Third night in Tepoztlan, bells are clamoring nonstop. is it because there is a ceremony? Or because the town's lights have gone out?
We are cozy in bed thinking back on 3 days here. The first two were of course crazy with Christmas celebration, but today was time just to enjoy the beauties of this place.
Tepoztlan's valley setting is spectacular. It's not so much hills, as craggy towers of volcanic stone, separate ranges on each site of town and the entire town sneaks up a fairly steep slope without you,realizing it.
We've come to understand there are at least three towns here. There is the mercantile section.... the sidewalk vendors, the store owners on the four or five shopping streets, the market stall ladies. Then there is the surge of tourists that flow in like a tide every morning and flow back to mexico city and cuernavaca in their cars at the end of every night, having a gay old time climbing the steep shady mountain trail, buying every flavor of TepozNieve ice cream, exclaiming over hundreds of shawls and earring and recuerdos that look so local but are made in India Bali and China. Then there is backstreets Tepoztlan.
This is a great town. Ever since a few decades ago when they stopped an Arnold Palmer golf course and apparently since have stopped or are stopping a freeway, the town has had strong local pride. The graffiti and murals around town emphasize this. Then there is a lot of esprit de corps in each barrio neighborhood. Apparently in the early 1500s, the spaniards, colonizing the place, organized it by placing a strong buttressed stone chapel on every site that had spiritual significance to the locals. And the strong spirit held. We've walked the neighborhoods uphill and down to find each of the chapels and its been great, we can tell that each highly decorated churchyard has hosted all kinds of parties, soccer scuffles and blessing of the musicians and parades. The Christmas lights and paper lanterns and music imported from china only add to the festiveness.
A night ago walking the streets we saw a group of fifteen or so practicing fancy dance patterns for the waltzes and quadrilles of a wedding or quinceanera, and tonight we think we stumbled on the party. Or a similar one. As we've walked in twilight on the cobbled and flagstoned single lane streets, quite often we've looked into a yard or alley and seen rows of tables set for the local outside reunion or meal. And coming home tonight we saw men in matching light blue tuxes leaving the party where we are pretty sure they did their carefully rehearsed quadrille or whatever. We've seen all kinds of musicians from accordion players tackling O Sole Mio to mariachis to oompa oompa parade music. Right now it's all horn players and staccato drums from a party or procession we can't see.
Ok a fourth tepoztlan is the city of good food. For dessert we had the light layered cooky with shortbread outer layers, light fluffy egg white center, caramel inside that, an alfajor, and the same made in a chocolate version with elegant red marbled ribbon on chocolate.
For dinner chiles en Nogada and a local soup which is broth to which you add your own tortillas, cracklings, white crumbly cheese, thick Mexican cream and avocado. With a tall tequila anejo, don Julio. For a snack, thick cappuccinos. For lunch, incredible chicken mole poblano enchiladas, and wild mushroom soup.
For breakfast in the market we had tlacoyos of refried beans.
Xochicalco Ruins
In the morning, we went by cab more than an hour and 20 minutes past and through Cuernavaca toXochicalco ruins and then (our choice), by (frequent) bus an hour and twenty min back to town and change buses in Cuernavaca for another 50 min trip by local free roads home to Tepoztlan.
Xochicalco is a pretty large pyramid complex, dating from about 700 ad, just after Teotihuacan. It is in an impressive place and has two big draws: a beautiful temple with Qyetzalcoatl bas reliefs that also have Mayan features, and, a pretty impressive deep, black tunnel deep underneath it that ends in a black room with a tiny shaft of light where the sun shines directly down, certain times of day. and its pretty impressive in its multilayered monumentality, with amazing views of soft flowing hills in al, direction, far off popocatepetl. And because its pretty big, seeing its museum and then climbing all over the site, takes three hours or so. But it is quite remote... a little far... From everything but Cuernavaca. It is nice though to come back from it by second class bus, because you are retracing the route where all the wealth from the orient and peru which got offloaded in Acapulco, including Chinese people and pottery, made its way overland through Mexico City, down to Veracruz, over to Europe. If pirates didn't get it first.
Back home, we got to see the pride of Tepoztlan, a world heritage site monastery from the 1500s that had been closed for Christmas. it really was very very lovely. its a great example of the artistic grandeur of the Dominica Monks convents. Incredible old, old 1600s illustrations and murals. With, from the many windows over its nice gardens, great distant views of the last rays of sun gilding the mountains, and white puffy cumulus clouds high above.
And later on we saw from our rooftop, the mountains again with the evening star shining through the slight smog and mars looking very red in the southeast sky.
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