Travels with Grace: Puebla and Mexico City

Now that the Jewish High Holidays have passed, we’re getting back to business as usual – including our #TravelTuesday series: Traveling with Grace! This week we continue following along on her 1940 trip through Mexico. To read more of Grace’s travels, click here.

Cholula, Puebla, c. 1940s postcard. Via.

Sun. July 21^st. Left Mexico [City] at 10 on the way to Puebla, a very pretty ride. We rode thru the quaint town of Cholula (35,000) with 365 churches, the domes and spires of which dominate every square inch. We had a delicious lunch at the Colonial Hotel in Puebla and here I ate turkey with the famous mole sauce and enjoyed it very much. Just before reaching Orizaba we descended nearly 4,000 ft. in less than 5 miles and at the beginning of the drop we paused a few moments to enjoy the most magically beautiful view of a mt. circled valley that I have even seen, positively breath taking. At about 6 we reached Fortin [de las Flores], the most tropical vegetation abounding in the vicinity. We see coffee growing for the 1^st time and all kinds of wonderful flowers. Upon arrival at the Hotel Ruiz Galindo we are met by young girls who hang leis of gardenias around our necks. The swimming pool in front of our rooms has mounds of freshly-plucked gardenias floating on it. These are raked off at night and fresh ones put on in the morning. Baskets piled high with them stand on the tables and in fact everywhere.

Hotel Ruiz Galindo, Fortin, Veracruz, Mexico, 1940 postcard. Via.

Mon. Ju. 22^nd. This morning Mrs. Parks brought me 3 beautiful orchids in a banana box (they are shipped away in these) so with orchids pinned in my hair and on my shoulder I went out on the terrace to eat my breakfast of papaya, midget bananas, pineapple, cactus pear, lime juice, oatmeal, eggs, toast and coffee with a basket of gardenias on the table and a view in front of me like the backdrop of an opera set. Rugged mt. tops outlined against an azure and gold sky, a tropical garden in the foreground with many varieties of palms, cacti and magnificent flowers and at my feet the gardenia covered pool. I had to pinch myself many times as I have been doing in the last few weeks. After breakfast we visited another hacienda in the neighborhood and then drove to Cordoba where we visited an even more interesting garden with more species of flowers and trees than I can remember.

In both these gardens the gardeners took us around telling us the names of everything and in the latter one he showed us cards of visitors pinned to the wall from every part of the world, divided into countries and states. In the Md. Section I saw the card of Moses W. Rosenfeld who was here last winter. This man also plucked many different flowers for us to take away and before we left he offered us blackberry and orange cordial and apple cider champagne. We rode along the little river bubbling over its rocky bed to the little power house where it is harnessed into current. Mr. Piña thought this one of the “sights” but to us it looked like a miniature!

Hotel Garci Crespo. Via.

After a delicious lunch at the Ruiz Galindo again served on the terrace, we rode over to Tehuacán to the Garci-Crespo where we had excellent accommodations. We walk around to see the beautiful swimming pool with little pools around it for amateurs. There is a pretty island reached by a bridge on which palms and tropical flowers are growing and ducks and swans live among them. We also go down a long slanting tunnel cut thru the limestone to the mineral spring which gives this place its renown. I am told the Avila-Comacho family owns the place together with a large cattle and poultry ranch adjoining and that they have made a fortune from the bottled water which is sent all over the country. This hotel is very spacious, well designed and tastefully appointed. We get a good view of the snow-capped Orizaba today.

Panorama of Puebla, Mexico, c. 1920-1940s. Via.

Tues. July 23^rd (it really out to have been Fri 13^th). The 1^st thing this morning Milton and Mr. Piña came to our door to tell us the keys to the car were gone. Mr. P says Milton lost them and M. declares Mr. P. took them out of his pocket. As I didn’t have another set with me we had to get a locksmith from the nearest village and it took him all morning to make a key for the ignition for which he charged 2 pesos. We wanted to get an early start for Puebla, where there was much to see but we didn’t get there until 3 o’clock and then ran into a violent rainstorm. We did however visit one of the tile factories and saw the young boys take large chunks of clay, beat it out into pancakes, cut it with a wire the size of a tile and put a design on it and bake it in a kiln. We also watched the potters with their wheels making cups and vases. They gave us each a miniature urn on a little tile for a souvenir which a girl in another room painted for us, but mine later got broken. The rain prevented us from doing anymore sight-seeing after we had seen and admired the beautiful blanket and rugs for which this region is noted as well as some of its famous onyx-ware.

On the way back to Mexico City the women were on the road selling delicious looking peaches and other fruits just as they had on Sunday and their stands were protected from the rain. The little donkeys wear coats of palm leaves to protect them also. Meanwhile the air in the car was getting thicker as the feud between the 2 men deepened. We were afraid for a while that we would run out of gas as Mr. P. would not leave the tank filled in Puebla saying the gas was inferior and M. said it was better to have poor gas than none at all. It was disagreeably cold coming over the mts. We saw a big truck lying on its side at one of the curves (they claim at least 2 trucks a day are lost on these mt. roads) and as it grew later and later I feared we would not get accommodations at the Maria Christina. We did succeed in getting gas at Rio Frio to my great relief and when we reached the hotel we got the last room they had for the 3 of us, not so good but infinitely better than sleeping in the car. Mr. P. came to our room and said since Milton would no longer allow him to drive the car he regretted that he would not be able to continue guiding us (he broke my pocket mirror in Fortin, worse luck for him) so with many protestations of esteem and admiration and asking us each for our address we parted amicably.

“Man, Controller of the Universe,” the recreated version of “Man at the Crossroads” by Diego Rivera. By Gumr51 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Wed. July 24. This morning Mr. Reyes took us to the natural history museum where we saw many interesting specimens of animals, insects, fish, minerals, etc. The gorgeous butterflies and birds charmed me most and we saw part of a mammoth’s skeleton that was exhumed near here when they were building one of the mt. roads. From here we went to the museum of fine arts to see a magnificent contemporary exhibit of paintings and there we saw the celebrated Diego Rivera mural which was painted for Radio City but destroyed because of its communistic implications. Then Rivera reproduced it here. On one side Mr. Lenin is calling on the workers of the world to unite, Mr. Trotsky also has a prominent position. Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. is clearly portrayed in a group of effete capitalists and there are a group of strikers in N.Y. with the caption “we are hungry and want bread.” Other captions are in English, Spanish and Russian. It is a vigorous and blatant work. There are other large murals and the whole 2^nd floor has a very red hue.

Hotel Reforma, Mexico City. Via.

We then visited the Reforma Hotel in modernistic design throughout and very American atmosphere (although much smaller. I like Maria Christina better) and here we got sodas at a typically American fountain. The hotel is crowded and bustling like a railway station. I treated myself to silver combs at one of the shops here. Then we went to the National Pawn Shop run by the govt. (they get 2% a month on loans and take everything imaginable.) The prices on the various merchandise seems very high to us especially on electrical appliances. They have sections for rugs, jewelry, porcelains, house furnishing, etc. Private individuals are forbidden by law to lend money on securities but I’m told many take a chance since they can easily get a high rate of interest. The govt. also holds auction sales several times a week at the Pawn Shop in various depts. And gives the owner the difference between the commission and the sale’s price. Every day tickets are sold on the st. for the National Lottery. Last week one of the guides won ½ million pesos. Tonight, we went to see the National Dances at Riveroll’s?? a most entertaining and artistic performance by five Mexican artists who gave traditional songs and dances from each Mexican state. Afterwards we all drank tequila. The master of ceremonies, an American, was very friendly and jolly, the girls extremely pretty, some of them threw gardenias from their baskets into the audience and I got one. Afterwards the audience was invited to dance when the floor was cleared and the prima donna of the show danced in her beautiful China Poblana costume with some of the men and graciously sang a few extra numbers. We got lost on the way home but after a few inquiries in limping Spanish we were put on the right path.

Lake in Chapultepec park, 1940. Via.

Thurs. July 25^th. We slept late then got box lunches and went to Chapultepec park and enjoyed this beautiful playground all afternoon. It has everything, all sorts of sports, playgrounds, swimming pools, zoo, hot houses, restaurants, drives, walks.

Fri, July 26^th. Went to the bank early and from there to the Palace of Fine Arts to see the native arts and crafts which are fascinating. Wonderful embroidered costumes from all the provinces, serapes, rebozos, carpets, things made of glass, tiny objects (about 20 in a walnut shell), materials made of maguey fiber beautifully colored (all the colors are vivid and yet beautifully blended). There is a collection of samplers the like of which I have never seen. Ornaments of block[?] tin, carving in cork, wonderful pottery of every kind and color, bead work, ornaments of clay, of onyx and the horns of cattle fashioned into artistic and useful articles. We took another look at the paintings and sculpture and then we went to San Angel Inn for a lovely lunch in delightful surroundings a flower filled patio with tinkling fountain, shade trees, and an orchestra playing while we ate.

Sat. July 27^th. We sat in the hotel garden all afternoon. Talked to some of the guests, the Misses Kaufman from Kansas City, among others. Igor Stravinsky and wife (he conducted the orchestra and the Opera House last night and it was a sell-out) and the movie actor Sokolov, who takes character parts and his wife are staying here.

Thanks for reading “Traveling with Grace,” a series where we’re sharing (and annotating) posts from the travel diaries of Grace Amelia Hecht, native Baltimorean, b. 1897 and d. 1955. As mentioned in my introductory post transcription errors sometimes occur and I’ve made my best guesses where possible, denoted by [brackets]. – Rachel Kassman, marketing manager