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Tag Archives: Mexican Legends
Walking Tours of Taxco de Alarcon
22 Jan
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Walking Tours of Taxco de Alarcon – An Excerpt
21 Jan
Download all eight “Walking Tours,” books from Amazon.com; Barnes and Noble.com; or Kobo.com. Search William J. Conaway.
Walking Tour of Taxco de Alarcón
Copyright William J. Conaway, 2003 Derechos Reservados
Getting There
Getting to Taxco (Tahs-ko) by bus from the Terminal del Sur in Mexico City is easy. It’s 111 miles south of Mexico City, 50 miles south of Cuernavaca. There are busses every 30 minutes and they take 2-3 hours to get there.
The bus stop at Taxco is too far from the center of town to walk, so if you have a reservation in one of the top hotels take a taxi, or if you’re like me, on a budget, ride a minivan bus marked “Santa Prisca” or “Zocalo” to the center of town, Plaza Borda.
This city of 95,000 people, like Guanajuato, and the other Toledano cities (towns similar to Toledo, Spain) in Mexico, there is no place to park. If you brought your own car, park it at the hotel and leave it there until you’re ready to leave. The downtown area is very small and everything else is straight up and down, a warren of narrow alleys. The city is, don’t forget, 6,000 feet above sea level so take it slow. To see the nearby sights, however, a car is a good idea, whether it be your own or a hired taxi (hired for the day). There are busses that go everywhere for those of us on a budget.
The city itself sits directly over ancient mine tunnels that criss-cross all through the mountain that supports it. The center of town is the tree shaded Plaza Borda with the imposing twin-towered Santa Prisca Church on one side and silver shops and restaurants on all the others. Beside the church, deep in a crevice of the mountain is the market (where you can find the most inexpensive places to eat in town).
Taxco is the oldest mining region on the American continent, and one of México’s oldest population centers. A city nestled in the heart of a mountain.
Atachi, Lord of the Waters, is the name of the mountain where Taxco perches. A mountain that sits 5,758 feet above the tropical lowlands, which periodically attracts heavy rainfall. How apropos that Santa Prisca (Priscilla) is the traditional patron saint for protection against storms: guardian in the face of lightning and flood.
Taxco’s original Indian occupants were specialist in the art of stone carving. Nowhere else in México has such a variety of pre-Classical sculpture been found.
Three ancient mines, with wooden shoring still intact, have recently been discovered near Taxco at a place called Chichila. This proves that there was a far more advanced Indian mining industry here than had previously been thought. The most prized mineral by the Indians of Mesoamerica was cinnabar (vermilion) or ferrous oxide, the best, longest lasting red dye on the planet. This dye was an essential paint for religious ceremonies by all the various Indian groups throughout México.
Walking Tours of Taxco, de Alarcon
18 JanDownload all eight “Walking Tours,” books from Amazon.com; Barnes and Noble.com; or Kobo.com. Search William J. Conaway.
Walking Tours of Puebla de Los Angeles – An Excerpt
16 Jan
Download all eight “Walking Tours,” books from Amazon.com; Barnes and Noble.com; or Kobo.com. Search William J. Conaway
An excerpt from my, “Walking Tours of Puebla de Los Angeles.”
Walking Tours of Puebla de los Angeles
Copyright William J. Conaway, 2009
The city of Puebla, capital of the state of the same name, is located in the large, high altitude, Puebla Valley, that connects to the Valle de México, 80 miles southeast of Mexico City. It is one of the oldest Spanish Colonial cities, founded in 1531, on a site not previously occupied. Legend has it that a band of angels appeared to Bishop Julian Garcés pointing to the location of the future city.
Puebla is renown for its distinctive Spanish Colonial architecture, and UNESCO designated it a World Heritage City in 1987. A truly Spanish Colonial city of imposing civil architecture next to centuries old churches. The Spaniards, with the aid of native artisans, left behind a magnificent architectural legacy. A National Monument.
Four volcanoes, the highest peaks in México, are visible, on a clear day, from the city: Popocatépetl (17,883 ft.), Iztaccihuatl (17, 338 ft.), La Malinche (14,632 ft.), and Citlaltépetl or Pico de Orizaba (18,855 ft.). Popo, as it’s affectionately called, is an active volcano occasionally spewing smoke and ash.
The city is officially known today as Puebla de Zaragoza, named for the General Ignacio Zaragoza, who successfully defended the city against the French Imperial Army on May 5, 1862. It is an important link between the Gulf Coast and Mexico City even today. An important agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing center. The population, as determined by the 2000 census, was 1,346,000 souls.
Getting there: Wherever you are go to Mexico City, to the Terminal Norte, and take the ADO bus to Puebla. It’s that easy. Don’t drive. It’s not worth it. Too much traffic, and no place to park. There are hundreds of perfectly adequate hotels, but I recommend the Hotel Colonial. It’s right beside the Church of the Company of Jesus, and one block from the Zócalo.
(Interspersed with the history and the walking tours of the city I have included some of the legends. The legends will be inserted at the place where they occurred, and will appear in italics.)
Puebla’s main Plaza, called the Zócalo, is the cultural, political, religious nucleus of the city and our tours will begin from there. The tree filled Plaza is flanked with beautiful, old colonial buildings, and graced with iron benches and a large fountain. The surrounding streets form a grid pattern adhering to the Spanish Colonial ‘blueprint.” The vivid talavera tile, evident throughout Puebla, was a craft brought here from Talavera de la Reina, a Spanish city near Toledo, Spain, and is produced here to this day.
Here, right on the square you can find a Burger King, a Carl’s Jr., and around the corner a KFC. And all around the place are coffee shops of The Italian Coffee Company. What you won’t find are the usual junk shops for tourists. Puebla’s visitors are mostly here on business. The tourists I did see were mostly European.
Walking Tours of Morelia: the City of Music
11 Jan
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Walking Tours of Guanajuato
3 JanDownload a “Walking Tours” book today from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and Kobo.com.
Walking Tours of Guanajuato – an Excerpt
2 Jan
Download all Eight Mexican Colonial Cities Walking Tours
An excerpt from my “Walking Tours of Guanajuato: City of Cervantes”.
Walking Tour of Guanajuato:
City of Cervantes
Guanajuato is one of the Mexican cities which have best preserved their own peculiar spirit, and in consequence, their authentic stateliness.
Introduction to Guanajuato
Nature made this corner of México one of magnificence. Its indescribable dynamism fills all who see it with wonder and enjoyment. And it gives one an uneasy sensation: that of the intense power of geology over the stupendous and rugged landscape. Esteban A. de Varona
This guide is designed so that you can see all of the important places downtown between the hours of 11 A.M. and 2 P.M., because most of the museums and churches close then. If you can wait for lunch until then, you’ll be better off. Take a Snickers!
If you’re physically unable to walk long distances and you need a shorter tour try to do #’s 1-10, M1, and M3 at least. You can buy postcards of #’s 11-15 and either take a bus or a taxi to all the rest.
The legends are printed in italics. They are authentic, and have been handed down generation after generation. I suggest you find a place to sit and read them while you’re actually at the place named in them. But if you wish you can read them before you start out or afterwards. It’s up to you.
You really should spend a few days here in this magical place to get the feel of it. Right downtown at the start of our Walking Tour is the Hotel Santa Fe (4 star) directly on the Plaza de la Unión, or across the street the Hotel San Diego (3 star) next to the church of the same name. These are great places to spend the weekend and be serenaded by the University band.
If you’d rather stay out of town there’s always the Hotel Misión de San Gabriel de Barrera (5 star) right beside the museum of the same name. You can taxi into town from there.
Don’t go to Guanajuato by car. Go by bus. México has the best bus service in North America. They have comfortable seats, movies, bathrooms, and they maintain a speed limit of 55 miles-an-hour. Having a car in Guanajuato is of no real benefit.
If you must drive, park as soon as you enter the city. There’s a public parking lot on the left hand side of the divided street just after the statue of the miners, Estacionamiento Público.
From the bus station or the public parking lot you can get a cab into the city to our starting point, Jardín de la Unión.
If you’re on a budget: from the bus station take one of the city buses that says Jardín Unión on the windshield. If you’ve driven to Guanajuato, from the parking lot, cross the street, and walk down to the covered bus kiosk. Take any bus that says Jardín Unión on the windshield.
The city, approached by road, is completely concealed in a long deep valley until the last turn in the road when suddenly you’re on one of the busiest thoroughfares (there are only three) of Guanajuato.
The mountains to the north are Los Cerros del Cuarto. Due south, across town from them (statue of Pipila) is the San Miguel mountain. On the east are Los Timultos, and northeast the Mellado, Valenciana, and Cata. The Guanajuato River, with its tributary, the Cata, flows underground mostly, and completely follows the length of the city.
Living and Writing in Mexico 