Puebla is about an hour and a half away from Mexico City. However, most of that hour and half was spent in thick, grid-locked traffic trying to escape the sprawling, over-populated metropolis. We breathed a sigh of relief as we reached the outskirts of the city, thrust into the open spaces of the central highlands of the Sierra Madre. The city of Puebla is the largest in the state of Puebla, but at *only* 2 million people, it paled in comparison to the human sardine can called Mexico City.  Excavation of some of the ruins at the bottom of the pyramid in Cholula We're really here to see the pyramids in neighbouring Cholula, about 10 minutes away from Puebla. It's the largest archaeological site in the New World, and most of the great pyramid is still buried and looks like a really large hill. It'll probably remain so, because on top lies a large church built by the Spanish in the 16th century.  There are tunnels inside the pyramid that you can explore!  Almost all of the passages are blocked off so it's a single way in and out, otherwise you'd get lost inside  Tunnels are narrow and spooky! Cholula's site is interesting because at least three different civilizations over the centuries have built on or next to the existing ruins, not including the Spanish church at the top of the buried pyramid!  Velodores! Outside the pyramid, we saw a group of velodores perform the ancient ceremony of bungie jumping. I can't explain it properly, but this was such a cool sight to see live, ever since being captivated by a TV program I saw of this when I was a little kid. No harnesses or safety wires, just a guy at the top cheering them on by playing a flute as they slowly descended while spinning around the very tall pole.  This was the closest I got to performing dangerous stunts. Unless you count riding around in Mexico City traffic...  The pyramid is right inside Cholula. Neda surveys the city from the ledge.  At the very top of the buried pyramid, we walk around the Spanish church  Chapulines! Tasty! In the markets around the ruins and in Cholula, we saw baskets of Chapulines for sale, or as the English-speakers call it, Grasshoppers. Feeling a little adventurous, we bought a bag and tried some. They were dry-roasted with garlic and chilli, and they were very delicious, crispy and salty. I didn't really mind cleaning the wings and legs from my teeth, however for the next few hours I was burping up grasshopper, and that didn't taste pleasant. So no more Chapulines for this guy...  Notice the Clorets in the middle of the picture? That's for the Chapuline-Eaters...  Festive restaurant decor. We had some of Puebla's famous Mole Poblano, chilli and chocolate sauce!  Cool bike, ma'am! Neda was excited to see a female police officer on an F650GS! Until she tried to hit us up for a bribe... JUST KIDDING!!!! She was very cool about us taking a picture. There were actually two female biker cops, but the other one was riding a Suzuki, so we didn't really care about her... :)
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