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Exit Oaxaca. Taxi to busterminal and ADO-bus to Puebla and another taxi to Hotel Colonial.

Hotel Colonial is one of the most fancy places I have ever stayed at. But that's almost natural when the hostess of the place who has replied to my e-mails is called Maria Luisa o de Montellano del Puerto. There's a certain smell of highclass in that name, and so is the hotel. It used to be a jesuit-convent, but a Mr. Coverrubias turned it into a hotel for the rich at the end of 1800-hundred. Nowadays anyone can stay here. 470 pesos a night is not much, but there's still a Bellboy ready to carry my backpack to room 327.

Then for my first look at Puebla. It's a town with app. 1 mio. people, and plenty of beautiful houses and other buildings. The first thing I do is visiting a photo-shop to see if anything can be done to help my camera. He looks worried - and understands that it's a serious situation. He can fix it, but it will take him 4 days. There's no meaning in that, so instead I buy myself a cheap instamatic for the rest of my trip.

As anywhere else they take care of their values here in Puebla. Outside banks, jewelryshops etc, there's always an armed guard. But this is the first place where I see a guy like this one. Leaning up against the wall with his cut huting rifle hanging over his shoulder. Looked pretty cool.

There's also plenty of police in this country. There's a policeofficer directing the traffic in almost every intersection in the city-centres. Always men - except i Puebla. Here you can see a young woman directing the traffic like an orchestra, using her whistle and wearing a huge golden sheriff-star on her chest.

Colletivo to Cholula. Cholula is 7 km. west of Puebla, and here you find the second-highest pyramid in the world. Only the Keops-pyramide in Egypt is bigger. The Sun-pyramid in Teotihuacán is no. 3.

But Piramide Tepanaga in Cholula has got a problem. It's all covered by earth, so you really can't see it's a pyramid - it looks just like a normal hill. And they have built a church on the top, so you can't just dig it out.

But you can walk through a tunnel, and its ok - it is a pyramid. They have also uncovered parts of it, but honestly - it's hard to imagine the whole thing as a pyramid. I walk throgh the tunnel, look at the uncovered parts and ends my visit by climbing the "hill" to the very neat church Nuestra Senora de los Remedios.

Back to Puebla, where I spend the rest of the afternoon in the streets and the evening in front of the telly watching Copa Libertadores.

Friday, March 12'th

Gotta move from my great hotel. Colonial is booked so I move to the nearby Hotel Palace. Less spectaculat, but absolutely usefull.

I spend this day as a true sightseeing-day. First it Barrio del Artista, a very nice artist-area. Local artists has got their own small studios where the work and sell their art. Then I visit at Teatro Principal. This theatre was built in 1759, but burned down and was rebuilt in the 1930's. At the theatre I gatecrash a children-performance.

There's also time for a little shopping and a visit to the small Museo de la Revolucion, where the revolutionary Serdán-family was fighting to last man in 1940. You can see the bullet-holes in the walls and inside a crashed mirror is still hanging on the wall.

Later another museum the Museo Amparo. This one is also with old things from the Mexican past. This museum has got that nice feature that every text is translated into english.

On to Plazuela de los Sapos - a nice neighbourhood with nice houses. Now it's 2 pm and time for lunch at the hotel.

But I'm not done yet. On to the San Francisco-church and a lovely park beside. From there to the incredible beautifull Santa Domingo church - and when you are at it - why not also check out the Catedral. 

By the way - it's almost always a good idea to take a look at the local churches around here. They are very nice. A lot of Mexicans come to the churches, just for a small visit, so there's always some kind of life inside. If there's not a service, then there are people praying or some that maybe just go inside - make the sign of the cross - and go back out again. 

The last visit this day is the Casa de la Cultura. They've got a very old library, but it's closed for renovation. Instead i watch some nice photo-exhibitions at the casa.

There's half a day to kill before my return-trip starts. I used this on walking around Puebla and another visit to Casa de la Cultura, where some folklore-dancers and some chess-players are performing. On the way back to the hotel I meet one of the many shoe-shiners around here. He looks at my very old Adidas-shoes - shakes his head - and says "no" - and walks on. Now I think it's time to go home.

At 2 it's a taxi to CAPU, the local busterminal. And then an Estrella Roja bus directly to Mexico City's airport. 

Check-in procedures is very slow due to high security. But we do get under way at 9 pm - as planned - and for once I get a good nights sleep on the plane across the atlantic ocean.