Reserva Azul, Cuetzalan, Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico. 12-2021.
Puebla turned out to be a pretty big state. Over there I was looking for a cool small town or village to visit and avoid herds of tourists. I found it, 175 km away from Puebla amidst Sierra Norte de Puebla mountains. That’s how my daughter and I got to Cuetzalan; we took a 4 hour bus ride from Puebla. I have to say right away that this place and its surroundings became an apogee of our whole trip; everything was simply perfect over there (later on there will be other really great spots too during our exploration of Mexico). I’m devoting 6 posts to Cuetzalan!
Cuetzalan has a status of “Pueblo Magico”, or “Magic Town”. “Pueblos Magicos” is a Mexican government program to develop tourism in historically significant parts of the country. “Magic” status is given to town or village when it has rich cultural heritage and beautiful natural surroundings. Today there are 177 magic towns in Mexico. When we travel there, we always try to find and visit those towns. I have to say that Cuetzalan is definitely number one in our list of visited magic towns!
I would like to start my story about Cuetzalan with describing a place where we stayed over there. Here is a little prehistory to begin with. Previous blog post (without text) was about Cholula (which also has a magic town status). We took just a day trip over there. I can’t say we got very impressed… Yes, Cholula has beautiful churches, a one of its kind underground pyramid below one of the Catholic temples, but also pretty boring landscape, lots of sun and no shade and crowds of tourists. Initially we thought we would stay there for a week and rented an airbnb, but I changed my mind as I kept searching for a better option. Cuetzalan was a lot further and seemed so much more interesting. Our airbnb host in Cholula did not get upset with me for canceling and choosing another destination, but on the contrary he was cool about it and even advised us where to stay in Cuetzalan. Wishing all the best to this gentleman! He recommended something exceptional, fantastic, which was absolutely perfect for my taste.
So when we arrived to Cuetzalan, we took a taxi and went to our accommodation in the forest 1.5 km away from the town. For a whole week we stayed in an incredible eco hotel called Reserva Azul. What is this place like? It’s 11 hectares of forest (bosque de niebla), coffee plantations, trails, all that real close to several beautiful waterfalls, which we visited walking. We rented a cute cozy wooden cabin with a fireplace and a terrace with an amazing view over green hills. Nights were cold and we had someone come and start the fireplace for us every evening before bedtime, it was a great ritual! Breakfasts and dinners (upon request) were traditional and very tasty as well as the coffee from their own plantations. Hotel stuff were all nice and polite folks, still have very warm memories of them. Reserva Azul owners (Luis Enrique and Elsa Frenandez) are amazing people, with whom we had lots of opinions in common about attitude to nature, culture and life in general. This eco hotel has no internet, no TVs and no noise. Just a heavenly place. We are definitely coming back!
In Cuetzalan my daughter and I have said good bye to 2021 and celebrated New Year 2022, it was indeed the best place for our little cozy family holiday!
Next post will be about Cuetzalan magic town and its memorable people.
