still somewhat active but all we saw was a little bit of smoke coming out of it and mixing with the clouds which covered its top.

(silvena) Puebla turned out to be a beautiful place. A huge city of around 1.3 million, its historical center still has the feeling of a peaceful and frinedly but lively small town (at least during the day, because last night when we arrived it was kind of deserted). Unlike Merida, here we could feel the actual daily normal life of people (there are not many tourists and people are not agressively trying to sell you anything under the sky), we mingled with hundreds of school kids in their cute uniforms, on their way out of school, who seemed to be in absolutely no hurry to go home and were just sitting around a huge plaza and enjoying themselves playing tricks and running away from the two strange gringos (us). They were absolutely staring at our feet because we were wearing sandals and here since it is 20 degrees or so people are in their winter jackets. Puebla has soooo many churches, more than any other city i know, on literally every corner, painted in pastel colors and beautifully ornamented in the famous alfenique style (tiles of somewhat arabic design placed among red bricks).

(silvena) One of the most important things in Puebla is its famous cuisine and sauses (moles) which we already had a chance to try! Until next time! Bye bye! :)

(michal) I would like to devote my today’s entry to two things that really impressed me in Mexico and changed my opinion about it in its favor, things that usually suck in our countries: taxis and buses.

(michal) First of all: the taxis – something that in such "highly developed countries" like Poland :)) is the biggest pain in the ass. Usually once you land in the Okecie airport in Warsaw you run away for a safer bus unless you are caught by one of the taxi drivers that “offers” you a nice sightseeing tour around Warsaw, charging you with some astronomic rate per kilometer, and don’t even try to escape, discuss or bargain with him afterwards!

Well in Mexico things look much more different! Once you arrive in the airport or a bus station, you queue for a special taxi check (fixed price!) and hand it in to the licenced driver afterwards! So the driver doesn’t even think about taking you through some detours to gain more money because he will always get the same amount of money! Fantastic! Why not yet implemented in Europe? :)

(michal) The second thing concerns the buses – apart from planes, this is the main means of communication, (well, trains almost do not exist here!). As for the bus stations they more or less look like airports! They are huge! And more over they are clean, well lit, not stinky and with a nice service (not like my beloved bus station in Starogard Gdanski :(( ). You can get with your bus everywhere, roads are pretty safe and drivers are not as crazy as the legends say. There are plenty of different categories of buses: second, first and de luxe one. Even though we are on the short budget we decided to try out the deluxe bus from Mexico City to Puebla (2h, 12$, only 3 $ more than second class bus) – I have never traveled with a better bus! Perfect airco, super comfy bus, kind service, additional luggage service, security check, snacks and drinks on board, movies and different channels with music! This rocks !

More things comings soon from Oaxaca! (ua-ha-ca)

pa pa,
m & s