Arriving in Puebla, the first thing I noticed about the city was not the architecture or chill vibe (both often mentioned while comparing it with Mexico City) but rather the lack of trees along the streets. Coupled with a couple days of rain, the lack of major attractions, and the fact that I’m not a Cemitas1Cemitas are a traditional dish in Puebla, essentially their answer to Mexico City’s torta game. Ingredients include: crunchy hamburger bun, breaded chicken or turkey, avocado, stringy cheese, a mint leaf or two, and some poblano peppers. It sounds great on paper, but for whatever reason doesn’t hit the right notes for me. fan, Puebla felt like a bit of a letdown. Especially after the lituation that was my last night in Mexico City2I returned from the roadtrip with Itzel on Sunday night, but decided to stay another day to knock out my last CDMX blog post while I was still in the city, and to say goodbye to the good friends I’d made at the hostel. Most of them were also leaving on Tuesday, so the night was a natural climax. We started drinking around 9, and at different points in the night, ate incredible esquites, had a Spanish rap battle and made nostalgic stops at Pulqueria los Insurgentes and Tacos Orinoco with the squad. Special shoutout to Richie – you made my night, G..
Even the hostel was more laid back then what I’d found in Mexico City. It was a large space, but had few people. Still, even with few attractions and fewer friends in the hostel, there was always… Tinder.
I met Renata at Puebla’s Zócalo3Apparently, Zócalo is a generic name for any main square in Mexico., and it’s fair to say she saved both my night and my Puebla experience. Over dinner and drinks we chatted about her work as a language student, how she’d travelled Mexico extensively but never been outside of the country, and her nerves for an upcoming 2 month trip to Europe. We speed-walked the city, going to different bars to try out distinctive Poblano4”of Puebla” drinks such as menjul, pasita and rompope5More about those here – you have to scroll down a bit.
The best spot was a stone building near the city center that had classical art on display, and a neon cross atop the bar, as though we were inside one of the many churches Puebla and Cholula are known for. As we sipped on different cocktails, I felt thankful – thankful to see the modern side of the city, thankful for Mexican hospitality, and of all things, thankful for Tinder.
The next day, I moved to Cholula, which is known to be more hip and trendy than Puebla. My hostel had excellent facilities, chic design… and zero other people. I took a nap. Ate dinner by myself. Woke up early the next day and walked to the Great Pyramid of Cholula, known to be the world’s largest pyramid by volume, and learned some of the history from my guide through the tunnels.
My time in Cholula was interesting, relaxing, and comfortable… but not exciting.
Things have been going almost too smoothly in the past 6 weeks. I’ve met people easily, practiced a lot of Spanish, and floated efficiently from one place to the next. It’s been wonderful, but I haven’t been pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. There haven’t been any mishaps or misadventures. Maybe my comfort zone has expanded to the point where nothing phases me anymore? Or maybe, I need to push my limits and introduce more entropy.
It’s time to find out.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- It’s abundantly clear to me at this point that instead of meeting locals through Couchsurfing or hitchhiking, I could easily meet people on this trip entirely through Tinder and Hostels. Would that be so bad? I’m still meeting interesting people and practicing Spanish; I’m still supporting the goals outlined in Chapter 1. Still, “Learning Spanish through Tinder Travel” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
- In many ways, Tinder is works best while traveling, something I didn’t understand until now. When you arrive in a new location, Tinder applies what it calls a “boost” – you appear more frequently in other people’s decks. The net effect is that more people are seeing and swiping right on you, raising your match rate and by extension the likelihood of meeting someone interesting. Boosts are a feature you can generally only access with the premium versions of Tinder, but they come for free when you’re in a new spot. And I’ve found texting people though Tinder is one of the best ways to practice writing in Spanish, since blogging is taking up my journaling bandwidth in English.
- Also, a very interesting article about the Tinder algorithm here.