Exploring Cuernavaca Further

Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015--Cuernavaca

We had breakfast today at a more touristy place than where we would normally go.  I recognized it from the guidebook, so we went in.  If we had gone half a block further, we could have had the same breakfast for 60% of the price.  Anyway, Las Iguanas Green's is unique.  It is painted in bright colors and has handwritten notes on the walls left by customers.  We each had chiliquiles verdes with chicken.  It was tasty with a rich cream and cheeze on top.

We toured the three major tourist sites downtown after that.  First came the Botanical Gardens.  They are the grounds of an old mansion, and the plants were not as impressive as ones we have seen in private gardens around town.  But they also had two art exhibits that were interesting.  One was photographs of Cuernavaca over the years by Dutch photographer Bob Schalkwijk.  The other was paintings from throughout the life of Mexican artist Angel Zarraga.

From there, we crossed the street to visit the Cathedral.  It is really different from any of the major churches we have seen on this trip.  It is an old building (from the early 1500s) and has some original paintings on the interior stucco.  At the same time, it has a very modern alter.  We were fortunate to be there while a choir was rehearsing for a wedding which was to begin within a few minutes.

After that, we walked to the Cortes Palace.  It was the biggest disappointment of the day.  First, it is a reconstruction of what they think it was like.  Only the foundations remained along with a few drawings of parts of the exterior of the palace to guide the reconstruction.  Second, nothing inside has to do with Cortes.  It is like a small city history museum with a hodgepodge of exhibits.  The best part was a series of murals by Diego Rivera showing the history of Mexico from the time of the arrival of the Spanish.  They were on the outer walls of an upstairs patio.

We wanted to try to see some of the modern parts of the city, so we followed a plan to get to the nicer areas.  It was interesting in that it seemed more like we were in California out there than in Mexico.  The houses were nice, the office buildings were very modern.  The plants were very colorful.  And the businesses included Gold's Gym, Chili's, Subway, Krispy Kreme, etc.

We ate a final torta--pulled pork in a nice sauce.--for dinner.  Then we wandered back to the hotel for the night after watching some native dancers in costume on the zocolo.  Tomorrow is a travel day to get home.