Tecali de Herrra, Puebla

We have a source in Tonala who had previously told us that all of his stone products came from the State of Puebla. After a bit of research, I found out that Tecali de Herrera was the "town of stone". While we drove through Tecali yesterday, we were running behind schedule since the cuota leaving Oaxaca was closed due to rock slides and we had to drive approx. 60 miles through the mountains on the libre to get past the slides before connecting with the cuota. We were lucky to average 32mph. Besides, it was pouring down rain in Tecali and not conducive to visiting shops and fabricators.

We got up this morning expecting a sunny day to return to Tecali but it was pouring in Puebla when we left. By the time we reached Tecali (about 40 minutes from the hotel), it had died down to a sprinkle. We spent about 5 hours visiting fabricators, shops and studios and may have hit 10% of the outlets?

If a product can be made from onyx, marble, travertine or some other type rock, I would guess that one can find it!

For anyone interested, here is a slideshow of photos that I managed to take even though many operations have clamped down on the taking of photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/118146709599975173363/TECALIDeHERRERAPUEBLAMEXICO?authkey=Gv1sRgCJSb76nTnNfvYA#slideshow/5778156177224066866
Because I am on a public WIFI, I did this download in lower resolution but will refine the album when I get home and post a new link.

Great pics Neil,thanks.

This was very nice, Thanks.

For those who may be interested, here is a map showing the route we drove from Puebla to Tecali de Herrera:
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That is some beautiful stuff. How were the prices Neil?

Wow. Impressive! Thanks.

There are some amazing artists in this country! Very nice pics, thanks CG.

As with many artisan towns, prices are all over the map. When we get home, I plan to go through our notes and make a more lengthy comment. By then, I will also have time to edit our "dash cam" video which should provide a better understanding of the number and magnitude of the shops and fabricators that one can find not only on the main drag but virtually every side street.

We did learn that our source in Tonala has quite decent pricing especially when one considers that he is hauling the product back from Tecali!

One of the good artisans has been invited and will be at the Feria de los Maestros in November so you can see what the work is like and ask about the prices. He will have from small piceas to large ones.

One of the most impressive fabricators that we visited was Jose Meza. Many of the photos I posted were taken on the grounds of his operation. I just located their website:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fonixtecalijosemeza.com.mx%2Fproductos.html

This fabricator probably leads the way with their variety and uniqueness of designs!

As you will see from the video which follows, our drive from Puebla to Tecali de Herrera started on an ugly day that did improve over time. I had a few technical issues with this video and it gets stuck on stupid for a bit. But one hopefully can get a feel for the countryside and part of our drive into Tecali: