|
| |
| |
|
TEPOZTLAN |
| |
One of the most interesting side-trips from Cuernavaca is to
TEPOZTLÁN , just 20km to the northeast, and dramatically sited in a
narrow valley spectacularly ringed by volcanic mountains. Until recently
this was an entirely different world, an isolated agrarian community
inhabited by Nahuatl-speaking people whose life can have changed little
between the time of the Conquest and the beginning of the twentieth
century. It was on Tepoztlán that Oscar Lewis based his classic study of
Life in a Mexican Village and traced the effects of the Revolution on it:
the village was an important stronghold of the original Zapatista
movement. New roads and a couple of luxury hotels have changed things,
and Tepoztlán has become a popular weekend retreat from the capital with
a good selection of restaurants and quality arts and crafts shops
springing up to cater to the visitors. Midweek, at least, it is still a
peaceful spot, and the stunning setting survives, as does a reputation
for joyously boisterous fiestas (especially the drunken revelry of the
night of Sept 7).
Arriving by bus you'll be dropped on the western, upper, side of the
zócalo, where a market is held on Sundays and Wednesdays. On the eastern
side stands the massive, fortress-like Ex-Convento Dominico de la
Natividad . It was indeed a fortress for a while during the Revolution,
but is now in a rather beautiful state of disrepair with some attractive
sections of mural still surviving in the cloister. Around the back and
accessed off C Gonzales, part of the church has been given over to the
Museo de Arte Prehispanico (Tues-Sun 10am-6pm; US$0.40) with a
remarkably good archeological collection. Several pre-Hispanic temples
have been found on the hilltops roundabout and you can see one to the
north, perched high up in impossibly steep-looking terrain. This is the
Santuario del Cerro Tepozteco (daily 9am-5.30pm; US$2.20, free on Sun),
reached after an exhausting climb of an hour or so up what at times is
little more than a upgraded dry streambed: follow the blue signs from
the upper side of the zócalo. It is all worth it for the views from this
artificially flattened hilltop, and the chance to inspect the site at
close quarters. The small, three-stepped, lime-washed pyramid here was
dedicated to Tepoztecatl, a god of pulque and of fertility, represented
by carvings of rabbits. There were so many pulque gods that they were
known as the four-hundred rabbits: the drink was supposedly discovered
by rabbits nibbling at the agave plants from which it is made. This one
gained particular kudos when the Spanish flung the idol off the cliffs
only for his adherents to find that it had landed unharmed - the big
September fiesta is in his honour. Follow the example of Mexicans and
reward your efforts with a picnic lunch (water and soft drinks are
available at a price), but buck the trend and take your empty containers
back with you.
|
|
