This article is from the October 1996 The Mexico File newsletter.
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Exploring México’s Colonial Cities
or Las Dos Locas Manejan
por El Corazón de México

Ramona Pérez, a regular contributor to the Mexico File, is a cultural anthropologist who works in Oaxaca. She and Jennifer Mathews, a Maya archaeologist, have traveled extensively together throughout México. In the following article they share their recent roadtrip from Cancún to San Diego.

My poor husband. I think he actually thought I might stay home for awhile. After all, I had left him alone with my two daughters for the past year while I finished up my research in Oaxaca. But how could I pass up a "Thelma and Louise do México" adventure with my best friend? Jennifer, a Maya archaeologist, is part of a team of archaeologists working on a new late pre-classic site in Quintana Roo. Every spring they load up a caravan of jeeps, cars, and vans and head out for four intensive months of surveying, mapping, and excavating in the heat and humidity of the Yucatan jungle. Needless to say, at the end of the field season the volunteer pool to drive the University’s vehicles back is almost non-existent. That’s where she got the bright idea that this would be the opportunity of a lifetime. Two women, a broken down 1982 Dodge van, a $30.00 a day expense account for two weeks, and a map of México, how could I say no? I agreed on the condition that we stop at the secret, infamous Thing Museum in Texas Canyon, Arizona, on the way back.

Planning the road trip was fairly easy since we both know México so well. Neither one of us like the big cities so we constructed our route around the mid-sized colonial cities that are the heart and soul of post-conquest México. Jennifer wanted to stop at many of the major archaeological sites along the east coast and we had both longed to travel through the heart of México without wondering how we were going to get all of our purchases home. We set a route of over 3300 kilometers that took us from Merída down to Chiapas to see the phenomenal ruins of Palenque, before heading to the Toltec sites along the coast, and then inland at Veracruz toward the colonial cities of Cholula, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas. We traveled predominantly on the new toll roads which are expensive by Mexican standards but worth every dime. Regardless of what kind of road you travel, the military and narcotic check points are an inevitable pause in your journey. I don’t want to dwell on the issue but must say that our experiences with the military in the south (especially in Chiapas) were not only easy but many times enjoyable. These young guys were fascinated to discover that Jennifer and I were traveling alone, spoke the language and knew their country. In spite of our physical differences (Jennifer is a white blonde with penetrating blue eyes and I am an auburn latina with light brown eyes) they were all convinced we were sisters. We got more advice about how to deal with the ladrones or ratas who ran the other checkpoints that we were beginning to wonder if there were any. Suffice it to say that once we got past Zacatecas and into the checkpoints where many of the men spoke English we understood the frustration and bitterness that many travelers feel when driving through México. Never once, however, did we feel threatened or nervous about being two women alone. Our gender was a source of fascination but we were never treated improperly because of it. We did wonder if our experiences would have been different had we not spoken Spanish and not understood the cultural nuances of inter-gender communication. I guess in my own way I want to caution other women who undertake this trip not to underestimate the importance of being friendly, relaxed, and confident without being too open, laughing out of nervousness, or having direct eye contact. All of this can be interpreted as a challenge. Regardless of this, we did end up paying 100 peso bribes in Mexico City for running a non-existent stop light and at a narcotic check point fifty miles outside of the Texas border in order to keep our very beat up machetes which were considered weapons. Yet none of this could detract from the absolute charm and warmth we experienced on our tour of some of the most beautiful colonial cities in central México.

Cancún to Chiapas

I flew into Cancún and was treated to two days at one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever been in, Casa Turquesa. The rooms start at US$350.00 and go to US$2500.00 a night. Jennifer runs private tours to many of the Maya sites for the hotel owner and so we were fortunate to be guests for our short stay. If you have money to burn and a desire for extensive pampering, this is your hotel. After I saw the condition of the van we were to drive across México (no air conditioning nor stereo, bald tires, torn upholstery, and a ceramic chicken taped to the dash board) I figured I deserved the two days. We headed out to the small pueblo of eighty people where Jennifer had been living and working to load up the final equipment for the return trip and headed for Merída. Although the trip from Cancún to Merída is less than four hours, we stopped in Valladolid for comida at El Meson, right off the main zocaló, where Jennifer promised the best avocado gazpacho in all of México. We parked right in front of the restaurant and after waving off the swarm of English speaking boys who wanted to wash and watch our van, enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing meal.

Merída, like almost all of the colonial capitols, is easy to navigate once you get accustomed to all the one-way streets but is best seen and experienced by foot or cab. I immediately felt at home ("home" being my second home of Oaxaca) as we headed toward the zocaló late Saturday afternoon. Our first stop was the Governor’s palace to see the murals of Fernando Castro Pacheco. The depth and intensity of these murals are by far some of the most beautiful depictions of the conquest, plight of the indigenous people, slavery under the Church, and mestizoization of the country that I have seen in all of my travels through México. We spent the next few hours wandering the book stores, guayabera shops, and small tourist shops. In fact, Merída is the only authentic source for guayaberas (the men’s pleated front dress shirt worn throughout México). Regardless of where you buy your guayabera, the label should say "hecho en Merída" or "Yucatan". If not, get rid of it before you embarrass yourself. We had a late meal at La Bella Epoca where the food was good (not great) but worth the view from a private balcony upstairs. The piano bar downstairs is fun but the highlight of our two days in Merída was the Trovador Bohemia. Jennifer and another friend had discovered this wonderful trio club on their weekend breaks away from the excavations. Open from 9:00 to midnight, the club is right out of a 1940s movie set. Dimly lit, decorated in red and gold, with cheesy wall lighting and waiters in red blazers, the center attraction is a small stage in the corner where three different trios serenade you in true Mexican style. We sipped Cuba Libres and sang along with everyone else until, all to soon, the show was over. On Sunday the zocaló comes alive with "Merida en Domingo", a weekly show put on by a group of very talented, young dancers. They perform a myriad of traditional dances including one where they place a tray of full water glasses and a beer bottle on their head while they spin around, not spilling a drop. All afternoon and well into the evening the zocaló is full of food booths, local artists, musicians, horse drawn carriages, and families, all enjoying life. Most of the stores are closed and many of the restaurants close early so that the entire city can enjoy the day.

We left Merída early the next morning, following MEX180 to Campeche where we stopped at a roadside seafood restaurant before continuing on MEX186 all the way to Palenque, Chiapas. We arrived late in the day and drove straight to the Hotel Palenque behind the zocaló. This is a bare-bones hotel, costing around 100 pesos, but was perfect for us since we could park the monster van right out in front where the front desk could watch it through the night. The restaurant attached to the hotel is efficient and serves a good Cuba Libre. I have to admit that I was not overly excited about the following day’s itinerary of trekking through the ruins of Palenque. I’m a cultural anthropologist, I enjoy people, not rocks. I lived for over eighteen months in a pueblo at the base of Monte Alban, had visited the other half dozen sites in Oaxaca and spent part of a vacation at Teotihuacan in Mexico City, hadn’t I seen enough? But, sporting my new Keds I headed off with Jennifer to explore one of México’s most spectacular sites. It turned out to be one of the most awe-inspiring events of our trip; Palenque is the most beautiful site I have ever explored. Set deep in the jungle, each monument is surrounded by dense foliage, waterfalls, hidden trails, and an intense quiet broken only by the natural sounds of the plants and insects. The heat and humidity lend the final sensory stimulation that removes you from the reality of the twentieth century and truly places you in a frozen moment of pre-historic time. Despite our exhaustion we stopped at the museum/gift shop on the road leading into the ruins for a quick look around. Two hours later, we emerged with a hand-painted altar box about the size of a chest of drawers, four large pieces of red slip-glazed ceramic, seven weavings, a three foot high painted wooden cross, and a complimentary Chiapas coffee mug for purchasing more than they had sold in the previous six months combined. We did, after all, have the van which was only half full of equipment.

The town of Palenque has exploded under the tourism generated by the ruins. The streets are lined with closet sized shops selling Oaxacan handicrafts that, for the most part, look like they were seconds and had a rough journey on the back of a burro to get to their final destination.

We left Palenque, planning on passing through Villahermosa on our way to the Toltec site of La Venta on the coast, only to discover (thanks to the guidebook we read while driving) that all of the artifacts and monuments had been moved to the museum in Villahermosa. The museum was well-marked and easy to find, situated in the heart of the city. INAH (Instituto Naciónal de Antrolopogía e Historía) has created a tropical jungle like atmosphere and strategically placed each of the giant heads and other monuments along the meandering paths that begin and end at a mini zoo. It was a little too theme parky for me but the monuments and giant heads are really magnificent and worth the stop. We left after the hour and a half tour and headed out to catch MEX180 that would take us to MEX145 for an our overnight stay at Córdoba.

I guess we had become a little too overconfident, getting lost briefly here and there but managing to get back on track rather easily. We headed out, buckling down for what looked like a 500 kilometer drive to the well-marked town of Córdoba. What the map didn’t show was that the toll road was not numerically marked but named Isla Tuxtla. Unfortunately, once you take the wrong turn and head out of Minatitlan on MEX180 you cannot turn around for close to an hour. The road is narrow and heads up to the Veracruz mountains where the weather abruptly changed to a heavy thunder storm. We managed to find our way back only after a kindly police officer directed us back to the main road, not even citing me for driving the wrong way down a one way street through the middle of his town. We arrived in Córdoba around 9:30 that evening only to discover that it is a small furniture producing town with a Corona bottling factory for those that can’t make rocking chairs. The only hotel in town overlooked a car junk yard and was not worth the thirty pesos they charged for a double. This stretch of highway, running from Minatitlan to Puebla, is a long, hard drive that requires a stop over but has very little in the way of accommodations. We were too tired to do anything more than laugh as we stretched out on the lumpy bed with cardboard pillows. I tried to pretend I was in Casa Turquesa and would awake to the sound of waves crashing outside the sliding glass doors. Besides, I was now half way to the Thing Museum.

Cholula, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas

Jennifer and I opted not to stay in Puebla. For us, the city is too large and impersonal and difficult to get around in if you don’t have a detailed city map. Our purpose for stopping in Puebla was to collect some of the beautiful Talavera ceramic that is produced here and to see the pyramid of Cholula which is heralded as the largest building on earth, covering 46 acres and rising to a height of 198 feet. Preferring the smaller cities and towns, we headed out to Cholula and stayed at the Calli Quetzalcoatl, situated on the zocaló. We were very pleased with the rooms, service, and restaurant (they even heated the milk which they served in small pitchers with your coffee). We planned on staying two days so we decided to go into Puebla first and check out the ceramic shops, markets, and museums. We were honestly stunned at the price of the ceramic. We started out at the FONART shop in the zocaló to get an idea of the prices and quality but discovered that the prices were outrageous regardless of where we went. There is an open artisan’s market between 2 and 4 Oriente and 6 Norte but the quality was poor and the prices ridiculous. We gave up on shopping and enjoyed the museums, cathedral on the zocaló, and the finer boutiques and shoe stores. Like Mexico City, Puebla offers European and Mexican designer clothing and shoes at reasonable prices. I always enjoy picking up a few things for no other reason than to have pieces that no one else will be wearing in California (my favorite is Julio’s for casual business wear). Throughout Puebla the food is basically bland and not worth getting excited over. They are famous for their mole poblano which is very good. We found that the smaller restaurants, like Restaurant La Princesa in the zocaló, produce a richer, more authentic variety than the finer restaurants.

We visited the pyramid, walked through the tunnels, and admired the view of Cholula from the top. Cholula was historically a more important trade city than Puebla but lost its population to massacres and disease. It boasts a temple for every day of the year and from the top of the pyramid you can literally see a church on every block. On our way back into town from the pyramid, we ran into vendors that had spread out various plain wood carvings, handmade jewelry and silver, and other handicrafts. I bought several hand carved and oiled wooden spoons and a cutting board. The board had been hand hewn into a large cutting area with a catching bowl on the end. It’s a beautiful piece and has maintained its color and luster in spite of the daily abuse I give it. We also stopped at some of the small shops that lined the road from the zocaló to the pyramid and I ended up buying a beautiful Talavera plate about three feet in diameter. The price was about half of what they wanted in Puebla but it still cost me more than eight hundred pesos. We also picked up some smaller pieces which were reasonably priced. They had a good variety of other handicraft items and some beautiful red-slip glazed and natural ceramic.

We left Cholula the following morning and headed toward Guanajuato on the toll roads (190D to 57D to 45D). No matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get around going through Mexico City. There is no road that goes around the perimeter. Jennifer and I are not strangers to Mexico City, having spent weeks there for both business and personal leisure, and it is perhaps for this reason that we approached it with such dread. We knew only too well the corruption and chaos that governs the city. We were very pleased to get lost only once for three hours, pay a small traffic bribe of one hundred pesos, and get out of the city in less than four hours. The best advice I can give you for driving through Mexico City is not to be shy. I had to hang out of the passenger’s window and stop on-coming cars to make lane changes and Jennifer had to stop and put the van in reverse on the highway when we couldn’t get over in time to make an offramp. A bit scary but everyone is so accustomed to this type of illegal, aggressive driving that they seem to know how to respond.

The toll road from Mexico City to Guanajuato is in great shape. The total drive from Cholula to Guanajuato took us just under twelve hours. On the road into Guanajuato from the toll road we encountered strawberry stands full of beautiful berries. We didn’t buy any thinking we would be able to pick them once we got into town. We were wrong, we never saw a single berry except in the paletas sold at all the ice cream shops. We had planned on staying at Casa d’Espiritus Alegres, a former hacienda that had been converted to a Bed and Breakfast by two California artists. Unfortunately, it had been closed and the phone number was now a private residence. Exhausted and just a little bit irritable, we pulled into the Real de Minas. We couldn’t have ended up in a better place if we had researched it for weeks ahead of time. We hadn’t been in our rooms, which are newly refurbished and quite elegant for fifty dollars a night, for more than five minutes when a knock on the door interrupted our gleeful dancing at having real beds and toilets that flushed. The parking lot manager had come to tell us that the parking brake on the van had failed and the van had rolled into a brand new Dodge Ram pick-up. We joined the concierge and the parking attendants down at the garage. They had already moved our van and placed bricks under the tires to prevent any further mishaps. The concierge consoled Jennifer and committed to work as an intermediary with the owner of the pick-up. We had Mexican auto insurance but it was still very depressing. The concierge couldn’t locate the owners so we left our names and room number with him and crawled into bed for the night. The next morning the concierge greeted us at breakfast and told us not to worry. He still had not located the owner but would keep trying. We left to go into town but told him we would be back after comida, around 5:00.

Guanajuato is a remarkably beautiful provincial city. Cars are not allowed into the center of town and all traffic is diverted to underground tunnels which emerge onto parking lots situated every three to four blocks around the city. Throughout the city and the surrounding neighborhoods the buildings are painted in the bright, beautiful colors of México. Windows are still adorned with intricate patterns of wrought iron and pots full of flowers and trailing vines. We fell in love with the city and could have easily passed weeks exploring it and the surrounding area. We still managed to take in quite a bit in the two days we were there.

Like Oaxaca City, the general ambiance of Guanajuato is more reserved and formal than many other cities but it is much wealthier. In fact, we didn’t see any itinerant vendors, beggars, or small children hawking their wares. This is not a city where you can just throw something on and head out. Walking shoes are a must but we coupled ours with skirts and dresses instead of jeans or shorts. We spent the morning walking around trying to get acquainted with the city and then visited the Jardín Unión and Teatro Juárez. It was a nice place to start because the park and theatre encapsulate the warm yet reserved manner of the overall city. The city’s mascot, Don Quixote, is perhaps the best indicator of the cultural ideal the city strives to emulate. We saw more paintings, both modern and antique, of Don Quixote than one could ever imagine existed. We ate at a small outdoor café next to the theatre but were terribly disappointed in the food. Like Puebla, Guanajuato doesn’t offer the discerning eater very much. We tried several places and cannot recommend any of them. Although all of the museums and most of the stores close for the traditional comida between 2:00 and 4:00, the city has so many parks and churches that it was easy to meander the time away and not feel frustrated or bored. The Museo de Diego Rivera has an outstanding collection of his work as well as many current artists. We took several hours to pass through the four story converted house. We had pretty much given up on the idea of bringing home any more Talavera ceramic until we found a small shop called Artesanías Vasquez. I bought some magnificent pieces for one fourth the price I paid in Cholula. The quality is slightly different, not necessarily better or worse, it is simply different. There was little to no blue and white patterns and the colored ware is much brighter and more varied in design. We spent the rest of the afternoon in this small shop and had to pay a bellhop to carry our boxes to our room when we returned.

Speaking of returning, we retired to the outdoor café by the pool to have a Cuba Libre when we were joined by the concierge. He had finally located the owner of the pick-up who understood the situation and simply passed on the message, no se preocupen. We really aren’t sure what exactly the concierge told him but we were off the hook.

We spent the next day browsing other stores, museums, and art galleries. The large indoor market on Calle Juárez is absolutely charming. It has all the character of the large outdoor markets in other cities but has the added dimension of being two stories and richly decorated in brightly painted wrought iron. We capped our afternoon off with a visit to the Museo de Pantéon. This is a must see for those of you with an appreciation for Mexican macabre humor. I have to admit that after the fourth or fifth room of perfectly preserved people, I wanted out. The mummies are so well preserved that many of them still have visible body hair, rolls of fat, genitalia, and in a few cases, unborn children. There is also a room of mummified children. I know it may sound a little crass and morbid but it is really fascinating although I wouldn’t take young children through it.

We truly did not want to leave the next morning. Guanajuato has so much character, charm, and warmth that we just wanted to camp out for a week or so. We knew we would be back when we went to get the van in the morning. The concierge and lot attendants surprised us by fully detailing our muddy, broken down van. We took off for Zacatecas with six boxes of Talavera ceramic, a shiny clean van, and our hearts full of warm Mexican hospitality.

We got back on MEX 45D and headed straight into Zacatecas. The city is fairly easy to navigate and aside from one wrong turn we made our way to the Paraiso Radisson Zacatecas across from the cathedral easily. The hotel is beautiful, the staff is very accommodating, and the restaurant, Candiles, is nice and actually has fairly good food. Aside from the general atmosphere of this provincial city, we had come for three reasons: to see the famous eclectic art collection of the sculptor Pedro Coronel who bequeathed his collection to the city at his death; to ride the Teleferico, a cable car that that takes you to the entrance to the old silver mines; and to dine at La Plaza, a hotel and restaurant built into the former bull ring.

We never got to ride the Teleferico as it is closed on Monday and the wind and anticipated rain on Sunday had closed it down for the day. Many of the people we talked with throughout the city told us it was truly a pity that we missed this opportunity; it apparently has a spectacular view and fascinating tour.

The Museo Pedro Coronel was more than we had anticipated. I have never seen such a wealth of art and artifacts in one location. The museum houses tapestries and costumes from the Ming Dynasty; Egyptian urns, a sarcophagus, and sculptures from 100 BC; Tibetan robes, a head of Buddha from a temple dating before 300 BC, and other Buddhist shrines; Greek statuary from 100 AD; pre-Columbian ceramics that rival the pieces at the Anthropology museum in Mexico City; African masks; Goya etchings; and so much more. We spent almost four hours walking through this collection and came out speechless. We were so culturally inspired that we headed over to La Plaza to splurge on an exquisite comida.

The food and ambiance of La Plaza rivaled some of the finest restaurants that I have enjoyed in Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, etc. The service was impeccable, the wine chilled and kept on ice (unheard of in México), and the coffee with dessert was perfectly brewed. Jennifer started with a fresh spinach salad and I had an apple, walnut, and belgian endive salad with raspberry vinegarette. Her entré was grilled salmon over a pesto pasta, mine was a blackened chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms covered with mole poblano. It goes without saying that we enjoyed an unforgettable flan for dessert. We languished at the table for another four hours and then literally rolled ourselves into a cab. The entire day cost us under $500.00 pesos.

In addition to these two wonderful experiences, Zacatecas has a wealth of art in its museums and churches. The display of Mexican masks at the San Francisco Ruins is one of the few in México that does adequate justice to this pre-Columbian religious art form. The ruins at La Quemada are disappointing after seeing the Zapotec, Toltec, Maya, and Aztec ruins throughout México. However, they are similar to many of the desert and cliff sites in the US Southwest and will be interesting to those who are familiar with this style of architecture. There is absolutely nothing to buy in Zacatecas despite its history as a silver and turquoise mining town.

We left Zacatecas on MEX54 intending to stop overnight in Monterey but the drive was so easy and the heat unbearable in the un-air conditioned van that we drove all the way to Laredo and into Uvalde, Texas before we stopped for the night. We broke up the monotony of driving across Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico by stopping at the famed Thing Museum outside of Wilcox, Arizona. You can’t miss It because for 120 miles before you reach It the billboards start to advertise Its presence. I can’t tell you what The Thing is, I can only say that you have to stop and see It. The entrance fee is only $.75 and there is a Dairy Queen on the other side of the gift shop. It’s worth every penny. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else what It is after you see It. For us, It was a perfect way to re-acquaint ourselves with US culture after a magnificent two week trip through the corazón de México.

This article is from the November 1996 The Mexico File newsletter.
Back to Articles List

Exploring Mexico's Colonial Cities
or Las Dos Locas Manejan por El Corazon de Mexico, Part II

Ramona Perez, a regular contributor to The Mexico File, is a cultural anthropologist who works in Oaxaca. She and Jennifer Mathews, a Maya archaeologist, have traveled extensively throughout Mexico. This is part II of Ramona's account of their recent roadtrip through the heart of Mexico, with particular emphasis on Puebla, Cholula,Guanajuato, and Zacatecas. Part I appeared in the October 1996 issue of The Mexico File.

We left Zacatecas on MEX54 intending to stop overnight in Monterey but the drive was so easy and the heat unbearable in the un-air-conditioned van that we drove all the way to Laredo and into Uvalde, Texas, before we stopped for the night. We broke up the monotony of driving across Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico by stopping at the famed Thing Museum outside of Wilcox, Arizona. You can’t miss It because for 120 miles before you reach It the billboards start to advertise Its presence. I can’t tell you what The Thing is: I can only say that you have to stop and see It. The entrance fee is only $.75 and there is a Dairy Queen on the other side of the gift shop. It’s worth every penny. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else what It is after you see It. For us, It was a perfect way to reacquaint ourselves with U.S. culture after a magnificent two week trip through the corazón de México.