Sunday, April 9, 2006, 9:45 pm
Hello from Taxco during Semana Santa: The
Famous Palm Sunday Procession
This morning I woke up early, way before 6 am. I lay awake looking
at the blinking lights of Taxco right
outside the window of my beautiful accommodation at the Posada
de la Misión. I got up, took a shower and took my time
since the sun doesn't come up until about 8 am. At 9:00 I met Christian
Berger who is the General Manager of 3 family-owned hotels in Taxco:
the Hotel Posada de la Misión, the Hotel Borda and the Hotel
Victoria.
I had already had a chance to meet his parents yesterday and it
was a pleasure to meet a member of the second generation of this
entrepreneurial family as well. Christian is very down-to-earth,
very friendly and approachable and walks around in a simple golf
shirt, rather than dressing up in a fancy suit. He communicates
pleasantly with everyone around him and it is obvious that he has
a million and one things on his mind to keep his operations running
efficiently. With both his parents being of German descent, Christian
himself is also able to communicate in excellent German, so we chatted
in my native language.
Wonderful vista from the swimming pool of the Posada de la Mision
Christian told me a little bit about Taxco, his hometown. He mentioned
that Taxco actually was the first Mexican town to have a synagogue
and talked about a beautiful village on the coast north of Acapulco where he likes to spend his time.
The Hotel
Posada de la Misión was opened in 1940 by Christian's
grandparents and more then 65 years later his parents, Mrs. Elena
Trauwitz de Berger and Mr. Henry Berger Schmidt, still own the hotel
while Christian looks after the day to day management. The complex
has about 150 hotel rooms, ranging from single to quadruple suites
and master suites. All rooms have a fabulous view of Taxco. The
El Mural Restaurant also offers a wonderful panorama of
this mining town. A swimming pool overlooking the city with a sitting
area is framed on the other side by a wall mosaic by a famous Mexican
muralist which has been designated a nationally historic monument
and cannot be modified or removed.
The historic mural at the Posada de la Misión
At 10:00 I started to walk into town to see the famous Palm Sunday
Procession. I saw young boys (no girls) riding up on mountain bikes
with bundles of decorative palm leaves attached to the handlebars.
There were many local artisans who were selling beautiful bundles
of braided palm leaves and I ended up buying several bundles myself
as little presents for some of my contacts in Cuernavaca. Everyone
was walking towards downtown.
Braided palm leaves
I walked all the way to the Zócalo where I found one of
the last spots on one of the benches surrounding this public space.
Many of the benches are located under big leafy trees with a lot
of bird activity going on. The white blotches on the benches are
a testimony that these spots are popular with birds and I kept looking
into the air to try to cover myself in the event one of these avian
projectiles was heading my way. It looked like the whole town was
coming out and surprisingly there were barely any tourists to be
seen.
From loudspeakers mounted on the kiosquo (bandstand) music
was blaring and every few minutes a live announcement was being
made to invite the crowd to take advantage of some of the refreshments
that had been provided, combined with a political advertisement
that they should also vote for Felipe Gonzalez, the conservative
PAN party's candidate for the July 2 national elections.
The Christ statue on a donkey arrives
The crowd was getting thicker and finally the procession arrived.
Some members of the procession were dressed the way the ancient
Hebrews would have been dressed upon Christ's arrival in Jerusalem.
Several people carried a wooden frame that was holding a statue
of Christ on a donkey. A large crowd followed the official participants
and headed into the Cathedral to get their palm bundles blessed.
These blessed palm arrangements are then stuck on people's doors
and they are to ward off evil spirits throughout the year.
I just sat and watched the commotion, old people, couples, children,
street merchants, everybody was out and about. This was my opportunity
for purchasing some souvenirs and I promptly bought a Taxco t-shirt
and a some pottery items. For some strange reason I always find
it difficult to avoid hand-crafted pottery when I travel somewhere
and since I don't want to clutter up our house in Toronto I allow
myself the purchase of one hand-crafted vase from every place I
have gone to, adding to my small collection.
Wonderful hand-made ceramics
After this famous Easter ceremony finished I walked back to the
Hotel into the restaurant and had a delicious sopa azteca,
the dish that has so far become my favourite here in Mexico. I had
just a little bit of time left before my bus was to leave so I relaxed
by the pool and looked at the simply stunning panorama of Taxco,
this historic silver city. Then, shortly after 3 pm, the bus arrived
and the ride back to Cuernavaca took barely an hour and 20 minutes.
My friends Alberto and Elisabeth picked me up again and Alberto
drove us to a local archeological site right in Cuernavaca: the
pyramid of Teopanzolco was built around 900 AD. The word Teopanzolco
itself is a Nahuatl word, meaning "The place of the Old Temple".
This area of Morelos has been settled since 2000 BC and has seen
a number of Meso-American tribes settle and displace one another
over the centuries.
The pyramid of Teopanzolco in Cuernavaca
Following this archeological excursion we went home to Alberto
and Elisabeth's place and had a nice chat for a few hours. I had
brought some palm decorations for Alberto's family from Taxco. After
a couple of hours they drove me to my new accommodation location,
a local family that hosts language students.
Cynthia is in her late 20s with two children and lives with her
mom and step-dad in the same house. She has space for 7 students
in her house and some of the bedrooms hold two beds to accommodate
two students. Cynthia runs this homestay as a full-time business.
Every day she prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner for the language
students that stay at her home. She said she hasn't really had a
vacation for many years since she is always hosting several students
at the same time, but she said she loves what she does. The additional
advantage is she works from home and can spend more time with her
kids.
Cynthia and her gorgeous daughter, baking a cake
When I arrived 3 young women were staying at Cynthia's house, two
students from the University of Ohio and one student from Washington,
D.C. I was quite exhausted when I came in but I welcomed the opportunity
to spend some time in a regular Mexican family's home and I started
to understand that they have to work very hard to make a decent
living.
Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Mexico 2006 - My cultural immersion
experiment
Hello from Mexico City - First impressions
Hello from Mexico City - A skyscraper,
a little horse and a government pawn shop
Hello from Mexico City - The Zócalo,
the Cathedral, a healing ritual and a university dedicated to a
16th century female poet
Hello from Mexico City - A relaxing
evening in Coyoacán
Hello from Mexico City - Exploring the
Paseo de la Reforma, de Bosque de Chapúltepec and a nice
evening in San Angel
Hello from Cuernavaca - Arrival and
first impressions
Hello from Cuernavaca - Getting to know
my B&B hostess Marta Elena: A true riches to rags story
Hello from Cuernavaca - My first day
learning Spanish and two local icons: the Robert Brady Museum and
the Jardín Borda
Hello from Cuernavaca - A lovely dinner
in a garden paradise
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Las Estacas, checking out orchids and a meeting at El Cafecito
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Lake Tequesquitengo and a visit to the doctor
Hello from Cuernavaca - A conversation
with Andy Grater, local B&B owner and President of the Newcomers
Club
Hello from Cuernavaca - A presentation
about ecology at the Newcomers Club Meeting
Hello from Cuernavaca - Opening of a
South African photo exhibition and a visit to the Palacio de Cortés
Hello from Taxco - The city that silver built
Hello from Taxco during Semana Santa - The
famous Palm Sunday Procession
Hello from Cuernavaca - A new language
school, visiting 'Casa Vamos' and an evening with a very sad ending
Hello from Cuernavaca - My most intense
day: more language studies, 3 interviews, a guided eco-hike and
dinner at the Marco Polo
Hello from Cuernavaca - A day outing
to the enchanting mythical village of Tepoztlan
Hello from Cuernavaca - My last day
of school and a visit to Cuernavaca's Spring Fair
Hello from Taxco - An eerie experience: Visiting
Taxco's famous Good Friday procession
Hello from Taxco and Cuernavaca - Interviewing
one of the penitentes and enjoying my last day in Mexico
Related Interviews:
Presenting:
Ruben Córtes from Morelos Trails - Local adventure sports
and cultural guided tour operator, expert on Morelos and Cuernavaca
Presenting: Pablo
Buitrón from Fundacion Comunidad, helping local
women empower themselves
Presenting: Jorge Torres from
the Cetlalic Alternative Language School - Learning Spanish with
cultural, social and political awareness
Presenting: Hermilo Brito
from the Ideal Language School - Making Spanish learning fun
Helpful links:
Mexico
Tourism Information
State
of Morelos Tourism Organization
Official
website of the City of Cuernavaca tourism
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