A Magical Feria...Day One

"Because when all is said and done, Mexico has a faint, physical scent of her own, as each human being has. And this is a curious, inexplicable scent, in which there are resin, perspiration and sunburned earth and urine among other things."...D. H. Lawrence, 'Mornings In Mexico', 1927 

Wherever we go in the world, we always try to seak out a party. We've been to Dewali in India, Independence Day in Malta, Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico and Galungan in Bali. While these are big, nationwide festivals, we also enjoy small town events. We are at one of those in the beautiful mountain town of Cuetzala, Mexico, a Pueblo Mágico, or Magic town. It is their Feria del Café y de la Huiipil. And also, the Feast of St. Francis, San Francisco, the town's patron saint.

So how do you begin an explanation of three of the most amazing days of all of our travels?  Well, I guess it's best to start at the beginning. 

Day One 

It's a three hour bus ride from Puebla to Cuetzalan through some beautiful countryside. The town is located on the side of a mountain and on a clear day you can see almost all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. When we were here three years ago, it was cloudy and rainy the whole time. But when we arrived this time there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was beautiful!

Cuetzalan is in a perfect location for growing coffee. Located about 2,000 feet above sea level, coffee has been grown here since the 19th Century. During this festival, coffee is celebrated in a few ways. First, there are several coffee booths in the plaza where coffee growers make you a cup, either espresso, fresh brewed or cafe de olla, made by boiling coffee in a pot, cowboy coffee. We've tried several and like Cafe Azul. 

There is also a big event in the main plaza, where they have erected a huge tent. There were mariachis, a local band of young people and the crowning of the little Coffee Princess, who is a girl about 5 years old or so. (Yesterday they'd selected the real coffee Princess, who is about 19).  While this was going on, behind us was a cowboy swinging his rope to attract us to a Charreada, or Mexican rodeo. 

There are many good restaurants here. For lunch we had a chicken with pipian verde. Pipian is made from seeds, usually pumpkin. We also had a very rich mole poblano, which usually has about 25 ingredients. 

For dinner we checked out Tripadvisor and found La Milagrosita, a restaurant which turned out to be fantastic. We shared an amazing salad made with seven different "hojas", or leaves, picked from their garden. Amy had a chicken in a mezcal reduction sauce and I had their version of itlacate, made with cecina of pork, which was smoked and was delicious. We washed it all down with some really good mezcal from Oaxaca. 

Here's our waiter explains all about mezcal...

So much for Day One. Going back down to,the square, I noticed the tall Voladores pole still had no ropes attached to it. Seeing the famous Voladores was a big reason we came here. Were they going to come to the feria?  I started to get worried.