"There is in the nature of every man, I firmly believe, a longing to see and know the strange places of the world. Life imprisons us all in its coil of circumstance, and the dreams of romance that color boyhood are forgotten, but they do not die. They stir at the sight of a white-sailed ship beating out to the wide sea or the smell of tarred rope on a blackened wharf. The touch of the cool little breeze that rises when the stars come out will waken them again. Somewhere over the rim of the world lies romance, and every heart yearns to go find it.” Frederick O’Brien, “White Shadows in the South Seas”, 1919
High in the mountains of the state of Puebla, Mexico, is a beautiful small village called Cuetzalan. It is a "Pueblo Magico", or Magic Town. There are about 100 of these Pueblo Magicos all over Mexico. The Pueblo Magico program is an initiative started by the Mexican government to "promote a series of small towns that offer visitors a 'magical' experience - by reason of their natural beauty, cultural riches or historical relevance."
Cuetzalan certainly has all three of these. Situated high in the mountains, it overlooks a vast, beautiful area, stretching down to the Veracruz coast. The streets are very steep, since it was built on the side of a hill. The history goes way back to the 16th Century and there is a lot of culture here. In fact, we are coming to the Fiesta de San Francisco, a celebration for Cuetzalan's patron saint that is celebrated on October 4th. This is also the Fiesta de Cafe y Huipiles. There is a lot of coffee grown here and they also celebrate the indigenous culture, with a pageant crowning the Queen of the Huipiles, which is always a local indigenous woman who not only is beautiful, but speaks the old language of Nahuatl fluently. Nahuatl was (and is) the language of the Aztecs.
Another highlight are the Voladores, a beautiful 'dance' of five men (and occasionally women) on top of a 100 foot wooden pole. While one man sits on top of the pole playing a haunting tune on a flute, the other four tie ropes on their ankles and 'fly' off the pole, head down, twisting slowly down to the ground. It's an ancient ritual, dating back to the Aztecs and is a sight to behold.
After the festival we will try to get to some other Pueblo Magicos and then on to Teotihucan, the ancient city about 40 kms outside Mexico City. The city is thought to have been started around 100 BC and was abandoned around 550 AD. So by the time of the Aztecs in the 15th Century, it was already an old, abandoned site and they thought it was the City of the Gods.
So as always, you are invited to come on along on our adventure as we continue our search together, this time in the mountains of Puebla, Mexico, for the beautiful, colorful, unique, different, bizarre, tasty and fun!
