Looking for lodging from Cholula to Puebla

Jan 17

 Today we were to meet an American woman who teaches at the university to talk about what it is like to live here. She never showed up at Starbucks. We did meet with a realtor who took us to three apartments in the Cholula area. She also answered questions we had about renting here. The apartments were small and the prices ranged from 7,000 pesos to 15,000 pesos. They were all the same size and it is the same as everywhere. It is all about location, location, location. One of the apartments was newer and had better finishes such as tile floors as opposed to laminate floors. It was good to start to get a feel for what is available and what it costs. Two were unfurnished and one was furnished in student motif. Next week Pilar, the realtor, will show us a large furnished apartment that is within our range and it is in Puebla. I looked on line last night and was discouraged by the prices in San Miguel de Allende (SMA) which is where we go next. Three friends recommended we reconsider SMA because we had discounted it initially. Fortunately we have two American contacts we can meet with there. They have lived there a number of years. We have a number of questions to ask in order to help us make a decision. There is a large expat community there and we see that as more of a minus than a plus. I know, we are somewhat weird.

One of the things I like about Cholula is complete strangers greet us with a ‘buenos dias’ and a smile. I love that. I also love how colorful Mexico is. The houses are painted every cheerful color you can imagine. We have been eating a lot of chicken and pork as they are main stables. That isn’t our usual fare so we frequently eat salads. We are lucky as they have a good variety of fresh ingredients.

Jan 18

Our missing American mystery was solved today. Ron thought he was making a meeting date with her and it turned out it was the realtor and we later changed the time with the realtor. Today we connected with Pat McCoy who is the American and she will join us for dinner on Tuesday.

We played tourist today and visited the local museo which highlighted the history of the area with wonderful examples of tools and pottery. Right across the street was the entrance to the base of the pyramid so we did that as well. On Sunday many museums and archeological sites are free so the place had lots of Mexican tourists. We walked single file through a very narrow and low tunnel under the pyramid along with many others. It was claustrophobic for me as at times we had to stop as people looked to the left or right when there were other tunnels to view. The tunnels were dug during archeological excavations. There are apparently 8 km of tunnels but thank goodness we only went through a fraction of that length. Then we walked the grounds of the excavated ruins. This is apparently the largest pyramid base in the world. One hallmark of the Spanish conquistadors was that they destroyed New World temples and built Catholic churches on top of the ruins or with the material from the ruins. This was no exception. A Catholic Church sits perched high above the city atop what was once a pyramid.

As we were leaving the site there were a number of vendors for tourists. We stopped to get a small bag of chili peanuts and handed the vendor 50 pesos, about $3.40 US. The woman did not give us any change. A similar thing happened when we visited the church on top but we got two bags: one of peanuts and one of pumpkin seeds.  I have no doubt that this is not the going rate. But until we learn the numbers better or the vendor slow down their speach so we can understand when we ask how much, we will know the cost this may happen. Serves us right for not knowing our Spanish better.

After being tourists, we walked into San Andreas, the other half of Cholula and ate at Karma Bagels. I had a great veggie sandwich while Ron had a chicken sandwich.

Walking to Starbucks we saw a very nice looking motel but were surprised to see it rented rooms by the hour. Upon closer observation we noticed that each unit had a closed covered garage, then we had the ‘aha’. In Japan these are called ‘love motels’. So you can rent a room for a few hours for a tryst with your paramour complete with a Jacuzzi, etc. Your identity is protected because your car is out of sight. In some cases this might be handy for an illicit affair while in other cases it may be you live in close quarters with other family members and this motel allows you a more intimate space with your partner.

Speaking of Starbucks, it is the only one here in Cholula and it is in a small shopping center with a Burger King, a sushi restaurant and McDonalds is across the street.

Jan 20

Yesterday we visited Puebla as tourists and had fun. First we visited a Catholic Church that the tourist brochure listed as ‘the 8^th wonder of the world’. Well in my view it would deserve that moniker because it was so over the top with late Baroque architecture and an overabundance of gold leaf. See photos. Afterwards we went to the tourist office and found out a bit more about taking a bus to SMA. 

Then we went to a museo which had an interesting mix of old and new: Meso-American antiquities and contemporary art. We ate lunch on their roof top garden where we had a 360 degree panorama of the downtown with beautiful church domes and colonial buildings. It was sunny as it appears it always is here. I think it must be dry season. It was a lovely experience. Afterwards we went through the museum shop and were gaga over the beautiful choices on offer. We used great restraint and bought only one small item, a small beautiful glass pitcher ideal for salad dressing.

After a short rest in the beautiful Puebla Zocalo (town square), we headed for home via the bus and rested before heading out to buy granola at an interesting shop downtown which carries a few specialty food items, beautiful, unique clothing including shoes and Talavera ceramics. I couldn’t resist a lovely shawl that ties over one shoulder with a tasseled tie. I am hopeful that it can be worn with the silk outfit I had made in Thailand and that I shipped home. We then tried to find a restaurant we had spied earlier in the week. It was closed. We came back to the hotel and rested briefly before heading out to an Italian place our realtor Pilar recommended. But alas it was closed too as it is Monday, so we wandered over to a place where last week we had a good fresh salad and ordered…another good fresh salad.

Jan 21

Today we met with our realtor who showed us four places: three apartments and one house. The first two apartments were fully furnished and serviced: maid service twice a week, complete furnishings including all needed bed and kitchen linens, fully furnished kitchen, etc. Literally you could move in and only bring clothes. It was surprisingly well done although not to our taste as it was way modern but tasteful. The third apartment can be rented furnished or unfurnished and we really liked it. It had real wood floors, faced south with lots of big windows, had a good flow through the house, big kitchen, a laundry room and a tiny outdoor space to hang laundry. It had three bedrooms and a tiny office area. The rooms were a good size and the living room/dining area was one large room. The building is older and could use a paint job and the location is urban. The building is 15 floors and we would be in the first floor with 24 hour security. It has secure parking under the building. There is also a large party space for any tenant in the building. The only thing it lacked that we preferred was a small outdoor space like a patio.

Last we looked at a five bedroom house with a small yard and a roof top terrace. It was our second choice. It had been configured to rent to university students so the furniture looked like student issue, and it needed a paint job throughout the inside. I am sure we would have no problem getting it painted but the furniture is another issue. We were encouraged today as we saw some possibilities for ourselves.

We ate lunch at a high end mall that made us realize just how big and prosperous Puebla is. One of the larger department stores had a separate store that featured specialty foods, think Whole Foods or other gourmet places. We haven’t been to any malls before now and really have only seen the downtown core of Cholula and Puebla so it was good to see some of the suburban areas and see that anything we would want we could find here. Pilar told us the movie theaters show some American films in English with Spanish subtitles. That’s a real plus for us as we love to go to films. I am so glad we are taking the time to explore the area and we are most appreciative of the time Pilar is taking with us. We plan to meet again tomorrow to see two more places.