Tepoztlán

So, back from Tepoztlán. Actually, we (C. from France, Y. from Corea and me) really had bad luck, because it rained all the time. Each step was like swimming in my shoes and it was sooo could with all the clothes soggy like the sea. I felt like...

But believe it or not, it was still really nice. Tepoztlán is a beautiful little village classified as Pueblo Mágico (Magic Village), as it preserves a lot of original culture.

As there is a lot of shamanic medicine and traditions, Tepoztlán also attracts a lot of hippies. Pretty strange to see this in a country like Mexico, which is so extremely macho.
A lot of tourists (mainly Mexicans) come to the village each weekend, making it difficult to find a hotel, which is not fully booked. Consequentely, our "hotel" was kind of... erm... labile...

Our "hotel"

But at least the staff was very nice and brought us fresh café de ollla (lit. coffee from the pot) in the morning.

Fresh café de olla in the morning

It's coffee cooked in a large ceramic pot, mixed with cinnamon and cane sugar. Served steaming hot it's the way to start the day (hey, could be a slogan).

We arrived on Saturday and stayed one night. The weather forecast for Sunday was even worse, so we decided to visit Tepoztlán's main attraction already on Saturday, although it was already a bit late.

C. (France), me, Y. (Corea)

The village is most famous for the pirámide del Tepozteco, a 10m high pyramide. Obviously, the reason for its fame is not the size, but the fact that it's located in an archaeological site (El Tepozteco) with a beautiful nature and a beautiful view from above... normally...

Our "view"... keep smiling :-)

Anyway, it was beautiful!

The climb to the pyramide was kind of exhausting and we were really lucky, as we were the very last visitors who were allowed to enter that day. Poor guys struggling uphill after us.
The pyramide is also a symbol for the fact that the Spanish conquistadores never could totally finish their occupation - so the pyramide still stands on the very top, "untouched".

C. "climbing" the pyramide

Well ok, nowadays touched by the tourists and... some curious and hungry coatis!

C. (France) in a good mood, despite the weather and the efforts to climb the pyramid.

This kind of being proud of the Mexican culture and "hating" both, Spanish and US American influence, is very common here. As long as people get that you are European, but not a Spanish tourist everything's fine. But the Lord help us when they think you are a gringo (US American). Mexico has a strange ambivalent relationship with its neighbour. Admiration for it's success and progress, but also hate for it's ignorance, arrogance and the fact that they "stole" huge parts of the country. Even the young generation gets really emotional as soon as you mention that Texas was once part of Mexico!
For example in the local museum there were also some quotes on the wall:

The Euopeans didn't bring us the culture, they brought us their culture. Centuries before Europe created it, our own one was flourishing.

We will never completely be Mexicans, as long as we don't learn to love and admire the marvellous arts of our indigenous ancestors.

To be honest, I feel some kind of serious inferiority complex in the Mexican mentality and behaviour. Even one of the biggest festivities in Puebla shows this: El cinco de mayo (fifth of May). That day Mexicans celebrate one of their seldom victories, namely the one against French forces in 1862, neglecting that only three years later the France hit back successfully. But what shouldn't be doesn't exist. Right? Right. At least in Mexico...
Back to our trip in Tepoztlán. If nothing else in our hotel was working (would have been so nice to have a bit more than icecold water), at least the garden was really nice.

Plums

Found out the name of my favourite flower: Ave del Paraíso (Bird of Paradise). This was the one I mentioned in an earlier post that it reminds me of Thailand, as I already loved it there.

Probably it would have been better to swim, rather than to walk. Yet, the streets full of running water looked aesthetic.

Although it was raining cats and dogs, we preserved our smiles :-)

Moreover, in Cholula it wouldn't have been better, as it was raining the whole weekend in large parts of Mexico.
At least the food was good.

Unfortunately you don't get them too often in Mexican restaurants: Cebolla Cambray (grilled spring onion). As soon as I see it, I order a bunch of this sweet delicacy.

Me, Y. (Corea), C. (France)

Liked the Tlaxcales: Triangles made out of corn flour, butter and cinnamon.

... and C. obviously also did. She said to be glad that with me it was so easy to try new things, as most people shied away from trying unknown food. Well, she made a lot of new culinary experiences that weekend.

Atole (corn flour with water, milk, cinnamon, cane sugar and vanilla) with oats, or chocolate.

Rebellious tortilla.

Mountains of corn dough for tortillas.

Finally guava season has started. Now you get the big and tasty exemplars to low prices.

As stated before, the city by itself is already really nice and worth a visit.

The flowers everywhere are so beautiful.

Just look at the awesome surroundings!

Ex Convento Dominico de la Natividad

Bewitched gardens...

I would never ever walk around showing off so openly my SLR camera. But she's really offhand about that...

The aforementioned archeological museum was small, yet impressive - and it had a roof!

Sometimes I was not sure if my companions were as interested in the museum as I was :-D

Obviously, already the very old cultures new very bad diseases.

Look at the details - this guy even has teeth! I'm always impressed when thinking that people who lived more than thousand years ago could do things most of us couln't do today.

Good impression of how the houses looked like.

The whole pattern is made out of beans and seeds. Wow!

Black, white and brown beans, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, amarant, flax seeds, sesame, mung beans... very Mexican!

The indigenous cult apparently was quite brutal. A human sacrifice was skinned and then the shaman dressed it before soothed the gods. Hmm... But the associated figures actually look kind of brutal, too:

The "private cult" was less bloody, restricting itself to the usage of certain small talismans, for example for fertility, good harvests, health etc. The wishes seem to be always the same in human history.

Small figures for the "private cult at home"

Entrance to the local church

 The entrance to the local church boasts a unique "painting", completely made out of seeds and beans. Local artists create a new image every year.

Closer view. How long does it take to "sow" such an image?!

Even the flowers on the local market where made out of beans:

But what might it stand for when you give this one to your darling:

Garlic "flower"

When returning to Cholula we even had another small climbing session...

... thanks to a decrepit tree:

The day before we were still walking there!

Only wanted one thing: Changing the totally soggy clothes.

Before reaching our dry clothes in Cholula we still had to survive the 4 hour trip in air-conditioned buses. Sooo cold. I probably never took such a long and hot shower like that night. And actually we just had one our, as we already met at 9 p.m. with some other guys to see the Grito de Dolores on Puebla's main plaza. But the report about this event, which initiates the Independance Day, will follow in a separate post.

Fun fact at the end: Y. (Corea) might be more stand-alone than all the Japanese students (they are literally lost here with culture, mentality, language and security), but still she's a "phenomenon".
She's close to a heart attack as soon as a little fly dares to approach her... But then again she was close to impressing me when she told me that she was hiking alone at the Himalaya. The story was like:
When climbing up with her group, she got sick (hmm, less cool), so she had to turn (ok, even less cool). As her group only had one guide, she had to return alone. Now, that's cool. Wow!
Erm, ok, the complete story is like this:
... so the guide dropped her at a mountain village, which was connected with the city at the foot of the mountain by a proper street. So she had to take a taxi alone and to sleep one night in a hotel alone. Soooo scary.
Erm, yes... But hey, she's nice anyway.