Puebla Travel 03: The Palafoxiana Library, and the Camera I Turned On After a Run

At 9 a.m. on October 6, I finished a run in a Mexico City park and stood under a wooden roof. I turned the camera toward myself and said hello. "Hola, buenos días." I recorded that greeting again and again that morning.

Part 2 was Mexico City's night tacos and Chapultepec Castle. This post is the next two days. On October 5 I went to Puebla, east of Mexico City, and that night I was out on the canals of Xochimilco. October 6 started in a park, went by Guadalupe hill and the Zócalo, and ended with a night flight.

The route in this post

Date	Where	In a line
Oct 5, breakfast	A restaurant	One plate, three sauces
Oct 5, morning	Puebla: an exhibition room → Palafoxiana Library	Bookcases leading to a gold altarpiece
Oct 5, midday	Old town of Puebla → Barrio del Artista	Talavera bollards, a pottery shop, the PUEBLA letters
Oct 5, night	Xochimilco canals → tacos	A hut hung with dolls, a taco at 9:56 p.m.
Oct 6, morning	Parque México	"Hola, buenos días" after a run
Oct 6, afternoon	Guadalupe hill → Zócalo	Two basilicas, the cathedral under storm clouds
Oct 6, night	Mexico City → Guadalajara	A night flight

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October 5, breakfast: three sauces

The camera was rolling from 5:43 that morning. Breakfast was at a restaurant around 9.

The plate came covered in three stripes of sauce: dark brown with sesame seeds, orange with crushed nuts, pale green with pumpkin seeds. Three brown clay cups sat at the back of the table. Puebla is known as the home of mole poblano. The name of this dish isn't in my notes.

The Palafoxiana Library in Puebla

At 10:27 I walked into a courtyard covered with a glass roof. Under the orange arcade, red, white and green paper decorations were laid out in concentric rings. In Mexico this cut-paper decoration is called papel picado.

Two minutes later I was in an exhibition room with purple walls. An engraving of a bishop, enlarged to more than human height, stood like a gateway, and a gold-framed painting hung on the far wall. The clip has a short "Gracias" in it.

At 10:43, the Palafoxiana Library. Wooden bookcases cover both long walls in three tiers, from the floor to just under the ceiling, packed with leather-bound books. At the far end stands a gold altarpiece with a painting of the Virgin in the middle. The white vaulted ceiling is traced with yellow lines.

The library began in 1646, when Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza donated his own collection of about 5,000 books. It is described as the first public library in the Americas, and in 2005 it was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

In the corner by the window, a white model of a building sits in a glass case on a round wooden table. The bookcase doors are fitted with fine wire mesh, and behind it are rows of books with faded white spines. Light comes in through a window with its big wooden shutters open.

Visitors walk down the central aisle. The desks in front of the bookcases are roped off, and the patterned stone floor is polished smooth. I stood in the middle of the aisle with the stacks and the altarpiece behind me and took one shot. My library photos run until 10:48.

Old town Puebla: Talavera bollards and colored streets

From the library I walked through the old town. Short stone bollards line the edge between road and sidewalk, each with a band of blue zigzag tile. That is Puebla's pottery, Talavera. In 2019 the Talavera craft of Puebla and Tlaxcala was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, in a joint file with Spain.

On the street at 10:59, yellow, hot pink and pale pink buildings stand wall to wall. Each house has black iron balconies, and yellow paper decorations are strung above the road. A red dome rises at the end of the street.

Barrio del Artista and a Talavera pottery shop

At 12:33 I went into a pottery shop. Blue and pink patterned plates covered the walls, and the mugs in the front row each had the word Puebla on them. Blouses embroidered with flowers hung near the ceiling. A VISA sticker was stuck on one shelf.

Three minutes later it was the Barrio del Artista. A red brick building carries a BARRIO DEL ARTISTA sign, and the shop in front hangs striped bags and shawls under a blue awning that reads Azul Cobalto. Right next to it, a tree-shaded pedestrian walkway runs on.

At 1:24 p.m. I took a selfie in front of the person-height PUEBLA letters. The strip under the letters says IMAGINA MÁS. There were a lot of people around the letters. This is close to the last scene I recorded in Puebla.

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October 5, night: the Xochimilco canals and a taco

At 7:33 p.m. I was on the water in Xochimilco. The sun had set and only a blue glow was left in the sky. Past the bow, the canal ran on between trees with water plants floating on it. Far off, a white pyramid-shaped structure was lit up and reflected in the water.

In the 7:40 clip you can hear a guide speaking English: "It's going to have another creepy story." "We're going to land here." The hut I filmed at 7:48 had walls of woven reeds, and old dolls hung on them, upside down and sideways. Most of that night's footage is too dark to make out.

At 9:56 p.m., a taco arrived. Meat piled high with cilantro and chopped onion, with metal bowls of salsa lined up behind it. This was a trip to eat tacos, so the last scene of the day is a taco too.

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October 6, morning: the camera I turned on in Parque México

The next morning started in Parque México, a park in the Condesa area that opened in 1927 on the site of an old racetrack. At 8:39, a dog stands on a bark-covered path under tall trees, and behind it more people come along with their dogs. This is where I went for my run.

After the run I stood under a wooden roof in front of a hedge. White jacket over a navy T-shirt, earbuds in. I turned the camera toward myself. I watch a lot of YouTube and Instagram Reels. Every time, I'd thought I wanted to be a creator who makes videos like that too. But I had never actually tried.

Here is what I said in the 9:03 take, word for word: "After finishing my run today, I felt like making one properly, so I'm leaving this video." In the 9:06 take I put it this way: "I went running during my trip, and suddenly I had this thought, this decision: let's start right now."

From 9:11 the first words changed. "Hola, buenos días." I greeted in the Spanish I had studied, then carried on in Korean. "Let's make videos like this too. When? Right now!" At 9:13 and 9:19 I started again with the same greeting. The 9:19 take cut off after nine seconds.

The last take, at 9:24, ran 50 seconds. It was the first take where I said the plan out loud: I would do a 30-day challenge. I asked people to watch with me how the followers grow over those 30 days. Then I closed with a line that had been in the earlier takes too: "By the way, I love traveling, and I love learning things. Enjoy watching. Thank you."

From 9:03 to 9:24, just over twenty minutes, in the same spot in the same park.

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October 6, afternoon: two basilicas on Guadalupe hill

At 2:41 p.m. I was at the Guadalupe shrine, looking up at a gray stone facade with a clock at the top. Statues of saints stand in the niches, and a relief is carved in the center. The white jacket from the morning had been swapped for a gray shirt.

At 3 p.m. I climbed the stairs of Tepeyac hill behind the churches and looked down. On the left is the old basilica with its yellow tiled dome; on the right, the new basilica under a green roof shaped like a tent. The new basilica was designed by the architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and finished in 1976. It has a round plan, built so the image of the Virgin can be seen from anywhere inside.

On the landing, a stall selling colorful sombreros had its umbrella up, and people leaned on the railing to look down. I took a few selfies at the stone railing with the two basilicas behind me. I was on the hill until 3:02. The city runs all the way to the mountain ridges on the horizon.

The Zócalo: the Metropolitan Cathedral under storm clouds

At 4:42 p.m. I was on a high terrace looking down over the Zócalo. Across the square stood the bell towers and red dome of the Metropolitan Cathedral, and long rows of white tent roofs filled the square. Storm clouds were closing in from above the cathedral.

Work on the Metropolitan Cathedral began in 1573, and its exterior was finished in 1813. It took some 240 years, so Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical styles sit in one building. The camera stayed on for a long time on that terrace. In the background you can hear an English conversation about a drink, tax and paying in cash.

Then that night I flew to Guadalajara.

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Visit info

I went on October 5–6, 2025. The history and architecture notes below are what I looked up while writing this. Opening hours and prices differ between sources, so I don't state them as fixed.

Place	Where	Entry	When I went
Palafoxiana Library	Historic center of Puebla	Paid; fee and free days: check official info before visiting	Oct 5, around 10:45 a.m.
Barrio del Artista	Historic center of Puebla	Street, no entry	Oct 5, around 12:30 p.m.
Parque México	Condesa, Mexico City	Park, no entry	Oct 6, morning
Guadalupe shrine	North Mexico City	Check official info before visiting	Oct 6, around 3 p.m.
Zócalo and Metropolitan Cathedral	Historic center, Mexico City	Square free; cathedral: check official info	Oct 6, around 5 p.m.

Route: Puebla is about 130 km east of Mexico City, and I did it as a day trip. Parque México is in Condesa to the southwest, the Guadalupe shrine is to the north, and the Zócalo is in the historic center between them.

📍 Palafoxiana Library (Biblioteca Palafoxiana) · Historic center, Puebla

• 📚 Known facts: It began in 1646 when Bishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza donated about 5,000 books. It is described as the first public library in the Americas and was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2005.
• 🎟️ Admission and hours: Sources give different fees, free days and hours. Check official info before visiting.
• 👀 Visiting: When I went, the desks by the bookcases were roped off and visitors walked down the central aisle.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 Barrio del Artista · Historic center, Puebla

• 🏺 Talavera: In 2019 the Talavera craft of Puebla and Tlaxcala was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list together with Talavera de la Reina and El Puente del Arzobispo in Spain.
• 🛍️ Shops: Talavera pottery and craft shops cluster around it. Opening times vary by shop.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 Parque México · Colonia Hipódromo, Condesa

• 🌳 Known facts: Built on the site of an old racetrack and opened in 1927. Its official name is Parque San Martín.
• 🏃 Running: I finished my run before 9 a.m. The shade is deep, and plenty of people were out walking dogs.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 Guadalupe shrine (Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe) · Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City

• ⛪ Known facts: The new basilica was designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and built in 1974–1976. Stairs behind the old basilica climb Tepeyac hill to the Capilla del Cerrito at the top.
• 🕰️ Hours and Mass times: I couldn't confirm them from the sources I found. Check official info before visiting.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 The Zócalo and the Metropolitan Cathedral · Centro Histórico, Mexico City

• 🏛️ Known facts: The cathedral stands on the north side of the Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución). Work began in 1573 and the exterior was finished in 1813.
• 🌆 The view: I saw the whole cathedral from a high terrace across the square. Terrace access depends on the business.
• 🗺️ Map: Zócalo · Metropolitan Cathedral

How to get lost a little less

• 📚 In Puebla, start with the Palafoxiana Library. I went in around 10 a.m. and came straight out into the old town. You can walk from the library to the Barrio del Artista.
• 🏺 You see Talavera on the street first. Look at the tile bands on the bollards before you go into the shops, and the patterns will feel familiar.
• 🏃 For a morning run in Mexico City, try Parque México. There's a shaded loop path under the trees, and it's busy from early on.
• ⛪ At Guadalupe, climb the hill stairs. The spot where you see the old and new basilicas together is up the stairs.
• ☁️ See the Zócalo cathedral from above. From the square you look up at the towers; from a terrace you see the cathedral and the square together.

Jayden's verdict

I love traveling, and I love learning things. That's what I said to the camera in Parque México on the morning of October 6.

• Highlight: the gold altarpiece and bookcases of the Palafoxiana Library, and the camera I turned on for the first time after a run in Parque México
• Tip: in Puebla, start at the library and walk the old town. At Guadalupe, go all the way up the hill stairs.

The next part is Guadalajara on October 7. It starts at the hotel in the morning and goes out to the agave fields on the José Cuervo tequila tour.

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Mexico for Tacos: 10 Days

1. Mexico City arrival and a Teotihuacan balloon
2. Mexico City: night tacos and Chapultepec Castle
3. Puebla, Xochimilco at night and Guadalupe (you are here)
4. Guadalajara and a tequila tour
5. Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, and home