Heading towards Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

We are now headed towards Tepoztlan.  Notice how lush and green everything is.  Also notice the wonderful fields and crops.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Before getting to a town we have no idea what to expect.  We don't know if it is big or small, flat or hilly, narrow or wide streets, etc.  See the man way up the street?  He is a policeman and he is walking towards us and waving frantically.  We stop and he asks where we are going and what we are doing.  He tells us we cannot go through town, we are too big.  He stops all traffic and helps us get turned around and we head back out of town.

As it turns out, the main streets are closed for a festival, but the main reason he will not let us come into town is it is extremely hilly and narrow, there is no way we would have fit.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

We find a great spot on the edge of town, beside the highway.  What a hoot to see his heard of cattle go by twice a day.  Only in Mexico!
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

The next day we hop on the scooters and head into Tepoztlan to see the town and everything that is going on with the arts festival.  We notice that there are a number of North Americans here, they must have come in for the festival.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Of course we visit the local cathedral.  It's Sunday, so there are lots of people around.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Aren't the painted colours beautiful and rich in tone?!
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

This lady is thinking... "Ok, I've got rings on my fingers...  now, I need some bells for my toes..."
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Now, this has got to be the smallest tienda (store) we have ever seen!!  Isn't it cute?
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

This is the town square and where the festival was set up.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

We got a kick out of these two elderly gentleman sitting on the bench chatting and looking at his most recent purchase.

Also, notice all the tarps in the background?  Those are the roofs over the market.  And by now you must know how much we love the markets, so we are off to the market now...
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Wow, look at all of those vibrant colours.  Also notice the grill and huge bowl of soup.  Makes our mouths water just looking at it.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Barry is a coffee drinker.  He just loves his coffee.  We have had a really hard time finding coffee beans in mainland Mexico.  Well, you can imagine what we did here.  We bought two kilos of freshly roasted express beans (he likes his coffee strong).  It's the best he's had had since leaving Canada and the US. 
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Isn't this gentleman dapper, we love his hat and his sandals.  Also notice the cobble stone street and the wonderful brooms.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

We keep forgetting to mentioned that in mainland Mexico, a lot of people keep their dogs up on their roofs.  I guess to alert them that people are near by, we are not sure.  On this particular roof you can see 3 dogs. 

Also, in this photo is one of the few remaining 'pulque' outlets in Mexico.  This traditional alcoholic beverage is said to be a bit on the raunchy side and will leave you with a nasty headache.  We passed...
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

This lady is probably taking some of her fruits or vegetables to sell at the street market.  The streets are closed to traffic for the festival.  However, it appears some locals have no choice but to sneak carefully along to get to their destination.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Does this church look old or what?  But isn't it incredibly beautiful?
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Imagine the time it took to paint this church, especially all the gold overlay.
 

Tepoztlan, Morelos, Mexico

Right beside where we were boondocking was a farm with all of these beautiful horses.  The man and his kids would let them out to run freely each day.  The problem was, that they ran on both sides and across the highway.  We would hold our breath sometimes and watch traffic slow to miss them, it was scary and sad.  However, it appeared the locals were quite accustomed to the cows and horses being all over the place, they would just put on their four way flashers and patiently wait for them to cross.
 

Heading towards Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Oh, sooo beautiful!  This is Popocatepetl, to the east of Mexico City, an active volcano 5452 meters (17,887 feet) high.  We would watch as the steam and clouds would gather at the top and then settle down and dissipate or move slowly away before building up again and so on.  It was so pretty to see as we were driving along the highway toward Cholula.
 

Heading towards Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

We are now in Cholula.  We liked it here so much, and there was so much to see here, that we stayed for two weeks!  Notice the church on the hill in the distance?
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This was such an neat spot.  Notice a few things...vendors at the base of the hill, stairs, on the right, leading up to a cathedral, and a huge hill...with a full pyramid inside of it!!
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

We decided today we would head up to the Cathedral and tomorrow we would come back and see the tunnels inside the pyramid and the archeological site.

So this is the stairs and road up to the cathedral...
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

At the top, it was a great spot to rest, to chat, to people watch and to see the incredible view over Cholula.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

The cathedral was spectacular!  And is still in use today, even though you have to walk up such a huge hill to get to it.  Please note that Mexican's are very religious, most of them are Catholics, and on Sundays we have noticed their churches are so full that the people spill out onto the street and side walks.  They stand for over an hour listening and praying outside of the church if they have to.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Absolutely stunning!!
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

..

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

We are now walking around the base of the pyramid and can see the church up on the top of the hill.  These children were having a wonderful time rolling down the hill.  They were so dizzy and laughing so hard they could barely stand up when they were done.

We would have joined them, but does anyone remember how itchy you get when rolling and playing in the grass?  No thanks :) .
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Off to the one side of the hill is the actual archeological site.  We will see that tomorrow along with the tunnels in the pyramid.  We can't wait!
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

As we were walking along, we came upon this this man and his artistic endeavors.  His tools are unusual and the effect is just beautiful.  He takes a piece of cardboard, puts a thin layer of glue on it, the uses a piece of dyed grass to outline his design, then fills it in with the other colours of dyed grasses.  All he has to do is put the section of grass on the glue, and break off what he does not need.  It is hard to describe, but the effect is so beautiful!  We could not resist and we purchased on of his smaller pieces.  We bought a little tiny one and it only cost about $3.  We have framed it and put it up on the wall.  The picture itself is only about two inches square, shown here larger than actual size.  All made with little pieces of dyed grasses...
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

The next day we head into the hill to see The Great Pyramid of Cholula or 'Pyramide Tepanapa'.  Now remember, this is IN the hill under the cathedral!  This series of tunnels have been excavated by archeologists over the last seventy years or so.  They knew there was a pyramid hidden under the hill so they tunneled in to look for it.  Once they reached a section of the pyramid, they would follow it along, digging as they went.  Of course, the pyramid is three dimensional so they tunneled up and down as well as to each side.  It is said that there are over 8 km's of tunnels at this time, we only saw a few hundred meters of this...
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Wow, we are in this tunnel with this metal floor heading into the pyramid.  Very cool!
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

From the main walkway there are side tunnels that lead upstairs and downstairs...
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This one goes down...
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This one goes up...
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This gives you an idea of the size of the tunnels.  You would not want to be claustrophobic in here.  Neither of us are, we had a great time!
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Once outside the tunnels, we entered the other section of the site.  This area has been excavated and we are able to roam around, looking at all there is to see.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Remember at one of the other archeological sites we said that they had these tablets in Spanish and English?  They explain what you were seeing and often include some of the history and dates.  We take pictures of every one of them, for future reference.  We have decided not to include them in the travel logs, the logs are already long enough.

However, we have inserted a few this time for you to see.  This one shows and talks about the "Patio de los Alteras", the Patio of the Alters.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This is one of the three alters in this section 'Patio of The Alters'...
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

and this is the second alter...

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

and finally, the third alter.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This was an interesting site, as it showed many different levels of building.  The people of one era would build on top of, or renovate, what an earlier era had built.  They would use different materials and you would see stairs seeming to lead to nowhere and exterior walls that did not match, etc.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This was a sacrificial pit and way down in the glassed in area, we saw a small skeleton and a number of offerings, like bowls, tools and other artifacts.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This next tablet and photo show the "Altar con Ofreda", which translates to 'Alter with Offering'.
 

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

This pyramid was just beautiful and had huge coloured blocks and a wonderful design along the outside edge, between the levels, almost like herringbone.  Very nice!

If you are on our Archeological Tour, follow this link to see the rest of Tepanapa...
 

Well, now you have experienced some more of the interior highlands of Mexico.  As we travel north it gets cooler and cooler.  We do not need to use our air conditioning as much and we sleep better at night.  Up in the mountains they have 'spring like' temperatures all year long.  We don't get much rain, however, each day around 5:00pm it does rain for an hour or so and then tapers off again. You can pretty much count on gorgeous sunny days and some rain each early evening.
 

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