Los fuertes de Loreto

We got up this morning...tired, sore, and a little sick from sleeping in a freezing cabin...and took the bus back to Cholula.

After class I got a personal tour of historic Puebla with Fili, a fourth year med student at UDLAP, and a couple of his friends. We saw los fuertes de Puebla, the forts, and toured el fuerte de Loreto, where the battle of Cinco de Mayo took place.

From the forts you could see most of Puebla and the governor's house, where helicopters were constantly coming and going, and policia with machine guns swarmed. This part of Puebla was completely different than anything I had seen. There was a huge park with modern artwork, a lake with paddle boats, a gift shop and Punta del Cielo coffee shop, a coliseum, and a business park. This is obviously where all the money in Puebla is. It seemed like a pretty good representation of Mexico in general. All of the money is concentrated in one place and in the hands of very few people. But, there was a nice view!

We also went to the cathedral in Puebla but they were having mass so I wasn't able to take pictures. It was the biggest building I have ever been in. And everything inside was gold. Quite impressive! I can't get over how old some of  these cathedrals are, yet what great shape they are still in. Mexico takes great pride in its cathedrals and keeps them in good shape. Later we had Chinese. It was nice to have Chinese again and nice to hang out with college students for a night.