Do
Go on an African-style safari, shop for regional arts and crafts, hurl insults at a Mexican wrestling match, watch folk dancers, or attend a bullfight.
Something’s always happening in Puebla, and an excellent way for visitors to take in the local culture is to attend an event. The Casa de la Cultura (5 Oriente #5), located a block south of the zócalo, puts on all sorts of free shows, from regional art exhibits and concerts to contemporary film festivals and Day of the Dead altar-building contests. The Regional Dance Company of the State of Puebla frequently performs on Saturdays at 7 p.m., treating all those who gather in the cultural center’s central courtyard to a lively, colorful display of traditional dances and costumes. (A current schedule is available at the front desk at the beginning of each month, until they run out.)
The cultural center also houses the beautiful Museo-Biblioteca Palafoxiana. Founded in 1646 by Spanish bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, it was the first public library in the New World and is the lone survivor of the Colonial era, says Luis Alberto Martínez Álvarez on the state’s Web site. The library preserves more than 45,000 important works, including an original copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493). The book, a remarkable example of early printing, chronicles human history from creation to the Europeans’ discovery of the Americas in words and more than 2,000 illustrations. Visitors are welcome Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Looking for more things to do? Check out the Events page for a calendar of upcoming festivals and other happenings around Puebla.
A short stroll away, visitors can find collectible artifacts, antiques, and other treasures in Los Sapos plaza (6 Sur between 5 and 7 Oriente). Weekend days are the best time to shop, when tianguis fill every square inch of the pedestrian-only plaza and spill out onto Callejón de los Sapos and 3 Oriente to the north. Woodwork, jewelry, old coins, and knick-knacks abound. If you’re interested in more modern wares, cross the busy Boulevard 5 de Mayo any Saturday or Sunday to continue shopping for arts and crafts at the outdoor market in the Analco neighborhood (8 Sur between 3 and 5 Oriente). Travel magazine Mexico Desconocido says Los Sapos is where Puebla’s tianguis, or street vendors, first set up shop more than 30 years ago. Since then, it’s evolved into “an explosion of stores, restaurants, bars and diverse handicrafts.”
Tourists in search of Puebla’s trademark talavera pottery should also venture a few blocks north to El Parián. The site, built in 1801 in the Antiqua Plazuela de San Roque (6 Norte between 2 and 4 Oriente), housed the city’s first traditional market. It was refurbished in the 1960s and now accommodates more than 100 stalls, open daily, from which vendors sell a plethora of reasonably priced goods made all over the state, from silver from Amozoc to amate paper from Pahuatlán. The selection is so huge that El Parián can be overwhelming, and before buying anything, make sure the label doesn’t say Made in India, Vietnam, or China. If the prices are not marked, you can try haggling — it works best when buying in bulk — to lower the total cost by 10 to 20 percent. If you’re in search of high-end, certified talavera, peruse the neighboring shops run by Talavera Armando. Better yet, take a free tour of its downtown workshop (located behind the store at 6 Norte #408) to learn the painstaking process by which each piece is handmade; a few guides speak English.
Not all cultural experiences in Puebla are quite so, um, refined. But that’s good news for visitors: Soccer games, lucha libre matches, and bullfights can be even more exciting than admiring artifacts and decorative plates.
The Puebla Football Club, affectionately called los camoteros (the sweet-potato makers, go figure) and la franja (for the sash detail on its uniforms), plays in first-division of the Mexican Football League. The team has won seven national championships since it went pro in the 1940s. High-profile 2011 recruit DaMarcus Beasley was the youngest athlete ever to sign with Major League Soccer and has played on three U.S. squads in the FIFA World Cup. Home games take place at Chauhtémoc stadium, which hosted matches for the 1968 Olympic Games and two subsequent World Cup tournaments. Fans have been known to throw cups of beer (or worse), so don’t dress up for the occasion, but do wear blue and white for solidarity. Advance tickets are sold at Superboletos kiosks inside MisterTennis and Prissa stores.
Meanwhile, fans of the WWE or Jack Black in Nacho Libre may appreciate the weekly matches held by the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Worldwide Wrestling Council), which claims to be the oldest professional wrestling outfit in existence. The CMLL is based in Mexico City, but holds bouts in Puebla with the same cadre of athlete-performers most Monday nights. The “fights” feature up-and-comers and champions like Místico, Mephisto, and Princesa Blanca — yes, women wrestle, too, but that’s about the only politically correct aspect of what goes down inside the Puebla Arena (13 Oriente #402). Be prepared for utter pandemonium, from 8-year-olds yelling obscenities to other “little people” entering the ring dressed as furry animals. Tickets available from Mega supermarkets, Gandhi bookstores, and Ticketmaster outlets.
If you’d prefer to see man vs. an actual beast, Spanish-style bullfights are held from November to March at the Plaza de Toros El Relicario (Calzada de las Fuentes). Popular in Mexico since the conquistadores introduced them 400 years ago, bullfights draw crowds of all ages and income levels. A typical corrida de toros features three matadors of varying skill levels. Each one faces off against his own carefully bred bull that weighs at least 1,000 pounds. Sometimes the animal suffers a lot during the fight; sometimes it doesn’t. But the bull usually ends up dead — or the matador wounded — so if you’re squeamish, this probably isn’t the event for you. When a matador who puts on an exceptional show and kills his bull on the first stab, he’s usually given one or both ears as a trophy. The rest of the carcass, hauled out of the ring by horses, becomes fodder for someone’s barbecue.
Animal lovers may prefer to spend time at Africam Safari, a drive-thru zoological park on the outskirts of town. Africam was the first zoo in Latin America accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, due largely to its conservation efforts and its high standards of care-taking: The park protects scores of endangered species and indigenous flora and fauna. Thousands of animals, from alpacas to zebras, roam freely in large, well-maintained habitats where human activity is heavily controlled. In a single visit, you might see a hippo yawn, chimps mate, a baby kangaroo emerge from its mother’s pouch, and monkeys taunt SUV drivers as they pass by. (Bus rides are available to those without access to a car.) Africam staffers run guided night tours in late December/early January and camps for kids in the summertime. Signs throughout the safari are in Spanish, but feature self-explanatory icons that indicate when it’s OK to roll down car windows — and when it absolutely isn’t. Use common sense. The animals always have the right-of-way, so be prepared to wait a few minutes if, say, a white tiger crosses the road directly in front of your vehicle.
Page updated August 2, 2011.