If I don’t go now, I realized, I will never in my life see the BUAP Botanical Gardens. One semester is not very long. The end of our time here is barreling towards us.
And we are just getting adjusted.
BUAP (Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla) has campuses all across Puebla. In my first few months here, I would continually get lost and end up in the wrong place because Google Maps and Uber are not always reliable here (although there may have been an extremely slim possibility of user error in this situation).
Last week, I held a workshop, “Managing Large Writing Projects,” for graduate students in the BUAP Ciudad Universitaria. I got to the campus with ease, found the Rector’s Tower without even asking for directions, and signed into go to the sixth floor.
After a wonderful session with students from Political Science, Physical Education, Chemistry, and Accounting, I signed out of the building and set off towards the main entrance. On the way, I noticed the entrance to the BUAP Botanical Gardens. My first thought was that I didn’t have time to go in. But I did go in. And I am glad I stopped for a little 20-minute visit, although it was not the magic that the title of this post promises.
With less than a month left, I am realizing that we will not do all that we want to do. We will not make it to Veracruz. We will not make it to Oaxaca and possibly not even to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. Every moment this semester has been full. But a semester (and life) is short, and we can only do so many things. I feel so grateful to have this little life interlude.
For the record, the kids feel more mixed about our time in Mexico, but they also think they will live forever, so there is that.
Pueblos Mágicos
Mexico has over one hundred Pueblos Mágicos, towns that have significant cultural or historical significance. The program is, on one hand, a device to increase tourism, and, on the other hand, a way to bring attention to truly magical places. On my list of places to go is the pueblo mágico of Zacatlán, a mountain town covered in mist with cascading waterfalls, apple orchards, and a huge clock made of flowers. Also on my list is Cuetzalan, another mountain town with cobblestone streets, ancient ruins, and coffee plantations.
We will probably not make it to either Zacatlán or Cuetzalan.
But we did get to experience a magical town. Our wonderful landlords, Daniel and Celia, told us months ago that when it warms up, they will invite us to their house. Every day, Daniel and Celia drive about 30 minutes from their house to Puebla to their office just below our apartment. They are accountants and run the hostel across the courtyard from our apartment. For anything we have needed, they have been there for us.
Celia and Daniel live in the pueblo mágico of Atlixco. Although Atlixco is only 30 minutes from Puebla, it is an entirely different world. The town sits at the base of the volcano Popocatépetl and is rich from the volcanic soil and steady stream of snow melt flowing down the mountain. Nurseries, full of roses, geraniums, calla lilies, surround the town. Streams of water flow down every possible crevasse. The air is fresh and green.
Celia picked us up mid-morning to take us to their family home, which has been in their family for over a century and is now shared by six siblings. Behind a large gate was an enchanted world. Between the old home and other buildings made out of brick and dark volcanic rock were flower gardens, lawns, avocado trees, fig trees, and citrus. After exploring and settling in, the kids and I jumped into one of the two swimming pools.
The water in the two swimming pools flows directly from the volcano to the pool and then is used to water the orchard and grass. Daniel and Celia’s son and an aunt joined us for an afternoon of swimming, eating pomegranates from the tree, and a long, delicious lunch. We heard stories about Saturday afternoons full of friends and family and about Celia and Daniel’s wedding. “Bring the family!” said Celia’s father, and more than 800 guests filled the gardens where we now sat.
We woke up early the next morning to hike up San Miguel Hill, once a pyramid and now a steep hill with a church on the top. Leaving their house, we walked along streams and nurseries filled with flowers until we entered Atlixco’s narrow streets which are lined with hanging pots of flowers. Before ascending the hill, we stopped at a bakery with fresh bread from a stone oven. A dog yipped at a wheelbarrow as we wound up the narrow paths to the top of the mountain.
After our hike, we spent the day at Celia and Daniel’s beautiful home, swimming, BBQ-ing burgers, and talking. Like many people in Mexico, they are fed up with corruption in Mexico, the challenges of running a business in this country, and paying high taxes that seem to only line politician’s pockets; although they don’t like Trump’s methods, they do see him as someone who is making change happen. Langston got to fish in a little pond near their house. We played several games of Sequence and made up new phrases in Spanglish.
As Celia said, we are no longer just friends, we are now “una gran familia.” We will not get to do everything we would like to do in Mexico, but if there is any pueblo con magica, because of Daniel and Celia, we have experienced it.