The Magic of Cuetzalan

This past weekend, I visited the village of Cuetzalan which is officially know as a "Pueblo Mágico" because it is still very traditional and is absolutely beautiful! After a bus ride through the mountains of the state of Puebla, we arrived in Cuetzalan where the streets are paved with stones and incredibly steep and the weather is super hot and humid. We found a hotel, ate the traditional food of the village- cecina which is smoked pork and enchiladas, and went off to visit the ruins Yohualichan (which means place of the night in the indigenous language) that are located outside the center and where built by the Totanaca tribe. We were the only ones there, so it was completely peaceful and quiet, except for the sound of the birds chirping and music from the nearby village. The ruins of this particular tribe are distinguished by the square, window looking designs made from stone that are particularly handsome. It was so cool to have such a magical place all to ourselves! When we returned to Cuetzalan, los voladores were about to perform their ritual in the town square right in front of the church- talk about the mixing of the indigenous culture and Catholicism! The voladores climb to the top of a very tall pole, attach ropes to their waists and then fall backwards off the top, spinning upside down to the ground- it the most terrifyingly beautiful thing. Then it began to rain and it felt so good after the hot weather and I twirled around a bit in the rain to fully take advantage of it! The next morning, we headed to the sunday market which is incredible there- I felt like a was in the heart of traditional mexico because there were vendors selling mountains of fruits, vegetables, meats, clothing, shoes, baskets, CDs, everything you can imagine and of course the beautiful crafts that Cuetzalan is famous for. Practically all of the women wear traditionally embroidered blouses and long white skirts- of course I bought one of these shirts as well as some other things too! In the market, I bought a piece of bread for 1 peso (around 8 cents!). It is amazing how the center of the village was completely transformed by the market and how everyone from the village was there- buying, selling and chatting and of course all trying to sell you things! In the afternoon, we headed to one of the many famous waterfalls in the area which I of course loved because I'm a big fan of any waterfall and I even put my feet in the chilly water. I especially loved seeing the plants in the area too because there are banana trees, fern trees and all sort of tropical flowers and plants!
Unfortunately, sunday afternoon we had to leave to had back to Puebla for school the next day, but it was an unforgettable trip!