Edron Mates!
Imagine a circular route, leaving the DF via the Pista del Sol towards Cuernavaca, then on to Cuautla, into Morelos towards the Popo, and back through Xochimilco, in search of a series of mysterious convents. Mysterious because there are so many of them in what today is a sparsely populated area of Mexico.
Whereas in Europe there'd be a train station nearby and a fee to pay and audio guides and queues of tourists bearing cameras, in Mexico things are a bit more improvised. Had it not been for Arturo, who knew exactly where to turn along anonymous country roads bearing no indications, I'd've had no clue as to the location or importance of these buildings, nor would I be aware of the serious need to focus on preservation. Arturo has the fortunate ability to turn historical information into a palatable, complex story, with several things going on at once in several places, and glimpses into detailed everyday scenes. As and when we made progress through dramatic landscapes between one town and another - one thing I learnt about their native names is that tepec means mountain and xochitl, flower, and I'm probably wrong on both counts... now try Hueyapan, Yecapixtla, Ocuituco, Atlatlahucan, Totolapan... - I started to understand how these buildings came to be, who built them and what for. What the lives of local people were (and to an extent at least - continue to be) like...
Yecapixtla, where you can enjoy the world-famous cecina (sun-dried and salted finely sliced beef). The convent facade is one of the earliest examples of European architecture in Mexico.The style in which it was built is clearly inspired by late Romanesque buildings in Spain and Italy.
Renaissance architecture in Europe did not arrive here until the end of the 16th Century. Meantime, the architects were Augustine monks and the labour force newly conquered natives - as little as 10 years earlier.
An interesting stylistic blend occurred as a result.
In Ocuituco - the only convent that was completed and which actually functioned as such, located about 10 kms. into the mountains south of the Popo - some of the flowers used in the patterns are clearly disguised versions of some of the sacred flowers of the original inhabitants. See Xochipilli
Through the town of Tetela del Volcan (where there is also a convent worth visiting), we arrived at Hueyapan, at the heart of the sierra.
This is where we met The Priest - who not only gave us a brief rundown of current church affairs but also special permission to climb up the bell tower.
These trilobular gothic windows are one of the very few examples of this style in the American continent. Claro que alguien las tapió.
About the route itself - stunning Mexican lanscapes:
Here's my favourite, mwahaha - thanks, Arturo. Oh, I should clarify that many if not most of the photos in this post were taken by him.
An incredibly rich weekend - how cool is it to have friends you learn so much from? Had to go round to his today for a mid-morning home-made mollete breakfast slash laptop-mac photo exchange session (poor thing - must've had enough of yours truly by yesterday evening) to digest all the information and make this post a joint effort. Thanks, Arturo.
P.S. Sandrine! Qué milagro! Hi Ms. Huxley, erm, Kath!
