Famous stone idols are found in this vicinity. In plowing the fields or
digging holes they are turned up by scores, in all shapes and sizes;
the tourist pays good prices for them, and the more sensational the
story attached the higher the tariff; the guide at the hotel showed me
a white arrow flint. He had bought it the day before at Cholula for a
medio, and said he was going to daub it with chicken blood and sell it
to the next party of tourists as a wonderful relic, which had been used
on the sacrificial stone to kill thousands of people. He would tell
them that the worshipers of the sun used to get a victim and the one
who could send the arrow with this flint directly in the center of the
victim's heart stood in favor with their god, the sun. At the depot,
besides being bothered with at least twenty idol peddlers, a woman with
a baby tried to make me buy it. She refused to sell to any one in the
party, but coaxed me to take it, telling all its good qualities. It was
good, very amiable, sympathetic and very precious. Partly to get rid
of her I asked, "How much?" "Dos reals" (twenty-five cents) was her
astounding reply. "That is too cheap," I said; "I cannot take it unless
the price is $100." Evidently she did not understand jesting, for she
kept on saying, "No, senorita, dos reals; muy benito." I successfully
resisted its charms as well as her persuasions. At the last moment,
when the car started, she ran after me, saying I could have the baby
at $100, if I wouldn't take it at twenty-five cents; but the car soon
left her in the distance, and we had a good laugh at the poor woman's
reasoning powers and lack of business qualities.
The tramway ends at Atlixco, a lovely little village midway between
Cholula and Puebla. One of the most beautiful things along the way is
the famous tree at the foot of St. Michael's Mountain. It is called
Ahuehuete. It is many centuries old and a very curious shape. Its trunk
is hollow, with a hole big enough for a horseman to enter at one side.
Thirteen men on horseback can find plenty of room in its big body. The
orchards at this village are valued at $2,800,000.
There are twenty-four hotels in Puebla, and some are first-class in
every respect. They serve coffee from 6 to 9, breakfast 1 to 3, and
dinner 6 to 9. The penitentiary looks like a Spanish fortress. It
is very old, picturesque, and covered with orchids, but the state
authorities decided they needed a new one, and have built a handsome
one of stone and brick, which is said to resemble one in Pennsylvania,
whether East or West I know not, but from a distance it looks somewhat
like the Western, although all similarity faded on closer inspection.
There are several parks, and very pretty ones, too, in Puebla. In the
main one they have music nightly. At the east end of the town they have
sulphur baths, which are considered very healthy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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