From Colonial to Modern

Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015--Morelia

We had investigated most of the central part of Morelia, so we set our sights on a few places just barely inside the colonial part of town or just outside it.  We first headed to see the aqueduct which runs for some distance on the far eastern edge of town.  On the way, however, we stopped at a couple of huge buildings from the 1600s and saw the murals inside them.

The aqueduct is in a very pretty part of town with statues, fountains, parks, and a nice promenade.  It has high, graceful arches that continue past block after block of the city, and several of the arches serve as entrances of streets into the colonial center of town. 

From there, we walked to the zoo.  It is very reasonably priced and is quite nice.  It is also undergoing lots of new construction and remodelling.  It must have one of the most successful breeding programs anywhere.  It was amazing how many of each animal they had--whole herds, prides, etc., of exotic animals and birds.  While there, we saw them moving a female brahma cow to an enclosure for her to breed with one of the several males inside it.  They moved her by taking both her and her present calf down the walkway--her lassoed and the baby obediently following behind.  She wasn't happy when they locked the gate behind her without the calve, though.  Anyway, it was fun to see them all walking in the open down the pathway.

From the zoo, we headed to the new campus of the University of Michoacan which houses mostly science and engineering programs.  It consists of many modern buildings and is more like an American college campus. 

As with most campuses, the neighborhood had lots of small shops and restaurants.  We stopped at one of the latter and ate a late lunch/early dinner.  It consisted of TWO soup servings--vegetables in a broth and fideo (noodle soup), a choice of meats with sauces (we both got chicken mole) which came on a plate with rice, a small dessert (mango flan), and fresh fruit water (pear).  It was delicious and filling.

We had missed one last place we wanted to visit when we were near the aqueduct, so we headed back to there to visit probably the most ornate church in Morelia--Guadalupe Sanctuary.  Every bit of every wall was covered with detailed work in gold.

After that, we returned to the hotel.  We had been wandering for 9 hours.  My nose was burned and we were tired.