Tepotzlán is only about 30 minutes away from Cuernavaca. Our excursion director, Juan, and our guide, Bernardo, drove the three of us after classes. Juan is awesome and plans all of our excursions at UNINTER. We met Bernardo for the first time today and he is an amazing man. He is 83 and doesn't act a day over 30. Each hour we were with him we learned something else about his amazing life. He is originally from Holland, lived all over the world and now lives in Cuernavaca. When he was 13 and living in Holland during the Holocaust, he was put into a concentration camp and still has the tattoo from the camp. It's amazing to just sit back and listen to all the things he has seen and done. He has been a tour guide at different sites all over the world and is like a walking encyclopedia- truly awesome man! I am looking forward to other excursions with him.
We had two options when we got to Tepotzlán- one was to hike up the side of the hill to reach the top and see the pyramid of Tepozteco, but we didn't have enough time so our other option was to visit the Parish of the Nativity and former Convent of the Nativity and the local artesian market. We hope to return to hike up to the pyramid but I was extremely glad to see the church and market.
The Parish of the Nativity was originally founded by Dominican monks (Edgewood/Dominican connection!) in the mid 1500's. The church was beautiful as well as the adjoining convent and museum. It was full of amazing murals and illustrations of the Dominican influence.
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| Open Chapel |
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| Symbol of the Dominican Order present all over the church |
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| Murals inside the ex-convent |
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| Courtyard of the Convent |
Right now, the community is preparing for one of their biggest festivals, a religious feast dedicated the Nativity of the Virgin, of which is held on September 8th each year. They create these elaborate murals made of thousands of different kinds of nuts, seeds, and corn. They are truly amazing works of art. While we were there, there were people of all ages volunteering to create the mural. They place each seed so delicately in glue and then once dry, they cover it with a clear lacquer.
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| The sketches of the mural |
The artesian market was huge and located below the beautiful mountains. There are so many different vendors selling handmade pottery, clothing, and jewelry. The food market was also so interesting to walk through- so much exotic fruit and food!
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| Helado de fresa- strawberry ice cream! |
After Tepotzlán, we headed back to Cuernavaca to visit Hacienda de Cortés. It is an old sugar cane factory that was built in 1542 and is now a high end hotel. It is GORGEOUS. I felt transported to fairytale in another time. We walked through the gardens and sat on the terrace and enjoyed some margaritas! It was perfect.
After our excursion, we got dropped in el zocalo/el centro in Downtown Cuernavaca. There was so much going on for a Wednesday night! First, we stopped to watch a group of indigenous dancers. Watching them gave me goosebumps! They were dancing in traditional clothing, performing different rituals among strong rhythmic chanting and beating of drums.
Then, on the other side of the zocalo in front of Palacio de Cortes there was an orchestra performance! The energy of the entire downtown was totally infectious- and it was only a Wednesday night!
After going to school and then going on the excursion- I was exhausted! I had to get mentally prepared for another long day because Thursday we are off to see the Ruins at Xochicalco!
Estefani
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