Travels to Cuernavaca: More Murals and Pozole

Cuernavaca is a lovely colonial city just 60 miles south Mexico City. With heavy Saturday morning traffic, the trip took a full two hours. As with many Mexican cities, the zolalo is the center of town. There, one finds the Palacio de Cortes built by the conquerer around 1522. As you can see in the photo, it was built as a fortress and for good reason.

Palacio de Cortes built between 1522-1532 

Today the Palacio houses the Museo Regional Cuauhnahuac. Exhibits highlight Mexican cultures from pre-Hispanic cultures to the Mexican Revolution. My reason for visiting Cuernavaca are the Rivera murals on the back side of the palace. Completed in the mid-1920, Diego and Frida Kahlo lived in Cuernavaca while he painted the balcony with scenes from the conquest through the revolution.

Balcony in the Palacio where Rivera's mural found a home.

I had the gallary completely to myself today. Although there were many other visitors to the museum, Most seem more interested in the historical displays featuring the peoples and events there in the state of Morales.

Local hero Emiliano Zatpata is featured a couple of times in this mural.

Mural detail - Crossing the Ravine.

Gruesome detail from the Conquest mural. The Indians won this fight!

One of the very pleasant features of Cuernavaca are the parks or plazas. Plaza Juarez, although not large compared to the zocalo, features a gazebo designed by Gustave Eiffel (yes, the Paris Tower guy). This was a real unexpected treat to find.

The Eiffle Gazebo? Doesn't sound quite right!

Lunch in Cuernavaca was great. Their pozole blanco is highly recommended. I'm not a big fan of hominy, but the Guerrero-style pozole was excellent. A tasty chicken broth, with large kernals of hominy. The corn was different than any other I've had. I could have ordered the pozole without the chunks of gelatenous fat, but I wanted it as the locals order it.

 Pozole! Almost as good as mom's!

Prior to jumping the bus for my ride back to DF, I visited the cathedral. Interestingly, this is one of the few Mexican cathedrals not on a town's main plaza. Nonetheless, it was well worth the two block walk to check out the "fortress-like" church. A wedding was just finishing up and I'm sure the cherubs were looking out for the newlyweds.

 Cuernavaca was well worth the day trip out of the city. One could easily spend much more time here, but I'm grateful for a single beautiful afternoon!

Tomorrow: Sunday at the Museums and a Bar with a View