Puebla Mexico Bedding Down

in my grandfather's Talavera-lined kitchen. I still SIGHTS the history comes together
have the secret family recipe, but it never tastes for me. Amid all the expected
as good as it does in Puebla, where it remains a AND BITES: adornments, this little chapel
sacred favorite. reveals the secret resistance
Clockwise of indigenous workers,
Hankering to taste again the city's most famous from near who crafted the interiors
culinary dish, mole poblano, and its festive, right. peruse with cherubs in their own
San Francisco image and incorporated
seasonal summertime splurge, chiles en nogada, local symbols into the
Church, the embellishment - including
I take a seat at El Mural de los Poblanos, one of International a Virgin Mary who bears a
Museum of crafty resemblance to a local
Puebla's most renowned dining spots. At a small the Baroque. goddess. The passion of it,
table beneath the restaurant's namesake mural, a and Santa and the palpable soulfulness
massive stretch of Diego Rivera-like wall art, I gaze Maria of the region, brings me
up to see the history of Puebla unfold. Historical Tonantzintla unexpectedly to tears.
scenes and figures, such as Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza, Below. try
look down at me as I sip a beer - a drink the staff the chiles en Some say that the Puebla
encourages all diners to help themselves to from nogada at El suburb of Angel6polis is
a large, ice-filled bathtub by the door. It makes Mural de los just the opposite of ancient
wa_tting for a table at this buzzy spot a breeze. Poblanos, Cholula. Modern, trendy,
.Mole, legendarily invented when nuns wanted to luxurious, dotted with
surprise a visiting cardinal with a feast, doesn't skyscrapers, universities, abundantly extravagant, even -,IaU--:<oz�.,:
have an exact recipe, with chefs closely guarding malls, and upscale edgy, style that defines Puebla's
the way they make it Nevertheless, this mix of developments, it contrasts historical architecture) was ::,
various, unexpected ingredients, which range from sharply with Puebla's historic meant to inspire awe. I've felt
chocolate and raisins to chilies, nuts, and stale center. Fitting right in to that and seen that around the city. §iv a:I __J
bread, always emerges tasting sweet, smoky, and urbanscape, the 2-year-old But in this canny, hands-on
piquant simultaneously. Traditionally, Poblanos International Museum of museum, I discover baroque u ,<
serve it atop chicken or turkey, crowned with the Baroque is housed in a was so much more. A clever
scattered sesame seeds. Mine startlingly contemporary labyrinth of themed rooms �32.2
arrives at my table with turkey. building. I reserve an entire reveals how baroque infiltrated
After a moment with the mole, afternoon to peruse it - and more than architecture - it u. .;,
I turn my attention to my other that's not enough. showed up in music, design,
plate - chiles en nogada, a fal poblano pepper science, art, literature, fashion, ��
stuffed with spicy ground beefand blanketed with a A feast for the senses, and beyond. Baroque was ili �
creamy walnut sauce. The taste? It's like poetry. the museum draws me in Rubens, Shakespeare, Vivaldi, ��
gilt buildings, hoop skirts,
PART OF PUEBLA'S allure comes'from at the door with baroque and medicine's strides via 2-zuJ
the pre-Spanish heritage that encircles background music, tunes that anatomy, too. �f'.:2::,
'O(Ql'�'Q)UI it. Various villages, designated by the have a Pied Piper effect a� su"J2'Z0<fl
Mexican federal tourism board as pueblos they lead me from chamber Within a somewhat �2uJ :J
to chamber. A blurb on the whimsical structure conceived v2i 8�
mdgicos (magic towns), manifest the culture wall says that baroque (the to make one reflect (it has uuJ .2,:
pools of water for metaphor cl: __J
of Mesoamerican people. As a child, I visited and walls that look like folded «<fl
Cholula, a short drive from downtown Puebla, origami paper), I follow a
to see its Great Pyramid, an adventure that
_?.wakened a lifelong love for history, mystery,
and archaeology. In my memories, I was the
only person at the pyramid. On this visit, I'm in
the company of many visitors. In turn, we enter
the 3,500-year-old structure's bowels, wandering
with guides through undulating tunnels once
used by ancient people. Eventually, I pop out
on a wide lawn, near an amphitheater, part of
the 25-acre empire, where ingenious acoustics
and mind-boggling artifacts - such as a stone
slab for sacrifice - bring the past to life. The
pyramid is just as moving as I remember it. Later
in the day, I visit Santa Maria Tonantzintla, one
of Cholula's most ornamented churches, just a
stone's throw from the magnificent pyramid. Here,

36 PRIVATECLUBSMAG COM FALL 201B