Feria de Puebla (or Puebla’s Fair) is essentially Puebla’s equivalent of Vancouver’s PNE, featuring rides, carnival games, a marketplace, and various shows that are included in the admission price. Kristina and I caught the show “Illusion on Ice.” Who would have thought to combine a magic show with figure skating? Well, someone did, and the result was thoroughly entertaining. My favourite part was probably the group of skaters who did forward and back flips over one another. Also quite interesting was a “magician” whose part of the show revolved completely around bubbles. His “tricks” were all things I have seen or done before, but he made them entertaining nonetheless thanks to his showmanship. This reminded me of something my sponsor teacher back home often told me – that all great demonstrations have a schtick, such as a story, a surprise, or some sort of a “wow” factor. The man entertaining a crowd of hundreds just by blowing bubbles has certainly figured this out!

When the crowds wore us down, we left the fair for a peaceful walk down the roads of the city known for their mural paintings. Many of the paintings, signed and dated in the corners, were fairly recent, and all of them were quite colourful. What I found intriguing is that these paintings are found, not in galleries or even on commercial buildings, but simply on the walls of people’s homes in an ordinary neighbourhood.

From there our feet and our empty stomachs led us back to the bakery we’d discovered a week or so earlier, and this time I found my new favourite pastry: a swan-shaped cream puff! Of course, we needed to eat something besides dessert, so we wandered the outskirts of the zocalo area and picked out a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that offered a Pueblan specialty we had yet to try – chile en nogada. This dish consists of a cooked green pepper stuffed with apples and almonds, covered in a creamy walnut sauce, and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. We didn’t really know what to expect, but it was incredibly delicious. It is really no wonder that Puebla is often considered the gastronomic capital of Mexico.