Last night we arrived into Puebla relatively late so we
couldn’t see much of the city. I always prefer
arriving at a city at night anyway so you can see it fresh the next day. Today we had no major plans so it was a good
opportunity to explore the city. We had
been given a map with general areas of interest highlighted the first of which
being the central park which was not far from our hotel. The park was paved with extremely smooth
cobbled pathways lined with decorative cast iron street lamps and in the centre
of the park was a fountain. Behind the
park was Puebla Cathedral, an impressive 500 year old building that was the
tourist showpiece of the city. There
were a variety of markets through the city all selling various touristy souvenir. As this was just the start of my trip I refrained
myself from buying anything as anything I bought now I would have to carry all
the way to Panama City.
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| There was a street full of stalls like this one. |
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| One of my many fans. |
Overall the city
had some nice buildings and picturesque locations but I had been told that
these areas really shine at night, quite literally as they are lit up in a
variety of vivid colours. I took my
camera and tripod out to see what I could get.
I really enjoy going out for the occasional walk at night, especially
in busy cities. There is a certain
stillness at night that can only be appreciated when you know how hectic the
city is during the day. Going out for
night strolls was something I used to do a lot when I was studying for my
Engineering exams. Just leaving the
house for half an hour and walking around my neighbourhood really helped clear
my head and focus. I would sometimes
walk to my local Chinese to pick up a box of greasy chicken curry, a reward to
myself for enduring many hours of studying the bending moments of steel beams
under dead and live loads and other exciting subjects.
Those nights seem so long ago... but anyway here in Puebla I
didn’t want to be out too long, I was still new to Mexico and I didn’t know how
safe I would be walking around at night with my expensive looking camera and
tripod. But I did end up staying out
longer than I planned because of how beautiful some parts of the city were at
night. I know some parts and a few
iconic buildings would be lit up but I didn’t know it would be to this level.
Arriving into the park across from Puebla Cathedral I was
greeted by one of the most stunning night scenes I had ever seen. The rows of cast iron street lamps that do
nothing during the day look amazing at night.
The cobbled pavements were so smooth that they reflected the light from
above creating this beautiful reflexion of the street lamps on the ground. There was such a reflexion that it looked
like it had just rained. In the centre
of the park was the fountain that looked nice during the day but was lit up
with brilliant blue colours at night.
Behind it Puebla Cathedral was brightly lit up. The lights were placed to highlight the amazing
architecture of the Cathedral’s bell tower and domed roof. The scene as a whole was amazing.
I went to the street behind the Cathedral to get a different
angle but my attention was imminently drawn to something else. Along the entire length of the street were
the same cast iron street lamps but instead of shining white they were slowing changing
colour from vivid red to deep purple. It
was amazing to see a whole street of lamp change colour in uniform from red to
purple. Maybe it was to do with Valentine’s
Day which was coming up next week?
Either way, I will never forget the lit up street of Puebla. A bit of lighting and imagination can really
change a place.
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| Such an amazing place at night. |
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| An amazing example of 16th century architecture. |
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| There aren't many streets like this in the world. The slightly blurred effect comes from the fact a car was coming and I had to get off the road before the exposure was finished. |
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| Again a car was coming, this time a lot faster. But I kinda like this photo. |