We feel we’ve been treated very well – and honestly throughout Mexico. We’ve heard warnings about the scams: overcharging and short-changing. Sometimes there’s been a few pesos discrepancy between the price on the menu and what’s charged on the bill. No biggie; the menus are old and the prices have gone up. Some employees, especially at coffee shops (even Starbucks) are inconsistent if/when they charge for milk or extra shots.

Three times I have not been charged enough and the error has been in my favor! I’m thankful I can bring it to their attention and pay the appropriate amount.

When the village was blocking the highway our bus travel was interrupted twice. I blogged about this here when our first trip was canceled, but the second time the agent refused to refund the tickets. I was exasperated and frustrated when I didn’t get help calling customer service either, but eventually I emailed customer service and they agreed I was due a credit towards future travel. When we went to purchase our next bus tickets the agent explained the credit was only for the original routing! I told him we would not be traveling that route again. He didn’t know how to give us the credit towards our purchase so instead charged us the children’s rate – a 50% discount – giving us a credit greater than what we were due!

It’s time to share the Cost of Travel – again. I am pleased that our daily expenses in Puebla are below $100.

Accommodations: $563.75. We stayed only 9 nights in Puebla, but in 4 different accommodations – again! Once again, there were problems.

• Hotel Diana, 2 nights at $70 a night.
• AirBnb, 3 nights at $53.60 a night.
• Marquis del Angel, 1 night for $66.10
• Four Points by Sheraton, 3 nights at $65.62 a night.

Food: $239.00. We generally eat only one main meal a day plus coffee twice a day and a usually a snack. We wish we could eat more but we just aren’t hungry.

Transportation: $15.75. This includes some taxi rides, some buses/colectivos and some Ubers. This is the first town where Uber has been available. Not included: $24.50 bus tickets for two to Mexico City.

Entertainment: $14.50

Miscellaneous: $8.10. We had to do laundry twice.

Tips & Alms: $20.75

Total Expenses: $861.85 averages out to $95.76 per day for 2 people over 9 days.

Always remember… Travel plans don’t always go according to plans. You have to roll with the punches.

The AirBnB was wonderful! Not perfect – because the bedroom window looked across the street to a restaurant that blasted loud “banda”music until 8:00pm. I was even able to nap through it.

Yet late Thursday evening we were surprised when a bar in our courtyard opened and started playing loud rock music. (Unbelievable how that was not mentioned in any of the Airbnb’s reviews! I complained to the host and they said there had never been any complaints.)

The next night was worse and the obnoxiously loud music and screeching people could be clearly heard inside our unit.

At 23:30 hours we wondered how late it might continue and knew we could expect a repeat Saturday night so we texted our host to say we had to cancel our reservation. Then we packed an overnight bag and stepped out into the night in search of a quiet hotel in order to get some sleep.

Around the corner was Hotel Diana where we had stayed our first two nights in Puebla, but there was no “room in the inn.” We dashed across the street to another hotel and there found refuge in a large beautiful room. Unfortunately the hard mattress prohibited me from sleeping, plus in the morning there was barely tepid water in the shower. Do we stay here for the next 3 nights? Thankfully, they didn’t have availability!

Our Airbnb host graciously canceled our remaining reservation, gave us a refund and didn’t charge for Friday night. (Apparently, the bar had only recently moved in. Sad, because it effectively can kill their Airbnb investment.)

We returned to our Airbnb to pack, but we needed to find someplace to stay for the next 3 nights. It was Saturday and there wasn’t much available.

Using Booking.com and carefully reading reviews we finally made the decision to move to a hotel outside of the historical center.

It turned out to be a great choice.

We discovered our new location was close to Puebla’s biggest mall!

We’re made it to Mexico City! See you there.