Mexico Travel – Morelia
Celebrates Carnival, a Visit to the Candy Museum
and Evening Fireworks
My second and last weekend in Mexico had arrived
and I was ready to start my next out-of-town excursion
from Guadalajara: I was planning to take the ETN
bus to Morelia, the capital of the neighbouring
state of Michoacán. I woke up early around
5:30 am and little later Wouter Stut from the Guadalajara
Language Center came to pick me up to drop me off
at the Estación Nueva, the city’s main
bus terminal. He had already been picking up several
of my student colleagues from the language school
and dropped them off at the airport. Saturday was
a big departure day for many of the language students
at the Guadalajara Language Center.
My luxury bus left at 7:30 am and I sat back in
my comfortable recliner seat and watched the landscape
pass by on this gorgeous morning. In between I checked
the Internet from the on-board Wifi connection on
this luxury bus. Admittedly I had never travelled
on such a well-equipped bus in Canada, but Mexico
is equipped with a large network of busses of different
categories that crisscross the country and provide
transportation for a large part of the population.
Rodrigo Muñoz, my expert guide, with his
wife and children
Shortly before 11 am and after a very comfortable
ride I arrived at the bus station in Morelia, and
my local expert guide, Rodrigo Muñoz, was
already waiting for me. He is a trained pilot and
has been running a successful sightseeing company
for the past several years that takes international
tourists to a wide variety of destinations across
Mexico. Rodrigo originally hails from Mexico City
but relocated to Morelia about seven years ago and
loves this city.
The famous cathedral of Morelia
Rodrigo scooped me up and we started our sightseeing
tour of this historic gem of a city. Morelia was
originally founded in 1541 under the name of Valladolid
by Spanish Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. In 1810 it
became the site where Miguel Hidalgo, the Father
of Mexican Independence, proclaimed the end of slavery
in Mexico. After the Mexican War of Independence
the city was renamed Morelia in honour of independence
hero José Maria Morelos who was born in this
city.
View of Morelia's Plaza de Armas
We stopped at the Plaza de Armas, the main square
of Morelia that is anchored on the east side by
the Cathedral of the Divine Saviour of Morelia,
a magnificent building whose construction started
in 1640 and was completed in 1744. The two 60 metre
high towers of the cathedral are the second tallest
Baroque towers in all of Mexico.
Morelia's Cathedral - an impressive structure
Punctually at 12 noon Rodrigo and I boarded a double-decker
sightseeing bus that would give us a great overview
of the city. From our comfortable open-air seats
on the upper deck, Rodrigo started educating me
about the city. Until 1985 Morelia only had about
250,000 residents while the population has since
grown to more than 1.5 million people in the surrounding
region. After the severe 1985 earthquake in Mexico
City, many residents of that city had felt unsafe
and relocated to other cities in the country. Morelia,
being located about half-way between Guadalajara
and Mexico City, benefited from this migration,
as it was only three hours away from the capital.
Today the city is an important centre of government
administration, education and commerce.
The Ex-Convento del Carmen, one of the hundreds
of colonial buildings in Morelia
Our bus took us down the main street called Francisco
I. Madero, past gorgeous well-preserved colonial
buildings that are made of pinkish “cantera”
sandstone. The city is embellished by over 1100
buildings that were built between the 16th and the
late 19th century and create a uniform historic
appearance. We then travelled to the Sanctuary of
Guadelupe, one of Mexico’s most beautiful
churches. With its soft pink, salmon and gold-trim
colour palate, the church is an outstanding example
of Mexican church architecture from the early 1700s.
The overwhelming ornamentation of the Sanctuary
of Guadelupe
The large square in front of the sanctuary is anchored
by a statue of José Maria Morelos, just steps
away from another major sight: the aqueduct of Morelia
which brought water into the city’s center
from 1657. This 1800 metre long structure is one
of the best preserved aqueducts in the world and
definitely one of the icons of the city. This was
the turning point for our bus tour and we started
to make our way back to the Plaza de Armas. All
the streets were full of people now as the carnival
celebrations had already started.
The famous aqueduct of Morelia
Once our bus tour was finished we walked through
the town’s centre which was bustling with
people celebrating carnival. The streets were packed
with revelers and traffic on the main street had
come to a standstill. Rodrigo explained to me that
every year residents from local neighbourhoods get
together and construct a so-called “torito
de petate” (literally translated: “a
little bull made from reed”), which is a symbol
of their specific working-class neighbourhood.
A torito de petate, part of Morelia's carnival
traditions
The dance with the little bull stems back to the
late 1500s and is said to refer to the fact that
bulls that could only be owned by the Spanish colonial
landowners. Local indigenous people would imitate
and make fun of the Spaniards by creating miniature
bulls from light-weight materials like reed. Today
many of these “toritos” can be up to
five metres high with a weight of up to 130 kilograms.
Nowadays these little bulls are accompanied by bands
and by men dressed as women who party through the
streets.
Carnival in Morelia
From here we headed to the Museo del Dulce (the
Museum of Sweets) which is housed in a former 18th
century mansion. Lupita, our museum guide, was dressed
in a historic costume and explained the origin of
the local candy to us. “Ate”, as it
is locally called, is a fruit paste candy made from
a quince paste that is combined with equal parts
of cane sugar in a copper pot. The fruit and sugar
mix is stirred for six minutes until it is ready
to be poured into moulds following which it is allowed
to harden. Candy-making is a skill that was introduced
to Morelia by Spanish nuns in the 16th century.
Costumed interpreters in the Candy Museum of Morelia
On our walk through the Candy Museum we discovered
many other local sweets, chocolates, cakes and even
ice cream. The museum also has a retail shop where
people can buy traditional toys from Michoacán,
dolls, nutcrackers and souvenirs. All the employees
are dressed up in historical costumes, and visitors
can even try on some historic Mexican dresses. Rodrigo
and I sat down in the museum’s coffee shop
and I got to try some “ate” candy with
cheese.
Ate with cheese
Rodrigo then took me to my hotel, the Hotel Catedral,
so I would be able to check in and leave my luggage
there. This upscale historic hotel is located in
a stately 16th century mansion with a large inner
courtyard and arcaded walkways. The hotel has recently
been renovated from top to bottom and now features
all the conveniences of the 21st century. This was
going to be a great base for my explorations of
Morelia.
The eautiful lobby of the historic Hotel Catedral
From here we made our way to the Las Rosas Square,
one of the most popular public squares in Morelia.
The church next to the square is dedicated to Santa
Rosa and was originally a Dominican nuns’
convent until the early 18th century that educated
young Morelian women how to become proper marriageable
wives for their noblemen husbands. The south side
of the square is flanked by restaurants with outdoor
patios, and the center of the plaza has an attractive
fountain and a statue of Don Miguel de Cervantes
Saavedra, the famous author of Don Quijote.
The Las Rosas square
After our walk through the downtown we drove up
a hill south of downtown from which we enjoyed a
magnificent vantage point to look over the whole
city. Morelia is surrounded by mountains an all
sides, and on the north side it is flanked by Mexico’s
Neo-Volcanic Range. This mountain zone still experiences
active volcanism to this day and the best-known
volcano is the Paricutín which began erupting
in 1943. Not far from Morelia is a town called Los
Azufres (literally: “the sulphurs”)
where geothermal activity has resulted in spa tourism.
View of the city of Morelia from the Hotel Villa
Montaña
A few minutes away we stopped again, this time
at the Hotel Villa Montaña from where we
enjoyed another fabulous view over the city. Rodrigo
explained that this hotel was briefly owned by Tyrone
Power shortly before he passed away. He added that
in his opinion this is the best hotel in the city
and even the Mexican president Felipe Calderon,
who hails from Morelia, stays here when he is in
town on business. The Hotel Villa Montaña
is indeed very elegant and modern with flawlessly
manicured grounds. We walked right through the facility
to a lookout area from where we could see the entire
downtown of Morelia.
On the way to the hotel we glimpsed this Quinceañera
celebration
By about 5 pm Rodrigo dropped me off at the Hotel
Catedral and I got to rest just a bit in my comfortable
queen size room. As I got ready for my evening explorations
I walked up to the rooftop of the hotel which provides
the most awesome view of the Plaza de Armas and
the cathedral. A large wedding party was celebrating
on the terrace so I did not want to interrupt them,
but I thought that this location has to be one of
the most fabulous places for any get-together.
The Hotel Catedral with its roof terrace, one of
the best places to stay in Morelia
In the evening I took a walk through town which
was still bustling with large crowds. Most of the
churches and monasteries downtown were beautifully
illuminated, giving the town an almost magical atmosphere.
Balloon vendors and street performers were still
out, and families and couples were going for a stroll.
By 7:30 pm I had worked up a real appetite and sat
down at a restaurant called El Atrio, right in front
of the cathedral. I ordered a spicy bean soup and
an “Ensalada Azteca” with lettuce, tomatoes,
cheese, onions, avocadoes and strips of fried tortilla.
Colourful balloons in front of San Agustín
Church
Every Saturday night fireworks are launched from
Morelia’s cathedral and I wanted to have a
front-row spot. The main street was blocked off
to traffic and large crowds were gathering on the
square and in the street to await the big spectacle.
Two nice older ladies from a small town in Michoacán
sat down next to me. They were here on a religious
convention and waiting for the fireworks as well.
They started chatting with me and we had a pleasant
conversation until the sound show started at about
9 pm, describing the history of the cathedral and
of the city of Morelia. To enhance the effect, the
cathedral was completely dark and even much of the
street lighting had been turned off.
Fireworks are launched from the Cathedral of Morelia
Finally about ten minutes later the fireworks started
at the top of the cathedral between the two towers,
all choreographed to music, and the entire performance
lasted for about 10 minutes. At the end the cathedral
was brightly illuminated, showing off all its gorgeous
architectural details. The weekly fireworks in Morelia
are an amazing event, and I was really happy that
I had come into town at the right time to witness
this special experience.
Huge crowds in front of the Cathedral of Morelia
The crowds dispersed fairly quickly and I got up
and took another short walk to admire some of the
other illuminated churches and former convents.
Morelia’s colonial architecture seemed even
more spectacular at night I thought as I started
snapping pictures of these stunning structures.
Tomorrow another adventure was awaiting me: an
excursion to Lake Patzcuaro and the island town
of Janitzio, famous for its rituals surrounding
Mexico’s Day of the Dead.
Nightly view from the rooftop terrace of the Hotel
Catedral
