Cactus Land

Tehuacán is a base for exploring one of the newest UNESCO World Heritage Sites… the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere.  The biosphere, which extends from the state of Puebla southward into the state of Oaxaca, covers an area of 1,900 square miles.  Although it is a semi-arid region, it exhibits remarkable biodiversity.  There are around 2700 species of plants found within the reserve, some of them found only here.  The star of the show is the columnar cactus.  Nowhere in the world is there a comparable concentration of these towering plants which can live to be 1000 years old.  The forests of columnar cacti create a surreal landscape.

For the visitor, the best way to see the vegetation of this bioshere close-up is to visit the Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden, located about 15 miles from Tehuacán.  The garden is named after a Mexican botanist who catalogued the many species of cacti in the region.  As you wander along the paths of the garden you will see 53 different species of cactus as well as agaves, yuccas and thorny desert shrubs.

Agaves (such as the species which are cultivated to produce tequila and mezcal) typically send up a tall flower spike and after flowering die.

Epiphytes or air plants grow on some of the thorny trees.  They get their water from the early morning dew.  In Mexico these plants are collected and sold to use as moss-like landscaping for Nativity scenes.

This unusual plant goes by the nickname of "elephant's foot".  Supposedly if you place one hand on its trunk and the other hand exposed to the sun you will receive a burst of energy.  Alejandro and I both tried it, and all we got was a hot palm.

There is much more to see in the biosphere... archaeological sites, rock formations, canyons and waterfalls.  I would not mind returning to Tehuacán to see more of this little known but amazing reserve.

Night Tour

On our first day in Tehuacán, we saw a booth on the main plaza offering a night tour into the mountains above the city by night.  I am not a fan of guided tours, but it sounded interesting, so Alejandro and I bought tickets for that evening.

Shortly before seven we returned to the town square.  There were ten people for the tour.  I was the lone "gringo".   We boarded a large van.  Our guide Fabián was a jovial and informative fellow.  During our ride up into the mountains, he offered us samples of local delicacies.  I tried the cactus fruits and seeds, but I turned down the fried worms.

The tour was approximately five hours long.  We returned to Tehuacán around midnight.  I felt that it was too long.  Our last stop was a place called  ¨Paleo-Park", which in my opinion is definitely a tourist trap.  We walked along a torch-lit path viewing statues of dinosaurs and replicas of fossils that have been found in the region.  Then we went to a small building that they call their museum. There the lady in charge talked on and on and on about the real fossils in their collection.

OK, that was the bad part.

Our first stop was the obligatory souvenir shopping that most tours include.  We stopped in the little town of San Antonio Texcala.  It is the center for mining onyx, and the highway passing through the town is lined with shops selling all sorts of objects carved from the translucent stone.  We stopped at one of the stores.

These onyx bowls are beautiful, but much too fragile to take home.

It was the middle part of the trip that was a genuine adventure that made the entire tour worthwhile.  We turned off the highway onto a rough, unpaved road.  There was a gate across the road, and the caretaker came and opened it.  After closing the gate behind us, he then got into the van with us.  We continued down the road for some distance.  The tall, columnar cacti to either side of us were ghostly figures illuminated by the headlights.  We then got out of the van and followed the caretaker down a path.  Our only light was by flashlight.  It seemed that we were in the middle of nowhere, and some of the group found it a bit scary.  The stars in the clear sky above were brighter and more numerous than you see in big cities with their light pollution.   

After a bit of a hike we reached out destination, a place called "la Capilla Enterrada"... the buried chapel.  This little church was carved out of a cave in the 16th century.

The chapel and the adjoining room which served as a sacristy feature the remains of paintings which covered the walls and ceilings.

It is a remarkable, hidden gem, and it was worth not only taking the tour, but worth the trip to Tehuacán.

Downtown Tehuacán

As I wrote in my last post, for the three-day weekend of Constitution Day, Alejandro and I took a trip to the city of Tehuacán.  We left on Saturday morning, and we were surprised that traffic was relatively light.  Usually on three-day weekends, the highways are jammed with Mexico City families leaving the city.  Everything went very smoothly until we approached the booth to get off the toll road at the Tehuacán exit.  There was only one booth open, traffic was backed up, and we waited for a half hour.

We got to our hotel at about 2:00 PM.  It was a very modern, pleasant place called Hotel Zenith, located just a couple blocks for the town square.  

As I mentioned, the city itself does not have much in the way of tourist sights.  The main plaza is pretty and on the holiday weekend was very lively.

Day and night Tehuacán families were strolling around the plaza or sitting on the benches.  There were vendors and street performers, and on Sunday evening local musicians gave a concert on  the bandstand.  It was a charming and typical image of life in a provincial Mexican town.  

Facing the plaza is the Cathedral of Tehuacán which was built in the 18th century.

The interior is more impressive than I was expecting.

Also facing the town square is the city hall, a very pretty colonial era building reminiscent of the architecture in the state capital of Puebla.

Murals paintings within the portico of the city depict the history of the city.

Tehuacán's greatest claim to historical fame is as the "Cradle of Corn".  Archaeologists have determined that more than 5000 years ago, corn was first cultivated in the Valley of Tehuacán.  The development of agriculture was a crucial step which led to the development of civilizations throughout the Americas. 

A few blocks away from the plaza is another colonial church, El Carmen.

In the former Franciscan monastery that adjoins the church is a small, rather poorly curated museum, The Museum of the Valley of Tehuacán.  It contains some pre-Hispanic artifacts from the region.

Probably the most interesting thing in the museum is a mural created in 2002 which decorates one wall of the main hall.   It depicts Xillonen, the Aztec goddess of corn.  It is made of kernels of different colors of corn.

Although there is not much to see within the city, there are some fascinating places nearby.  Those sights will be covered in the following posts.

Greetings from Tehuacán

Views from our hotel

February 5th is Constitution Day, but it is observed on Monday to create a three day weekend.  (The Mexicans refer to it as a "puente", a bridge.)  Alejandro and I decided to take advantage of his day off, and go on a road trip.  We decided on Tehuacán, a city about four hours from Mexico City in the state of Puebla near the border with the state of Oaxaca.  I have passed through Tehuacán in the past on bus rides between the capital  and Oaxaca, but I have never visited it.  Although it is a city of around 250,000 inhabitants, it doesn't have that much to recommend it as a tourist destination.  However there a few sights in the vicinity that we wanted to see.  In my next several posts I will write about what there is to see in the area of Tehuacán. 

I Have My Tickets!

I wrote in an earlier post that I wanted to see that acclaimed but elusive movie "Roma".  In spite of its ten Academy Award nominations it is not in general release down here.  However, it is playing in a little neighborhood cinema that is just a few blocks from the boyhood home of the director Alfonso Cuarón located (where else?) in the neighborhood of  Roma.  

Today I set out for Cine Tonalá.  If not for the sign outside you would never suspect that this little hole in the wall is a movie theater.  Inside the entrance is a small café and bar, and the ticket window is beyond that.

"Roma" is only being screened seven times in the month of February.  Three of those showings are after I have already left Mexico City.  Alejandro wants to see it with me, so that means that it has to be on a weekend when we have nothing else planned.  That pretty much left us with one option… Sunday, February 10th at 8:00 PM.  I didn't know if they would sell tickets that far in advance, but I didn't want to risk finding out that they were sold out.

I went up to the ticket window, and there was no problem buying tickets for the 10th.  To give you an idea how small the theater is, I chose seats that are half-way back, and we are only in row D.  And the price when compared to cinemas in the U.S. was a real bargain.  Each ticket cost only 60 pesos... about $3!

Heavy Souvenirs

Tourism as we know it today is a relatively recent phenomenon.  The idea of vacationing abroad started in the 18th century when the British aristocracy began taking a "Grand Tour" of the continent.  A favorite destination was Italy where the travelers marveled at the art of the ancient Romans.  Just as today, the tourists bought souvenirs to take home.  But they didn't purchase little trinkets to pack in their bags; they purchased Roman statuary to ship back to Britain.

The National Anthropology Museum currently has a special exhibit with a quite impressive collection of classical statues collected by British travelers on their tour of the continent.  The pieces on exhibit are primarily Roman from the first and second centuries A.D., and most are on loan from a number of museums and collections in the United Kingdom. 

Here is a sampling of items in the exhibit...

"Lion Attacking a Bull"

carving from a Roman sarcophagus

the mythological god of medicine, Asclepius

Silenus, the god of drunkenness

"The Abduction of Persephone"

Roman busts

"The Punishment of Prometheus"

The exhibit runs until April 28th, and admission is free.

Blossom Time

Early spring is the time when thousands upon thousands of jacaranda trees are in bloom in Mexico City.  It´s only the beginning of February, but I have already seen a couple of the trees in full bloom.

Obviously winter in Mexico City is nothing compared with what people north of the border are enduring.  But in the crisp January mornings when the temperatures were in the 40s Fahrenheit, you would see the children on their way to school bundled up with scarves and gloves and caps as if they were facing an Arctic blast.  Perhaps we are now on our way to springtime.  Not only have some of the jacarandas bloomed prematurely, but the forecast for next week is calling for highs of 80 degrees or above.