We got a ride to the Puebla outlet mall, not because we intended to shop or even step inside but because we were to be collected from here. Our hostess was waiting and we drove up to San Rafael Tenanyecac, a small village quite near Cacaxtla. Along the way we passed the black obelisk from our earlier journey and our hostess said that it was known as the Eye of Mordor. So we were not the only ones to find it ominious. According to her, not only does it appear to be unused, when it was under construction and before the glass facing was attached, the structure clearly lacked stairs or elevator shafts and each floor was far too low for human height.
Our hostess is an American of Maxican/ Costa Rican descent and her partner is Mexican; they live in a small house constructed in his grandmother’s back garden. It is on the side of a valley so overlooks corn fields and houses and a school wall painted with the cover of Michael Jackson’s Dangerous.
Inside the house was beautifully done up, very elegant with a touch of shabby chic. She had made nopales soup and nopales salad for us, both very tasty. Her partner was slow to relax and found English difficult, but was a good companion when he did thaw. He had just been cursed by a business associate and whilst unperturbed by this, he was a bit worried about one of his employees, who was also cursed, and was from a family that believed in such matters. Luckily it seems that they were not too fussed either but in any case the trick would be a limpia, the purification we had seen done in Mexico City, with an egg to draw out the ill-effects.
After lunch we drove up to Tlaxcala, the capital of the smallest state in Mexico, a small town set amongst green hills. This was a particularly lovely little place, with a couple of squares planted with old trees and flowering shrubs, and the oldest cathedral in the country with darkened sad-eyed Spanish murals. The benefit of a local was considerable from my perspective, as he was a snacker and we all tried some of the tastes of Tlaxcala, including anise flavoured biscuits that came sandwiched between communion wafers and tiny swans crafted out of a marzipan made of pepita. Tlaxcala was the only indigenous kingdom to ally with Cortes as he invaded, and it was a Tlaxcecan woman who served as his interpreter and lover, and whose name is now slang for a culture traitor.
There were artists displaying their wares in one of the squares and one of the artists had a quite interesting naive style of art, with lots of wobbly rainbows over the volcanoes and Aztecs vs Indians standing nose to nose.
We returned to the flat with just enough time for a quick dinner, a shower each and then to watch the final episode of Game of Thrones.