Joan introduced me to a term she learned from Barbara Sher: Scanners. Everyone knows them; the ones who can’t stay focused on a single task or get easily bored with traditional work. For a long time Joan struggled with the judgment of family and friends until she came across the scanner description. It was a validation, but not in a sense that left her resigned to a condition. It was one that left her inspired to follow her path.

We’ve met several wonderful people on our trip, each with their interesting and unique stories. This past week, my friend Monique introduced us to Martha. Martha lives in Puebla, and Monique thought she would be a good contact. I had my reservations since Monique said they were all part of a group called themselves Las Brujas (the witches). I needn’t have worried. Not only was Martha one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met, she made us fall in love with Puebla.

I’m always hesitant to contact friends of friends when I don’t really know anything about them. That seems more of an old world tradition, but I decided to take my chances since Martha was in the tourism industry as well.

Like me, Martha cannot walk around her town without acting the role of a tour guide. We were met with warm embraces at El Mural de los Poblanos where we tried a variety of local specialties. Ironically, Martha was the only one to order something non-traditional. She shared with us that the restaurant was famous in Puebla, and at one point I realized I had been there before, on the last day of one of my Mexico city tours.

Martha told us of her gastronomic tours of Puebla and offered to take us on one with her husband this coming weekend, which we eagerly accepted.

After lunch, Martha took us to Ampara, one of Puebla’s 20 museums. This one specializes in modern art, but we didn’t see any of the exhibits since she took us straight up to the rooftop. The cafe at Ampara boasts one of the best views in Puebla, where you can look across a sea of cupolas in this town of 288 churches.

We ordered a round of coffees to get us through the rest of the afternoon and took many photos of the imposing sky. I tried to get one with lightning, but couldn’t quite time it right. While we drank our coffee, Martha told us more about her businesses.

She does photography for local businesses. She leads epicurean tours of Puebla. She runs a marine mammal scouting tours in three countries. And finally, she’s a hotel owner. Originally from Venezuela, she developed a beach front property there. There could be no better model for a scanner! She offered to put together an itinerary for our group to visit her hotel and a couple other destinations in Venezuela.

After our visit to the museum which, to my delight, included more views of the city than paintings, we headed to San Pedrito Licorería, a popular cocktail bar. I was excited to visit a place that prided itself on mixology because I knew I could order my favorite drink, a Manhattan, without the bartender looking confused. Whiskey based drinks are almost unheard of in Mexico.

I wasn’t disappointed with the space or the drink. The ambiance was delightful. The whole place had a glow about it as if we’d entered heaven for alcoholics. Even the bathroom, oddly located across the street, had a glow that invited you inside.

Martha told us that in addition to running tours of her Venezuela resort, she offers whale watching tours in the sea of Cortez. She showed us pictures of her kissing a gray whale while I kissed my perfectly crafted cocktail.

We left the cocktail bar, and she showed us a couple hotels she recommended for any tours we might bring to Puebla. We toured the lobbies and spoke with the managers about bringing our groups there in the future. Independently, Joan and I concluded that the one with the spa would probably be our most likely choices.

We ended our evening at what is probably the most famous churreria (place that makes churros) in Mexico. We were surprised to get a seat, but realized that it was probably available for a reason. The vent from the deep fryer passed right next to our table, and we realized that we would need to wash our clothes as well as ourselves when we returned home.

At the end of our impromptu tour, Martha gave us warm hugs and hopped into an Uber to take her home. Joan and I remarked on our good fortune of meeting another amazing woman and scanner, and that weekend, we got a personalized gastronomy tour of Puebla.