The Sad Night or the Victorious Night?

In 1519 the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés with his small band of soldiers landed on the gulf coast of Mexico.  Lured by tales of the riches of the Aztecs, they marched inland to the capital city of Tenochtitlán.  Along the way the Spanish formed an alliance with the Tlaxcaltecas, an enemy tribe of the Aztecs.

In November of 1519 the Spanish with their Tlaxcalteca allies arrived at Tenochtitlán.  The great Aztec capital, located where Mexico City stands today, was built on an island in the middle of a shallow lake that once covered much of the Valley of Mexico.  A number of causeways connected the island city with the lake shore. 

The Aztec emperor, perhaps believing that Cortés was the god Quetzalcoatl, welcomed the invaders into the city, and gave them lodging in one the royal palaces.  Cortés, realizing his precarious situation in a large, potentially hostile city, brought Moctezuma to the palace where the Spanish were staying and took the emperor hostage.

For several months there was an uneasy peace between the Aztecs and the invaders dwelling in their midst.  But in June of 1520 a powder keg was ignited when one of the Spanish officers, Pedro de Alvarado, fearing an Aztec attack, slaughtered a number of nobles and priests.  The people of Tenochtitlán rose up and laid siege to the palace where the Spanish were housed.  Cortés had Moctezuma appear before his people to convince them to lay down their arms.  But Moctezuma's subjects jeered him and began throwing stones at him, resulting in the emperor's death.  

The Spanish and their Tlaxcalteca allies had no choice but to try to escape the city across one of the causeways.  The Aztecs had breached the causeways to prevent their escape, but the Spanish built a portable bridge to span the gaps.  On the night of June 30, 1520, under the cover of a heavy rainstorm, the Spanish attempted to sneak out of the city.  The soldiers had been allowed to grab what they wanted of the gold and other booty which Moctezuma had given them.  

Before they reached the causeway, the Spanish were spotted, and the Aztecs sounded an alarm.  As the Spanish and Tlaxcaltecas reached the causeway they were being chased by Aztec warriors, and Aztec canoes were harassing them on either side.  The portable bridge enabled the Spanish and their allies to cross the first breach in the causeway, but they were unable to move the bridge in order to span the other gaps.  The retreating troops had to try to swim across the breaches, but many, weighed down by their armor and booty, drowned in the shallow lake, or were killed by the natives attacking from their canoes.  As the death toll mounted, the fleeing soldiers were able to cross the breaches by walking over the bodies of the dead.   When the survivors had reached the lake shore, the extent of their defeat became apparent.  Hundreds of Spaniards and thousands of Tlaxcaltecas had perished.  Cortés sat down beneath a large cypress tree and wept.  The disastrous event became known as "La Noche Triste"...the Sad Night.

The remaining Spaniards managed to return to the safety of Tlaxcala.  There they reorganized and by the following year were able to defeat the Aztecs and take control of central Mexico.

So why am I telling this episode of Mexican history?  On Saturday, when Alejandro and I were driving out of the city, we passed the remains of the tree where Cortés is said to have wept on the "Noche Triste".  I had noticed that there was a subway stop not far away, so on Monday I decided to make a quick trip to take a closer look at the Tree of the Sad Night.  I changed metro lines twice and arrived at the Popotla station.  The remains of the tree are located a few blocks away on a wide avenue called "Calzada México Tacuba".  It's a nondescript part of the city devoid of anything of tourist interest except for this one small historic site.

 

All that is left of the tree is a portion of the trunk.  The green leaves in background are of a smaller, younger cypress tree... perhaps a descendent of the original?

 

The plaque at the base of the tree says, "At this tree Hernán Cortés cried after the defeat before the Aztec defenders."

On a wall next to the little park where the tree is located there is a mural painting which depicts the Aztecs attacking the fleeing Spaniards.

                                    

The title of the painting unmistakably reveals the sentiments of the artist...

"The Night of Victory".

The Lunar Eclipse

The prospect of seeing the lunar eclipse here in Mexico City did not seem good.  Monday afternoon clouds moved in and in the early evening there was a strong thunderstorm.  However by the early morning hours the sky had cleared out.  I was able to take these pictures which did not turn out too badly...

2:15 A.M.

 

2:20 A.M.

 

2:23 A.M.

 

2:36 A.M.

 

3:03 A.M.

Palm Sunday in Coyoacán

Yesterday was Palm Sunday.  Alejandro and I were invited to the birthday party of one of his friends.  We had some time to kill (nobody in Mexico arrives at a party at the stated hour!), so Alejandro drove us to the picturesque neighborhood of Coyoacán on the south side of Mexico City.  Coyoacán is always a popular place on weekends, and since it is Holy Week, it was even more crowded.  We drove around for a while before we finally found a place to park the car.  We walked to the neighborhood's principal church, San Juan Bautista.

 

Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, mass was still being said.  Alejandro told me that in Mexican churches all of the altars and images are covered with draperies during Lent.  They are then uncovered on Easter Sunday.  He found it odd that nothing was covered in this church.  Perhaps it is because this very beautiful church is visited by many tourists.

Outside the church there were a large number of vendors selling small decorations made out of palm leaves.  These are called "palmitas".  Worshipers take their "palmitas" to the Palm Sunday mass to be blessed.  The decorations are then taken home and hung behind the door for the rest of the year.  Then the "palmitas" are taken to church prior to the beginning of Lent the following year.  They are burned, and the ashes are used on Ash Wednesday.

 We took a different street to return to the car.  I'm glad that we did, because we ran across an outdoor art market in one of the parks.

I'm a sucker for art shows like this.  Since I have participated myself in a number of art shows, I know how much even a small purchase is appreciated.  I didn't leave the show empty handed.

This gentleman, who is hearing-impaired, was painting miniatures in oils.  I bought one of his little paintings for only 30 pesos ($2.50).

An artist by the name of Rosa María Rodríguez Cervantes was displaying these charming acrylic paintings.

I bought this one for about $17 U.S.   I will put it aside when I return home and donate it to next year's charity auction.

Two "Magic Towns" in one day

In my previous post, I talked about our visit to "la Peña de Bernal", the huge monolith of rock in the state of Querétaro.  From the flank of the "peña" we could look down at the town of Bernal.

After finishing our hike along the path that goes part way up the rock, I suggested to Alejandro that we drive into the town of Bernal and find a place to eat.  I am so glad we did because we both thought that the town was thoroughly charming.

We found a place to park the car not too far from the town square.  As we walked toward the plaza, I was thinking to myself, "This is such a pretty place.  It should be declared a Magic Town."  (If you have read many of my posts, you already know that the Mexican tourism department grants the status of "Pueblo Mágico" or "Magic Town" to towns that are of outstanding scenic, cultural and historic interest.

Obviously the tourism department agreed with me, because when we reached the town square I saw a plaque commemorating the town's status as a "Magic Town."

The plaza is very picturesque.  On one side is the town hall, built in a rather whimsical style of architecture.  

 

On the other side is the little, 18th century Church of San Sebastián.  Next to the church is a small park filled with flowering jacaranda trees.

 

From the park there is a view of the towering Peña de Bernal.

 

Besides the jacarandas, there were lots of bougainvilleas and other flowers.

I didn't see any American tourists, but both the rock and the town seem to be quite popular destinations for Mexican tourists.  There are a number of hotels and restaurants in the town, and I found some high-quality shops selling local handicrafts.  In one shop I found some very attractive pottery done in a style that I had not seen before.  It is produced in a nearby factory.  I couldn't resist buying a couple pieces.

It was time to eat.  There were a couple restaurants that offered rooftop views of the Peña, but after looking at several menus, we chose a little courtyard restaurant that turned out to be a very good choice.  The food and the service were very good.  There was also a quite talented musician playing the keyboard.  His repertoire was very eclectic... ranging from Chopin and Mozart to Broadway musicals to ragtime.

For dinner I ordered Querétaro-style enchiladas and "cecina" (a type of dried, salted beef that is a specialty of the area).  Alejandro had a steak served with "cuitlacoche".  "Cuitlacoche" (also called "huitlacoche") is a fungus which grows on the ears of corn.  In the U.S. we call it "corn smut", but in Mexico it is a delicacy.  I am not big on trying foods that to our standards seem bizarre (like grasshoppers, ant eggs, or cow brains), but I have tried "cuitlacoche", and it is not bad.  Our name, "corn smut", makes it seem unappetizing, but really it is nothing more than a type of mushroom.

    
By this time it was early evening.  But we made another stop before heading back to Mexico City.  Just down the road from Bernal is Tequisquiapan, another "Magic Town".  We stopped and spent an hour strolling through the center of the town.  The lively plaza with its colonial church and the pedestrianized streets around it were very pleasant.  However we were both of the opinion that Bernal is much more "magical".

Escape to the big rock

Saturday Alejandro and I planned to take one of our one-day excursions outside of Mexico City.  However, we had our doubts that we would be able to escape the capital.  Holy Week is the favorite time of year for Mexican families to take their vacations, and the great exodus out of the city had begun.  We expected to find every highway leading out of the metropolis to be paralyzed with bumper to bumper traffic.

We got a late start on Saturday morning and hit the road at around eleven o'clock. We were very surprised that traffic was not too bad.  In fact, we have experienced worse on some of our other weekend excursions out of the city.  Traffic was heavy, and in some spots slow, but it never came to a standstill.

Our destination was one of Mexico's natural wonders, "la Peña de Bernal" (the Rock of Bernal).  It is located about two and a half hours to the northwest of Mexico City in the state of Querétaro.

The "Peña" is a huge outcropping of sheer rock.  A sign at the entrance to the ecological park said that it is one of the world's largest stone monoliths, surpassed only by the Rock of Gibraltar and Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  However after returning to Mexico City I did some further research of the "Peña" on the internet.  I found an article which said that there was a recent study by the National University of Mexico that more accurately calculated the height of the rock.  With a revised height of over 1400 feet, it is now being said that "la Peña de Bernal" is the tallest monolith in the world...higher than either Gibraltar or Sugar Loaf.

At the base of the rock there is a path leading part of the way up the "Peña".   I wrote in an earlier post that it seems that every time I come to Mexico to visit Alejandro there will be an excursion that involves some sort of climbing... either pyramids or mountain trails.  That comment continues to hold true.  Before beginning the climb you must sign in with the park authorities.  I would say that it is a moderately difficult climb, and, with frequent stops to catch my breath and to take pictures, the ascent took us about an hour.  

 

To climb all the way to the top, up the sheer face of the rock, you must be an experienced rock-climber and have the necessary equipment.  Alejandro is a rock-climber and on a previous expedition with his group of climbing friends made it to the top of the "Peña"

Needless so say, I was not going to do any rock-climbing. But we made it to the highest look-out point of the path.  The view is quite spectacular.  At the foot of the "Peña" is the small town of Bernal.  It is a very picturesque town, and I will write about it in my next post.

The descent, although less physically taxing, is more difficult since you must carefully judge your footing on the rocky path.  My legs felt like rubber by the time we were done, but it was a fun adventure... and I burned some calories after all that Mexican food I've been eating!

A Visit with "El Gringo Suelto"

Keeping a blog has resulted in some unexpected benefits.  Those of you who follow my blog regularly know the story of how my posts on genealogy led me to make contact with a cousin I had never met before.  I have also made contact with a number of other bloggers who either live in Mexico (2 ex-pats and a Mexican) or frequently travel to Mexico.  We comment back and forth on each others' blogs.  Although I could not say that we are friends in the true, profound sense of the word (in this age of Facebook, "friend" is bandied about much too casually), a pleasant relationship has developed with them.  

In January of this year, when I was in Mérida, I had the pleasure of meeting Marc, the author of "An Alaskan in Yucatán".  We had a couple of very interesting conversations over coffee.  It was great to meet the person behind the blog posts, and I hope that on future visits to Mérida we will have the opportunity to get together again.  Today I met another fellow blogger, Kim, the author of "El Gringo Suelto".  Kim is in the middle of an adventurous road trip from his home in Boston across Mexico.  He is currently in Mexico City, so we made plans to meet today.

If you are a reader of Kim's blog, you know that he has never posted a picture of himself.  Out of respect for the elusive and mysterious "Gringo Suelto", I will not post any pictures of him here either.  If you want to know what he looks like... well, I guess your travels will have to cross paths with his so that you can plan a get-together.

We arranged to meet for breakfast at a restaurant in Condesa called "La Buena Tierra" (The Good Earth).

 

The restaurant is located a short walk from my apartment.  Alejandro and I have eaten there a number of times.  The food and service are good, the prices are reasonable, and the menu emphasizes healthy food.  Kim had mentioned in a comment on this blog that he likes "La Buena Tierra" also, so I suggested it as a place to meet.  We had a good breakfast there, but, since we both had Mexican egg dishes, our choices were not necessarily the healthiest options on the menu.  But, hey, I eat healthily at home, and when I'm on vacation I eat whatever I want.

After breakfast, Kim suggested that we take a walk to Chapultepec Park and visit the Anthropology Museum.  I have lost track of how many times I have been to the Anthro Museum, but it is the type of place that is always fascinating no matter how many times you visit.  It is one of the great museums of the world, and nowhere else will you find a comparable collection of artifacts of pre-Hispanic Mexico.

 The centerpiece of the museum, the Mexica Hall, with its treasure trove of Aztec artifacts

We only saw a portion of the huge museum before "museum fatigue" set in.  I don't claim to be an expert in archaeology, but I do have a fascination with the pre-Hispanic civilizations.  I hope that I was able to provide Kim with some additional information on ancient Mexico.

From the Anthropology Museum we went to the Zona Rosa where we had lunch at a popular restaurant called Casa de Toño.  The place is best known for its "pozole".  "Pozole" is a thick soup made with pork, hominy, and garnishes such as lettuce and radishes.

It was a very enjoyable day.  Kim is a great guy and very intelligent, and we had some very interesting conversations during the course of the day.   I hope that the feeling is mutual when I say that we are now more than "blog acquaintances"... that a genuine friendship has begun.

  

The celebrating... and the eating... continue!

Yesterday was Alejandro's birthday.  I went with him to the office because I figured the day would be more about eating than working.  Sure enough, one of his office friends arrived with a cake, and we had a mid- morning coffee and cake break. 

 Carrot cake with a "Pitufo" (Smurf) candle

Another friend had suggested that we go out to eat that afternoon.  We went to a place called Casa Merlos.  Like Angelopolitano, the restaurant where Alejandro and I ate the night before, Casa Merlos also specializes in the cuisine of the city of Puebla.  The food was excellent, although we both thought that Angelopolitano is better.  Alejandro had chicken in a peanut mole, and I had pork with peanut mole.

After a leisurely meal at Casa Merlos, we drove back to the office.  Alejandro put in a few more hours of work, and then we drove to his parents' house.  There we had another cake, and the traditional singing of "Las Mañanitas" (which is Mexico's birthday song).  

                                           It was a fun... and calorie filled... day!