We took a two hour tour of Puebla atop an open double-decker bus yesterday. It covered so much, so fast that while I am sure we saw all the sights, we covered too many of them to remember.
One thing I did take note of was the Fort of Cerro de Guadalupe where, on May 5, 1862, Mexican General Ignacio de Zaragoza and his 2000 men defeated a frontal attack by 6000 French troops! This occasion has been celebrated ever since with the Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo.
In Mexico’s favour that day was the fact that the French invaders were not expecting an organized defence of the city plus many of the French troops were suffering from the common Mexican tourist’s malady, diarrhea and were probably more interested in finding the banos than they were in spreading French Imperialism. The French did however, return the following year to take the city which they occupied for four more years.
Here are some photos of the Cerro de Guadalupe and the monument to and burial site of General Zaragoza.
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