Huamantla, Tlax: Running of the Bulls....Mexican Style

Saturday the 23rd was the Huamantlada, or the running of the bulls in Huamantla, Tlaxcala (same place with the night that no one sleeps, but a little different theme). We arrived early to find the streets packed with people and barricades. The general format for the day was to find a seat on one of the ply wood bleachers (you pay whoever owns that property to sit there) that had been constructed around the city (see photo below) and then wait for the bulls.

There were actually 3 separate closed circuits in the downtown of Huamantla, each with 8 bulls. While people were still finding places to sit or stand, the bulls were delivered in cages by a forklift to their different locations. So instead of a running of the bulls, like Pamplona, Spain, this was more like letting a bunch of bulls loose at different points and see what they do.

So after sounding a couple warning fireworks, the course was cleared and the bulls were released from their boxes. After that, there was a lot of waiting when the bulls were in different parts of the course and then excitement as the bulls faced those brave enough (or drunk enough) to be down on the actual course.

The big excitement of the day, other than the bulls ramming themselves directly into our plywood barrier, was the bull that got loose. We were sitting right in front of the red cross area where they can remove the injured. This is good for the injured (in total there were 19, but luckily no one died this year….2 did last year), but bad for one of the bulls. One headed directly for the corner and after 3 head butts, broke through the wood barrier and was loose in the city center of Huamantla. The guy sitting next to me was giving us live coverage of the bull’s path since his son was watching the event live on tv. Eventually the police shot and killed the bull (5 years ago one got out and killed a woman before it was shot). While the bull was loose we were all kinda stuck in our seats since the other bulls were still loose, but everyone was chasing the loose bull. Things eventually returned to “normal” and the event ended with each bull being lassoed and returned to its box.

San Pablo and Tonantzintla

After a very long Friday at work following la noche que nadie duerme, Janet arrived for a weekend in Puebla and out of the sticks. Saturday we went to a small town in Tlaxcala called San Pablo de Monte for some talavera browsing followed by a non-Mexican wine and cheese night.
On Sunday we went to a small town just outside of Puebla called Tonantzintla that was hosting a cheese festival. The town also has one of the most ornate churches in all of Mexico and one of the churches with the most indigineous influence. And, because of the cheese festival and day of its patron saint, it was decorated with tons of flowers.

The cheese festival had sample of all types of Mexican cheese and variation on the traditional (like panela with Chipotles in it), as well as sampling of honey, pulque, cecina, bread with sweet cheese, chilies, and yogurt. Helleman's also made an appearance and was passing out plates of mayo with tortilla chips, beans, and cut up hot dogs.....interesting.

La Noche que Nadie Duerme

The night of august 14th is called la Noche que Nadie Duerme (the night that nobody sleeps) in Huamantla, Tlaxcala. As part of their fair to honor the patron virgin of the town, beginning at 8ish they cover the streets of the center with elaborate decorations made from colored sawdust and sand. Each block has its own theme or design. As the night goes on the carpets, as they are called, are eventually completed just before the procession with the virgin begins. There are also elaborate decorations of flowers and sand art at the church. Festivities literally continue the entire night and when we left at 3AM for the hour trip back to Puebla, there were still plenty fireworks and people working to complete their carpets, making rounds through the streets to view the various displays, or feasting on the abundance of food, as well as the on-going procession of the virgin.

All of the image is made from colored sand.

Pueblitos en Puebla y más de Tlaxcala

On Saturday I went to two small towns south of Puebla, Tepeaca and Tecali de Herrera. The first town, Tepeace, evidently is known for Santo Niño Jesús Doctor de los Enfermos (child doctor) and its image is all other town on bracelets, cards, framed pictures, tee shirts….. We even got to see the real doll in the town’s church. And here is the baby doctor…..
The next town, Tecali de Herrera, had an interesting ex-convent that is now missing its roof, making it kinda like catholic ruins. So you can walk into the “cathedral”, but there’s green grass at your feet and the sky (and rain) above your head.

Sunday I made a return trip to Tlaxcala (state just north of Puebla) and here’s a couple pictures of the bull fighting stadium and some other things around town.

Volcanic Craters

This weekend we had to host a new vol who is currently in training so Saturday morning we just wondered around Puebla and then Sunday headed to Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala to spend the night. There is a hiking club in Tlaxcala that one of the other vols is active in so, at 7 am we all met at the bus station and headed out to the north eastern part of the state to a place called Hoyanca, which is basically a giant crater. Someone kept telling us it was formed by a meteor that crashed, but after some investigation when we got back, they think the big hole is actually the result of volcanic activity. Eitherway, we got to climb down into it and then back out, which was pretty fun. Then we spent the rest of the day either on buses or back in Tlaxcala in the historic center.

HOYANCA:




TLAXCALA:

More Ruins

This weekend I did 2 day trips from Puebla. Saturday I went to the state of Tlaxcala, just north of Puebla to go to 2 sets of ruins (Cacaxtla and Xochitecatl). One is your average ruins, but the other is supposed to have great colorful murals (Cacaxtla). Unfortunately after getting there I was informed that Cacaxtla it was closed for excavation. At least I wasn’t the only one there who didn’t know. So I ended up only going to Xochitecatl. There was a 2 km path from the one to the other which looked legit, until you got to the other ruins and realized you were exactly on the opposite side of the entrance and now had to walk around the whole fence (not bad expect there were a ton of cactus and I think that might have stretched the limitations of my flip flops).

Sunday went to some fairly unknown ruins (Cantona) given their size and importance, basically on the Veracruz-Puebla border. These ones are over 12 sq km and is the best organized city in all of Mexico, but few people actually know about it or visit it. So I took a bus to Oriental, Puebla, where I was supposed to be able to catch a colectivo to another town and then from there another colectivo to the ruins. However, for some reason, unknown to me and most of the other people in the town, the colectivos were not running that Sunday. Good news is that in Mexico its not too hard to convince taxi drivers take you to obsure places, including taking me to ruins that are 35 minutes away, leaving me there for 3 hours and then coming back to pick me up. Wasn’t sure if I was actually going to see the driver for the return trip, but he showed up. I think that Cantona may now be my new favorite set of ruins in Mexico. It is an immense network of streets, ball courts, and pyramids with a great scenery of mountains and cactus, many of which are blooming now. Plus as an added bonus with the time change Sunday, the whole place was virtually empty.

On the way back to Puebla the taxi driver recommended that I make a detour to the state of Tlaxcala on the bus ride back to Puebla and visit the town of Huamantla, one of the towns at the base of the volcano Maliche (a little too much smog for any good views though). It was a cute little colonial town with some nice churches and a very strange puppet museum.