Touristic Mexico (Part 2)

More from the National Museum of Art's special exhibit "Mexico - Route and Destination" which deals with the rise of tourism in Mexico in the 20th century...

A portion of the exhibit deals with some of the Mexican cities that became popular tourist draws.

Of course, Mexico City, the nation's capital and largest city is a major destination.

Travel poster for Mexico City from the Mexican Tourism Department, 1945

 Vintage postages of Mexico City

I'm pretty sure that I had that second card from one of my early trips to Mexico.

"From My Window", oil painting by Angelina Beloff, 1965  (Beloff was Diego Rivera's first wife.)

"Hidalgo Avenue", oil painting by Angelina Beloff, 1949

Poolside at the Hotel Alameda, 1964

When it opened in 1961, the Hotel Alameda was one of the most luxurious hotels in the city.  During the earthquake of 1985, all of the guests were safely evacuated.  However the building suffered serious structural damage.  The swimming pool cracked, and the rooms in the floors below suffered water damage.  Demolition began in 1994 but was not completed until 2004.

The Hotel Regis, 1930

Opened in 1918, the Hotel Regis was one of the city's first luxury hotels.  The hotel collapsed in the 1985 earthquake, and 136 corpses were found in the wreckage.  Today the site is a park called the Plaza of Solidarity which honors the victims of the quake.

Another town which became a popular tourist destination was Taxco.  Taxco was an important silver mining town during the colonial period, but by the beginning of the 20th century, mining had decreased, and the town became a picturesque backwater.  Then in the 1920s, William Spratling, an architect and silversmith from the U.S., moved here.  He opened a silver shop and trained Mexicans in the art of silversmithing.  His students went on to open their own shops, and Taxco emerged as an important tourist destination, not just for its colonial atmosphere, but for its high quality silver work.  (I still own a few sterling silver rings that I bought in Taxco on early trips to Mexico.)

"View of Taxco and of the Church of Santa Prisca" by Guillermo Gómez Mayorga

The Spratling silver shop, 1944

Vintage silver jewelry from Taxco

In between Mexico City and Taxco, is the city of Cuernavaca.  Because it is several thousand feet lower in elevation than Mexico City, its climate is warmer.  It is called the "City of Eternal Spring".  It became a popular place for wealthy Mexico City families to build weekend homes.  Then, investors built hotels.  (I have to say, that today Cuernavaca is a big city that has lost much of its charm.)

 "Souvenir of Cuernavaca" by Juan O'Gorman

 Tourist map of Cuernavaca from the mid 20th century

Long before there was a Cancún, Acapulco was the "in" beach resort with jet setters.  Hollywood movie stars built homes along its bays.  Although today, its reputation has been tarnished by cartel violence and the devastation of Hurricane Otis in 2023, it remains an important vacation destination.

"On Vacation"  oil painting for a calendar illustration by Luis Améndolla

  

Club de Pesca Hotel in 1953

Hotel Presidente in 1958

Vintage postcard of one of the famous cliff divers

(I think I once had this postcard also.)

The exhibit ends with a large mural that was saved from the Hotel del Prado in Mexico City.  It was yet another hotel that was seriously damaged in the 1985 earthquake. (Today the Hilton Hotel stands on the site.)

Hotel del Prado in 1950

The hotel contained one of Diego Rivera's most famous murals, "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central".  The mural survived the quake, and a small museum was built nearby to house the painting.  However, I did not know that the hotel also had two murals by Miguel Covarrubias.  One of them, a cultural map of Mexico, is now in the Museum of Popular Arts.  I have seen that mural many times without realizing where is was originally located.  The other work by Covarrubias was an illustrated map, measuring over 450 square feet, showing Mexico's natural resources and lines of communication.  It suffered serious damage and has been in storage for 41 years.  In a laborious process that took two years, it was restored and presented to the National Museum of Art.  This exhibit is the first time the mural has been on public display since 1985.

A detail of the mural

The Drive Back

By eleven o'clock on Sunday morning we had checked out of the hotel, the Hacienda San Antonio el Puente, and started the drive back to Mexico City.

We drove through the little town of Xochitepec where the hotel is located.

Soon we were on the toll road that would take us through Cuernavaca and all the way to Mexico City.

Cuernavaca has long been a fashionable weekend getaway for the wealthy of Mexico City. Sitting at a lower elevation, it has a warmer climate and is nicknamed "The City of Eternal Spring".  However, it has grown into a fairly big city (with a population of around 370,000), and has big city problems such as congested streets, air pollution and crime.  From the highway, the city does not look particularly attractive.

Looming in the background are the mountains which we will cross to get to Mexico City.

Built in 1952, the toll road between Mexico City and Cuernavaca was one of the first in the country.

As we climb in elevation, we come to the infamous hairpin curve known as "La Pera" (The Pear).  

You can see from this photo that I took from Google Maps how this curve got its name.  It is the scene of many fatalities, especially of motorcyclists who take the curve at high speeds.

The highway climbs to an elevation of over 8800 feet.  The forested mountains with pines the predominant tree are not the typical landscape that most people imagine of Mexico.

Just as we reached the border between the state of Morelos and Mexico City, the camera said that the memory card was full!  (When we got back to the apartment I downloaded all the photos onto my laptop and emptied the memory card.)  It's a shame, because there were some impressive views as we descended in Mexico City's valley.  The air pollution was not too bad and at one point I was even able to make out the outline of the volcanoes Popo and Izta. 

From Google Maps street view, I took this picture of the gate which marks the city limits of Mexico City which is located more or less at the highway's highest point.

Along the mountainous flank on the southern border it is surprising how much forest and farmland is actually within the city limits.

Yes, this is Mexico City, the largest city in North America.  Again, I took this from Google Maps.

Unfortunately, Google Maps could not offer the view that we had of Mexico City spread below us in the valley.  On that Sunday, the traffic into the city fortunately was relatively light.  The entire return trip from the hotel back to my apartment took us approximately ninety minutes.  The previous Friday night traffic was so snarled that it took us that long just to get out of the city. 

Eating Well at the Hacienda

The Hotel Hacienda San Antonio el Puente is located in a small town called Xochitepec just to the south of Cuernavaca.  There did not seem to be much in the way of restaurants in the town, but that did not matter since the food at the hotel was excellent.

The hotel restaurant is located in the large brick building that use to be the sugar mill of the plantation.

There are tables set outside on the terrace, but even inside, the large open arches on three sides make it seem that one is dining "al fresco", with views of the tropical vegetation.  Fortunately, with Cuernavaca's warmer climate, the outdoor temperature is comfortable even for an early breakfast or a late supper.

As I wrote previously, because of the heavy traffic in Mexico City, we arrived at the hacienda after 9:00 P.M.  We were worried that the restaurant would be closed by that time we got settled into our room.  However, supper is served until 11:00.  Both of us ordered chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and covered with guava "mole".  It was outstanding.

On weekends there is an enormous breakfast buffet that includes everything from pancakes to paella.

The pancakes were not that good, but the "cochinita pibil"  (Yucatan-style pulled pork) and the tamales were exceptionally good.

With the large breakfast we did not have to worry about lunch, although we could have ordered something to eat from one of the poolside cafés.  We had another delicious supper Saturday night.  Alejandro ordered risotto with squash blossoms, and I had chicken cordon bleu with spaghetti.

After another breakfast buffet on Sunday, with our bellies full, we checked out and drove back to Mexico City.

The History of the Hacienda

The hotel where Alejandro and I stayed last weekend was built on the site of an hacienda (ranch or plantation).  Although some of the hotel is of modern construction, much of it is reconstructed from the remains of the original hacienda.

In 1532, just eleven years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Dominican friars established a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony along the banks of the Apatlaco River.  The Spanish found that the valley of Cuernavaca, with its subtropical climate and rich volcanic soil, was an ideal area for agriculture.  They introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, and in 1574 a small sugar mill was built at this location.  A bridge, which still stands, was built across the river.

In 1592 a royal land grant established the hacienda which became known at Hacienda San Antonio el Puente (St. Anthony the Bridge).  Through the centuries the plantation continued under various owners.  By the nineteenth century, with more modern technology, it reached its height.

The mill, where the sugar cane was brought to be ground, is today the hotel's restaurant.

The chimney behind the mill marks the location were the ground cane was boiled down into a juice.

The cooked cane was then put in clay jars and placed in this tunnel.  The humidity and temperature of the tunnel encouraged the crystallization of the sugar juice.

The remains of an aqueduct which carried water to the mill

Toward the end of the 1600s, the original chapel was destroyed in a flood.  It was replaced with this church which still stands just outside the confines of the hotel and which serves as the local parish church today.

In the late nineteenth century the hacienda owners built a larger chapel within the hacienda complex. 

 

Looking up into the chapel's dome

The choir loft at the rear of the chapel

The outbreak of the Mexican Revolution marked the beginning of the hacienda's decline.  The state of Morelos, where the hacienda is located, was the home of the revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata who sought to break up the vast landholdings of the wealthy and distribute land to the peasants.  In various agrarian reforms the hacienda lost much of its land and subsequent owners sold off other portions of land until only the "casco", the central complex of hacienda buildings was left.

The hacienda was completely abandoned for ten years.  In 1989 the property was purchased by a group of investors, and work began on the restoration of the hacienda in order to convert it into a hotel.  Today the property is part of the Fiesta American chain of hotels.