Day 4
On Sunday, Fernando, Juliana, Andrea, Natalia, Julia, and I drove a couple of hours out of Valle de Mexico to the towns of Puebla and Cholula. We must’ve left shortly after 10am and of course it took us a while to get out of town because of the insane traffic but once we did, a lot of the views were quite beautiful. A slew of poor shanty towns lined the road which were depressing to see and Fernando told us that minimum wage here is not only $110 per month but that that is wage for about 50% of the city’s population.
While Andrea and Natalia played in the back, the four adults got into a discussion about religion & Judaism. Julia talked about how Judaism is more of a culture and tradition for us than religion. People often identify themselves as their nationality: Italian or French or Japanese, but not as their religion. We identify ourselves as Jewish. Fernando told us that when he was living with my family, some of the things he had difficulty understanding were “Why the Jews? Why were they always the targets of persecution for so long? And why is there this pressure by parents for their children to marry Jewish?” Of course, these are not easy to questions to answer but we all have our theories. Julia believes we were persecuted because of the tight Jewish community, that we presented this cliquey and exclusive atmosphere and so other people didn’t understand us. I say take that sentiment, throw in the fact that the Jews supposedly killed Christ (which I think is a friggin’ joke) and that no matter what oppression has been thrown our way, we’ve always not only persevered but continued to hold many influential roles in high levels of society… there you have it. Fernando told me he had had an intense and engaging discussion on this topic with my Uncle Shimmy, who had fought in WWII, lost his arm in Anzio, and who has been deceased 20 years now. I was intrigued by what Fernando said because I barely remember my Uncle Shimmy yet he clearly left an indelible impression with Fernando.
And why do we marry each other? My answer lies with my memory of Grandma Bea who I think felt that we had lost so many of our own in the Holocaust that so few of us are left and we need to stay together so the religion doesn’t die out. Hey, I’m doing my part.
Puebla is a beautiful town. Much bigger than I expected – over 1 million people. But their zocalo is very pretty, quaint, and colorful. On Sunday, there were a lot of people outside enjoying the warm and sunny weather; it was quite the festive atmosphere. Many balloons were being sold about, so much that it almost dominated the setting. In the zocalo is a monstrous cathedral that we went inside to check out. Fernando claims thtis is the oldest cathedral in Latin America and that when the Pope comes to Mexico, he comes here. As with many churches in Europe, it was most impressive but it only reminded me of the ostentatious wealth and power that the church wielded over civilized society for so many hundreds of years. The unique element here was that a service was just commencing so we quietly observed as the organs played and the masses prayed. When we came out, Andrea and I walked around to the front so I could get a proper photo. Then, she & Natalia chased pigeons around the square.
As I get to know Andrea & Natalia better, I notice the differences in their character. Andrea is extraordinarily sweet and well behaved. She is a pleasure to be around and almost never complains about anything. Natalia on the other hand is a feisty little devil. She is so energetic and lively but almost relishes being mischievous and keeping her parents on their toes. Fernando & Julia joke that Natalia will turn their hair white. She’s more emotional than her older sister and cries more often. I love them both very much but Andrea’s my buddy.
We walked around Puebla a bit and stumbled into this building at which time this guy magically appeared and offered to play tour guide for the building. He told us some cool things, like how the building is almost 500 years old, how it used to be a military house for armies, and how it has since been transformed into a university. He even demonstrated the interesting contrast between Aztec and Spanish architecture blended together throughout the structure and showed us a secret passageway underneath that led to the church. But by this point, I was feeling dizzy and lightheaded. I had eaten two bowls of sugar cereal for breakfast and little else since. I had also been running around with the girls and my body was desperately screaming for substantial food to balance out my system. So the guide led us to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was tasty; I had a chicken with fries and michelada, which is a glass of beer with lemon juice & salt around its rim.
I felt better afterwards so we headed over to the market place for some shopping. I’m not much of a commercial consumer but Julia wanted something for the apartment. She found this mirror that was neat enough and with Juliana’s help, they were able to haggle the price down almost 50%. The market place like San Angel is jam packed with all sorts of very colorful and intricately decorated trinket – everything from blankets to plates to paintings to crosses to Virgin Marys. It was rather fascinating.
Because we had spent so much time at lunch, we didn’t have any time leftover to see Camino Real so we hopped back in the caravan and headed straight for Cholula which is only about fifteen minutes away. Cholula is much more of a rural town than Puebla but it is known for once having 365 churches, one for each day of the year. There are still 40 something left today. One in particular was one of the most unique churches I’d ever seen. The only comparison I could even remotely come up with was when my friend Arlen was younger, every square inch of his bedroom walls and ceiling was covered in posters, magazine covers, etc. You didn’t even know what color his wall was underneath. This church was completely filled up with three dimensional statues, designs, sculptures, etc. It was stunning and totally bizarre. Another church we briefly toured had been partially destroyed by the earthquake of 1999. And in the middle of this flat rural town is a big hill with a big yellow church on top. It turns out that there used to be a gigantic pyramid here but it was ruined by the Spaniards who proceeded to cover it over with dirt and grass, then build a church on top of it. Friggin’ Spaniards. Anyway, there’s a small tunnel at the bottom of the hill where you can go in and look at remnants of the pyramid. Juliana is claustrophobic and Natalia was napping so Fernando, Julia, Andrea, and I went in. A tour guide accompanied us and explained what we were seeing. He told us there were actually three pyramids built on top of one another by three different cultures at three different times. I can only remember the first one were the Olmecs. It was very cool to walk through and occasionally off to the side to see steps going up.
