Mexico: Visit to Popocatepetl, 1979

About midway between Mexico City and Puebla stand the twin volcanoes Ixtaccihuatl and Popocatepetl. Both of them are visible on a clear day looking east from Mexico City. We had an unexpected opportunity to visit that area shortly into our semester in Mexico.

One of our roommates had a car and offered to take us there. We piled into the car and drove due east from the capital. We took an expressway out of the city and then pulled off at a town called Cuautla. We went a little further and stopped at the town of Amecameca. This town was one of the first small Mexican towns I had seen, with its plaza and church, and one thing I liked a lot - slices of fresh coconut for sale. We took some time to walk into the church and look around, and as we were walking out, one boy looked at the other and said in Spanish as we were walking by, "They're gringos," which for some reason made me crack up.

Further along we went up along the winding mountain road until we reached a lodge close to the summit of Popocatepetl, where there were plenty of tourists. What I liked about the area was that you could walk around and find some little piles of snow on the ground. The top of the volcano was so close that it looked like you could take a stroll there, but we saw a group of mountain climbers returning from the summit in their full gear, reminding us that the climb was not as easy as it looked. In any case the view was spectacular.

Visit my webpage on Mexico at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/mexico.html

Other websites:

Caribbean Folk Arts Network (Caribfolk) - Caribbean cultural network: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caribfolk/

Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas (Latin American Cultural Roots) - a nonprofit organization I founded in 1991 that presents Latin American cultural shows, exhibits, and workshops: http://www.raicesculturales.org/

Raicesnews - Latin cultural events in the Philadelphia area: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/raicesnews

Mexico: On the heels of the Pope in Puebla, 1979

I had just arrived in Mexico City in mid-January 1979, the first time I had left the United States. I had studied Spanish for 5-1/2 years total but could barely speak it. The International Department at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City offered a series of day trips for us foreign students during the semester, and the first one that I recall was to Puebla. Shortly before, I had heard a radio broadcast in Spanish of Pope John Paul II's arrival in Mexico City and all I recall understanding were the words "The Pope" in Spanish: "El Papa....El Papa....El Papa...." and so on.

The school's trip took place roughly around the same time as the Pope's visit. I was taking in everything I saw. The signs for the toll road from Mexico City to Puebla had the words "Cuota" (meaning toll) on them. The road passed close to the twin volcanoes Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, which were about midway between Mexico City and Puebla. By the time we got to the downtown of Puebla, we noticed that it resembled a typical Mexican town much more than the bustling capital did.

My mind is foggy regarding the sequence of events, but among them were visiting Puebla's cathedral (pictured on the right) and its magnificent golden interior, eating at an outdoor cafe, observing the activity in the public square, walking down a few side streets, and seeing a blind man who was by the street playing guitar and hoping to get some coins from the bystanders.

See my webpage on Mexico at http://www.latinandcaribbeantravel.com/mexico.html