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Puebla and the english teacher with a rainbow sweater
Tuesday, October 06, 2015Last last monday, I met an english teacher at BUAP while wandering the centro of Puebla before training. The first impression was, he's a homeless. He was an old man with grey beard, wore a rainbow tie dye sweater, carried this huge pink nike duffel and had a disneyland cap. (I just realised how gay this description sounds) I was ready to ignore him, but when he spoke, he spoke great english and which dangerous character would speak such good english in Puebla? So we talked for a while and I found out that he actually taught one of the guys from the Talaveros team. Okay, so he's legit. I let him walk with me, and he turned out to be the best tour guide ever.
We entered churches and he could explain everything, and it was fun! He's definitely not your typical Mexican. He behaves so much like an American, and yet is a true blue Mexican.
"The ceiling of this church is amazing"
"Look at those stained glass! You need to take a picture!"
"Here in Puebla, we can paint our house any colour"
"This is one of my favourite churches"
"Take a picture from this angle, this is what the national geographic photographer I brought, did"
"Look at that peacock, and the fountain! They have a fountain here!"
"This is the oldest town in Puebla"
"Look at the different materials they used in this mural"
"Look there's more murals, and the church in front. It's beautiful!"
And that's him in the photo, with the rainbow sweater
"Why do you think the artist painted the devil in the mural?"
"This is one of my favourite mural. And the artist left his name and information in it!"
So last Monday I met him again, and he brought his Mexican student and two other Americans (Kai and Ben) with him. They were on a trip, cycling from the north of Mexico all the way to Argentina. Like wow. They got picked up by Emilio on the streets too. So I figured his hobby is picking up random strangers from the streets of Puebla and bringing them around.
We started the day at this fantastic place that provides buffet at only $49 pesos. That's less than $5!!
Next was the world's smallest volcano. I was here the last time, but actually appreciated it more this time, with his explanation.
Don't we look like mighty explorers? ahaha
Afterwhich we went to one of the Zocalos in Cholula. I was ashamed to know that I have never visited this area, despite living here
Next stop was the pyramids, which I really dreaded cos the rain didn't look like it was stopping.
Apparently, this is the last remaining tile from the times the pyramid was built. Emilio pointed it out to us. I didn't notice this at all the first time I came up.
The church at the peak of the pyramid! It was under renovation the first time I visited and now it looks glorious inside. Too bad they don't allow for photos.
...and back to Puebla.
We passed by this hair salon that provide free cutting and hair dressing services, but it was all done by students of this beauty school. Emilio got us chatting with a girl who was waiting for her mum, while we waited for Ben to get his free haircut.
Unfortunately they had to repair their bikes after and we parted ways. Emilio then brought me to this fantastic museum.
Which had an incredible view at the roof.
We could see all the peaks of the churches in Puebla's centro.
And it's such a nice contrast with the wood, glass, and tiles.
The interior exhibits were equally great.
They had so many of these ancient statues preserved from god knows when.
I had to rush of to training after the museum, but no before being brought to the Arena.
Which I returned to at night with Erin and her brother, to catch the wrestling match.
It's a mix of theatre and wrestling which makes it not too gory and fun to watch. The supporters cheering on both sides of the stands added to the entertainment too.
It was great fun, so this Monday I met him again, and having promised one of his friends last week, to give a sharing to his class, I ended up sharing about Singapore to a class of 40 high school students. I was pretty nervous, but it ended up great.
The rest of the day was spent exploring town and discovering new things about Puebla/Mexico, that I would have never known without a local.
I panicked a tiny wee bit when I realised there were no computers or projectors for slides, but I guess impromptu worked out fine too.
Once again, the recommended angle at which the national geographic photographer took her photo
Shopping anyone?
I'll miss these wonderful parks
Map of Puebla. "I love maps" "Yo tambien."
One of many wonderful locals emilio introduced to me
Murals found in the language school. We need more mural artists in Singapore!
These market actually sells seafood!
My first plate at the buffet restaurant. Just $59 and in a beautiful setting too.
This is insane. These loots were from the factories in US and people just bring all these things back and sell it here for dirt cheap prices.
Take my money already!!
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