A Look at the Zocalo of Cuernavaca

When I spent six weeks down in Mexico back in 2008, I was a bit anti-camera, probably because I did not want to stand out too much as a tourist (I was there to learn Spanish and absorb the culture).  As a result, much of my Mexican experiences are undocumented photographically.  While I have every intention of changing this in the future, it does leave the blog without much in the way of Mexican content.  As such, I have been browsing the internet for videos of certain places in Mexico quite a bit, and in the process, I stumbled across this nice gem:

Essentially, the video is a walk through the Zocalo, or main plaza, of Cuernavaca.  The city is one of the oldest cities in Mexico, complete with some 16th century buildings that are still in use.  The city centre is a pretty nice place, with great restaurants, social gatherings, entertainment, and historic buildings (including the Palace of Cortez) providing a lovely atmosphere.  That was pretty much my experience of most downtown areas in Mexican towns and cities.

Cuernavaca has had a pretty intense impact on its local landscape.  For the most part, Morelos, the state in which the city is found, is the northernmost place in the deep interior of the country that is truly tropical.  Before it was paved over and developed, the area was heavily forested with dry jungles.  This, combined with an elevation around 5,500 feet and a location decently into the tropical latitudes, kept the temperature at a near constant 70-75 degrees.  As such, the first Spanish settlers in the region called their new home the "City of Eternal Spring".  The Aztec elite would venture down here every winter from the higher and relatively cooler Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), a tradition followed by Cortez and his leading men.  He built a palace here, as well as numerous churches, including some of the oldest surviving churches in the western hemisphere.

These days, despite some reforestation and growth in the city park system, Cuernavaca has a decidedly hot March through June, in which both heat and humidity bake the residents in a soup of 100 degrees with a very moist atmosphere that eventually gives in and dumps June rains on the place.  Still, when the rains do come, the wonderful climate is restored.  Lovely days in the seventies are maintained by afternoon thunderstorms crashing against the central volcanic belt of Mexico, and the nights, cooled further by the higher elevation of the city, provide natural air conditioning.

What does remain of natural Cuernavaca is very much lovely.  It is surrounded by 14,000 foot mountains which are covered in pines and flowered meadows.  Parrots fly from tree to tree beneath a very strong sun.  The city itself boasts numerous gorges that feature lovely waterfalls.



All in all, a lovely place, and one which American Voyages will be revisiting in detail.