Genesis, The Conqueror

This has been a beautiful trip. Meeting wonderful people all along. Getting to know a country that sometimes is so unfamiliar or changing. Good and bad as usual.

Puebla, like many places is changing. I heard the new governor wants to become our president so he is building infrastructure (and debt) over the state like there's no tomorrow. At first, I thought it was just the capital, but through this trip, I've seen little speck of dust towns, benefited as well.

Call it San Francisco Acatepec, Tonanzintla or San Andrés Cholula, all of them had some traces of "prosperity". Probably more in the last municipality. Bipolarly so. There's a new shiny track and field installation by the archeological site but this was the same place that suffered irreparable damage as the governor's plans capriciously ran over the ruins beneath the archeological site beside it. The last images on this writing, show how people complained on the walls by the church about the place being harmed solely for commercial purposes, the message was clear: Cholula was not for sale.

San Francisco Acatepec Temple

The temple was partially burnt in 1939 and built up by the people.

Frida Kahlo's father was one of the
main people that instigated the temple's
reconstruction.

He had previously taken pictures of
the temple before the fire.

Something that aided the replication
of some pieces.

Although I wonder if the original temple had
this impressive collection of neon lights?

Church of Santa María Tonazintla

Image taken from Wikipedia, no photos
allowed on the premises

Our Lady of the Remedies Church in San Andrés, Cholula 

Image taken from Wikipedia, no photos
allowed on the premises

Archeological Site underneath the
Church.

Cholula In Defense of Our Heritage

When the law is unfair, the right thing is to disobey. Mahatma Ghandi

But gentrified Puebla is more than complaints. Their people are making big steps to move forward, a great thing for a closed off, uber-conservative and religious society. From building boutique hotels out of antique stores or inherited houses, some antiquarians are making the right moves. The sister of the woman who taught the cooking class, is part of a family business that is setting water treatment plants all around the Sierra of Puebla.

"You'd be amazed of all the things we find stuck in these plants, people throw away bed sheets or in the case of hospitals, even some body parts". Ignorance motivates these erratic moves but certainly, there are people concerned in bringing more significant changes to all those dispossessed living underneath cardboard houses, with their kids' distended bellies. In transforming a dependant Puebla to a sustainable one.