Mexico: Pyramids, Churches, Grasshoppers and Volcanoes
What do Pyramids, Churches, Grasshoppers and Volcanoes have in common?
Let’s head to Cholula in Central Mexico to find out… we’d been staying in Puebla, just six miles west of this historically important colonial town.
Cholula is best known for ‘The Great Pyramid’, the ‘Puffing Volcanoes’ and 40 Churches…
The City of Cholula – a colourful, vibrant and happening place…
Cholula’s ‘claim to fame’ on the world archaeology map, is the world’s largest pyramid by volume. In its hey-day it measured 1,476 feet across and 213 feet high; thus by volume it is larger than Ceops in Egypt.
In it’s prime, Cholula was the second largest city in Mexico after Tenochtitlan (the site where Mexico City is now).
During the Spanish Conquest, Hernan Cortes ordered a massacre of the Cholulans for coluding with Montezuma. He ordered their pyramids destroyed and catholic churches built in their place.
As the legend goes, Cortes then ordered the construction of 365 churches in Cholula – one for each day of the year. In actual fact, the city has only about 40 which is still a lot considering there’s only 100,000 people live there.
Although Cholula is an easy day trip from Puebla, it’s worth considering using Cholula as a base to explore the area, there’s lots to see.
Staying in Cholula
We had originally booked a place in Cholula for this very reason but that all ended badly when we were kicked out for being such ‘bad guests’.
Yes really, can you imagine that?
Some people are just weird and this guy was weird. I should have smelled a rat when he told me to just tell any taxi driver that we were staying at ‘Enrique’s place’
I thought, Oh well maybe he is well known.
First problem – this was not the case and no one at the bus station had any idea who this dude was.
He had also given us some vague instructions and we set out in a taxi to where it looked like the place might be. Three hours later and our third taxi driver later we still cannot find the place. The third taxi driver just got fed up and dropped us and all our luggage on the side of the road. Then it started to rain, and rain hard, my phone was flat and we had no map. Doesn’t everything always happen at once. We asked a security guard and a policeman and both told us opposite directions. Getting wetter we took shelter in a little cafe and bought a beer.
Typical colourful colonial Mexico
Beer fixes everything – right?
A very kind man by the name of Angel in the cafe sensed our distress and set out to help us by phoning the hosts. Finally after much ado Angel gets directions and we think he knows where to go and offers to take us. Great, but he has no car, so he phones his friend who turns up in a tiny Toyota Starlet with no seat belts and the doors barely close because of our luggage. We’re super grateful for the help.
We find the apartment on a dirt road with no name (we would have never found it) but a beautiful apartment, except for the major construction workers and noise right at our front door.
I complained to the host about the poor directions and construction noise, he then decided to cancel our reservation through Airbnb and said you can leave in the morning. The next mission was finding somewhere suitable… to their credit Airbnb were helpful for a change. Our next host was the total opposite and ever so sweet and helpful. The apartments are total opposites too, our new one is like Grandma’s place but we are very comfortable in our blue floral sheets and heavy blankets.
Yes, we are in a city of Angels… we were truly grateful to our mexican friend for his help.
Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl tower over Cholula and the Valley of Puebla
But I digress back to beautiful Cholula…and her puffing volcanoes.
Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl tower over Cholula and the benefit of staying in Cholula is for viewing of these majestic volcanoes. They are at their best in the very early morning before the heat of the day creates mist and blocks a clear view of these inspiring mountain volcanoes. Our ‘new’ airbnb host was the exact opposite of the previous one and insisted on driving us to Cholula early in the morning knowing this little gem of advice. She dropped us off about 7.30am in the morning and we were off exploring Cholula for the day.
It’s a short steep hike to the top of the Great Pyramid and the in the cool of the morning and there in front of us is the magnificent Santuario de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios and the puffing volcano of Popocatepetl. Iztaccihuatl is hiding behind the cloud.
Cloud was moving rapidly and it seemed we were indeed lucky to be there so early because we had the beautiful view for just 20 minutes before Popo disappeared. Iztaccihuatl on the other hand never showed her face at all.
Locally known as Popo, Popocatepetl is Mexico’s second highest peak, towering some 5,426 meters (17,800 feet) above sea level. It’s also Mexico’s most active volcano. The last major eruption, which occurred in 1947 which began the present cycle of volcanic activity inside the mountain.
Also locally known as Izta, Iztaccihuatl is a dormant volcano, linked to Popo on the north side and has four peaks; the highest of which towers some 5,230 meters (17,150 feet) above sea level. The shape of the peaks resemble a female figure lying down and she almost always has snow at her peaks.
Cholula is the ideal place to enjoy both these volcanic mountains all year and more especially from the Church of Santuario de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios which is built on top of the Great Pyramid.
An incredibly interesting and historic place.
Santuario de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios aka Church on top of the Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid of Cholula at the Archaeology Park
The Spanish built a church on top the pyramid and it’s unclear whether the Spaniards were aware at the time that a pyramid existed underneath the grassy mound or they just wanted to destroy the Pyramid. I think the later is more likely.
Entrance begins with a walk through the underground tunnels through the Great Pyramid. The experience is fascinating, albeit a little claustrophobic. Once alone in the narrow tunnels there’s no entrance or exit in sight, I always wonder what would happen if an earthquake struck.
At many of the intersections, you can see where the tunnels went up or down. We only passed through about 800 meters of tunnel, which is fine, because it’s really just an underground tunnel. But once through the tunnels, you see the most significant of the exterior excavations.
Archaeologists dug around five miles of tunnels to explore the structure which they found is made up of several pyramids built on top of one another, although most of the tunnels are not open to the public.
Partially excavated… still a long way to go.
The Legend of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl
Variations on the legend have been told through the years. According to one Aztec Legend, Popo was a great warrior who loved Izta. He went off to war and when Izta heard false news of Popo’s fall in battle, she died of a broken heart. When Popo returned to find his love gone, he vowed to always watch over and defend her. The shape of Iztaccihuatl mountain is that of a ‘sleeping woman’. It is also said locally, that when ‘trouble is brewing in the world’ Popo becomes active.
The 40 Churches of Cholula
According to legend, Hernan Cortes ordered one church to be built in Cholula for every day of the year; in actual fact the city is host to only 40 these days and no we didn’t visit them all, but the Convent was indeed spectacular.
The convent of San Gabriel is a large building with four brightly painted yellow sides enclosing a quadrangle. One of the sides then becomes another side to Cholula’s Zocalo, the main square of the town and, after New Mexico, the second largest Zocalo in Mexico. The Zocalo is also painted in the same bright yellow colours.
Cholula Markets – Typical Mexican Markets – Grasshoppers and other Crawlies
Like all Mexican towns and cities, Cholula has excellent lively and charismatic markets.
After touring the ruins, gawking at the volcanoes, and creeping through the tunnels, I emerged to some local women selling an array of appealing looking snacks and nuts….
There were little piles of sweets, nuts and little red things, one of the women pushed a handful of crispy little red things before my nose and asked me if I would like to try it.
Of course, I obliged…
I tried a few, and a crunching bug like sensation emitted from my mouth. As I crunched them, I had a horrid thought.
Was I ingesting a bug or a critter?
Sure enough – crunchy, crispy, salty – the locals had a great time laughing at my disgust all the while telling me how good they were for my brain. It’s a what?
Yes it’s a grasshopper!
Chaupalines and more Chaupalines aka Grasshoppers!
Eating grasshoppers here is not something strange, grasshoppers are a feature of the archaeological site and a ubiquitous snack in Cholula.
Now I know what the dark skinned women in traditional dresses are saying when they are chanting “Chapulines! Chapulines! Chapulines!” I’ve yet to learn any Spanish at this stage – maybe I learned my first word Grasshopper.
Thousands of these little red and very dead things piled to overflowing in great bins, I am getting the impression that these are a delicacy and a sought after snack here in this part of Mexico.
It seems they eat them like popcorn, heads legs and all mixed with a bout of lime and chill for extra flavour!
After a little more investigation I find that the grasshoppers are collected from fields at night with large nets and are then soaked in vats of water. After this, there are various ways that they can be prepared, from sun drying to boiling, frying, baking, or even eating raw.
They then cook them on large clay stoves is common in Oaxaca. Add to that any mexican flavor of chill, lime, onions and garlic and if you like mexican flavors then you might just love this snack.
Chapulines are not available in all the states of Mexico, and Oaxaca seems to be the heartland for this snack. It is said that people in Oaxaca eat these grasshoppers as a daily snack, and judging from the piles of them being sold in the market, that would be pretty spot on.
Though the tourists in the market often squeal when they realize what the women with the platters of red things are not selling chili peppers. These vendors seem to get a kick out of watching the foreigners testing this delicacy and seem to use the shock element for making sales.
It works – but only if you like eating bugs!
The end of another happy day in Mexico – except for bug eating.
So that was our day of Grasshoppers, Volcanoes, Churches and Pyramids in Cholula.
I remember seeing but not eating these. Yet most of the food in Oaxaca is exquisite.
I got tricked into it! all fun and games
KEEP ON TRUCKIN’ GUYS