Cuernavaca

“ Cuernavaca with its baths and mineral waters is the favorite of all the resorts, easily accessible to the fashionable Mexican. Here also almost continually resides a large colony of the European ladies whose husbands do business in Mexico City, the high altitude, thin air, and chilly temperature of which rarely agree with the health of the women who come there from the lower sea levels. The men can stand it from the first, if their hearts and lungs are sound, but the women are often sent to Cuernavaca, there to sojourn until they become acclimated to the conditions of these highland plateaus. ”

“ The town of Cuernavaca lies 2,040 feet lower than Mexico, and 4,400 feet below the Cruz del Mărqūes, which is the highest point of the intervening ridge. It is a place of no great importance in itself, and only derives interest from the richness of the surrounding district. During the two days which I passed there, I visited two of the great Haciendas de Azucar, (Sugar Estates,) mentioned in the first Book, San Găbrĭĕl and Ātlăcŏmūlcŏ, the first of which belongs to the family of Yērmŏ, the second to that of the Duke of Monteleone, the present representative of the house of Cortez. ”

“ Cuernavaca was a natural stronghold by reason of the ravines about it, eight fathoms deep, with small streams at the bottom. It was also heavily garrisoned. Our enemy, entrenched within the ravines, shot many arrows and lances at us, and hurled stones so that they fell without ceasing. ”

“ There stands to this day in Cuernavaca a graven bowlder bearing a shield, a sheaf of arrows and a record in hieroglyphs of the fatal hour when the painted warriors of Tenochtitlan swept down upon Quauhnahuac. Then the City of Flowers withered before a rain of flint and a wind of flame. And among the men and women carried away as slaves or more honorable sacrifice was Five-eagle. ”

“ Down in the soft regions of the west, where tropical agriculture yields its plentiful and easily-won harvests, are romantic old haciendas and villages hidden away in the folds of the landscape, such as are a delight to the traveller and the lover of the picturesque. The "happy valley" of Cuernavaca is reached by railway from the capital, but beyond this the road to the seaboard is still that ancient trail which Cortes used, which descends to Acapulco, for the railway builders have not yet completed their works to the Pacific waters. ”

“ I will reach there in time for breakfast, board the Ward Line’s steamer, Monterey, and sail about noon for Havana, via Progresso, Yucatan.
I delayed my departure until the evening, in order that I might visit Cuernavaca and have a glimpse of that famous watering place and the rich valley wherein it lies—where Montezuma and his nobles held luxurious court, where Cortez made his winter residence, and Maximilian erected a lovely villa for his Empress Carlotta; and which is, to-day, the favorite resort of fashionable Mexico. ”

“ The people are contented and, if wages are not high, neither are the prices of the necessaries of life. Some of the mestizos of this State are extremely artistic; and the pottery of San Antonio, a suburb of Cuernavaca, is most highly finished and rich in colour. Cuernavaca itself is one of the most romantic towns in Mexico, surrounded as it is by mountains and occupying a site where flowers blossom in abundance. ”

“ Screened from the cold winds of the upper table land by the protecting barrier of mountains which hem in the vales of Mexico and Puebla, the valley of Cuernavaca basks, on their southern slopes and feet, in a tropical climate. Winter never destroys the foliage in this sheltered region. Pleasant streams gurgle through its midst and afford sufficient supplies for irrigation. On the plain the tender green of the young cane, waves in the sun-light like a mass of purest velvet ”

“ Of the journey back to Cuernavaca I recall little that would seem of interest, except a solitary Indian village, where the people seemed to shun us, and an ancient stone bridge, spanning a deep ravine by a single arch, and just wide enough, without an inch to spare, for our horses to walk across it. My guide said it was made by the very ancient Indians, the same who built the Castillo, and was used by them on their pilgrimages to the valley of Mexico. ”

“ I have never seen such things from the China market introduced into Europe; they fetch a good price in Mexico, but it is necessary to bargain with the merchants who deal in them, for I have known them to take one third of what they originally might ask. The town of Cuernavaca would be an agreeable place to reside in; its population is about 10,000 souls; it is well wooded and watered; the houses are clean, and have a comfortable appearance ”

“ Cordova and Orizaba are on the same side-hill, and are to-day the favorite resort of the Mexican gentry, the latter especially. Here, too, are the repair shops of the railroad, so that quite an English-speaking population is growing up about this spot. Cuernavaca, to the south, is on the same rich belt, and was the chosen seat of Cortez. We are yet four thousand feet from the top level of the land, though the crawl of an hour or two up the face of this dam has lessened that altitude. ”

“ Where in the days of Joseph there no doubt used to be a dazzling carpet of color, there is now only a tangle of coffee trees. But in Cuernavaca when the purple and red and pink of growing things under a pitiless sun become intolerable, the absence of color in the Jardin Borda, except for its dark and soothing green, is well worth frequently paying the twenty-five centavos the present owner charges as an admittance fee. ”

“ One gentleman says the route from Cuernavaca to Acapulco is spoken of as a bueno camino de pajaros (a good road for birds) , and he is about right.
"The country is rough and the scenery wild and interesting, except that one wearies of mountains and valleys after seeing a few hundreds of each. Portions of the way as we leave Cuernavaca behind us are through the sugar region. We pass large fields of cane and meet trains of mules laden with sugar. At irregular intervals we find villages or isolated houses, and in the construction of these buildings we observe that the cane is very prominent. ”

“ On the ninth day of their march, the troops arrived before the strong city of Quauhnahuac, or Cuernavaca, as since called by the Spaniards.1 It was the ancient capital of the Tlahuicas, and the most considerable place for wealth and population in this part of the country. It was tributary to the Aztecs, and a garrison of this nation was quartered within its walls. The town was singularly situated on a projecting piece of land, encompassed by barrancas, or formidable ravines, except on one side, which opened on a rich and well cultivated country. ”

“ To him the planters were indebted for the introduction of Merino sheep, it is said, and for the first sugar-cane that ever lifted its tasselled head beneath the sun of Mexico. It was right here, in this vale of Cuernavaca, that these things transpired, three centuries and a half ago; and not only the old castle, with battlemented roof and arched entrances, remains, yet in good preservation, to remind us of the industry of Cortés, but the valley plains are waving billows of green and succulent cane. ”

“ The plains of Cuernavaca lie at an elevation of nearly five thousand five hundred feet above the Pacific, and four thousand four hundred below the Cruz del Marques; those of Yautepec and Cuautla Amilpas, to which we were now about to repair, at a general level of eight hundred feet lower. ”

“ In the chilly days of winter, frequent visits were paid to the lower levels of the tierra templada, especially to Cuernavaca, one of the "show" places of the country. The children learned to ride and to cycle, and were thus able to extend their excursions on all sides. When, after two years, they went back to the United States to school, they were already familiar with Mexican nature and life ”

“ This act was consequent on the adoption of the plan de Cuernavaca, [56] the object of which was to proclaim religion, fueros, and Santa Anna, denouncing reform as impious, and condemning federation and Vice-President Gomez Farías. [57] The plan being adopted by a large portion of the republic in spite of the opposition on the part of Puebla, Querétaro, Michoacan, Jalisco, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Oajaca, and Yucatan, the clergy hastened to support the government with pecuniary means. ”

“ The harsh climate of Mexico City is particularly cruel to all convalescents; hence invalids also come here to regain their strength. Thus, there is much travel upon the railway between the capital of the republic and its most salubrious, nearby resort.
It was afternoon when we drew out of Cuernavaca for the long climb to the height of land. As we ascended, the evening shadows were lengthening [Pg 197] and creeping out from every cleft and hollow along the mountain sides; and toward the east, splitting the blue sky, towered Popocatepetl. ”

“ It lies on a steep hillside behind Cuernavaca, and{248} even if it were not one of the most beautiful of tangled, neglected, ruined old gardens anywhere, it would be lovable for the manner in which it tried so hard to be a French garden and failed. Joseph, it is clear, had the French passion for formalizing the landscape—for putting Nature into a pretty strait-jacket; but although he spent much time and a million pesos in trying to do this at Cuernavaca, he rather wonderfully did not succeed. ”

“ This is the American center of Catholic Churches; the home of many gaudy Spanish women and begging peons; where the people, the laws, and the customs, are two hundred years behind those of the United States. Still, I thought Mexico very beautiful, as well as of historical interest.
One day we journeyed far into the highlands, where lay the ancient Mexican city of Cuernavaca, the one time summer home of America's only Emperior, Maximilian. ”

“ The details of the group of hills and the surrounding country should not be neglected. Our experience may be so far useful to our successors, whoever they may be, as to show, that here, plenty of time, and the means of shelter and refreshment, are absolutely requisite for the excursion. Situated as we were, and little as we positively effected, I wonder that we did so much. By the route we had come, we agreed that it must be seven leagues from Cuernavaca. ”

“ The movement of troops referred to by the writer of the letter, probably had reference to the concentration of the Mexican forces at Queretaro, a precautionary measure which was very naturally adopted. ↑ Although Cuernavaca is but sixty miles from Mexico, it is surrounded by fields of coffee and sugar-cane, which yield an abundant crop. ”

“ The barrancas of these plains form the hothouses of the capital above, and from them the market is daily supplied with abudance of the richest fruits. These are chiefly reared by the Indian population, whose little bamboo enclosures, overshadowed by the broad leaves of the banana and papaya, form many a beautiful picture in the vicinity of Cuernavaca. ”

“ You don’t eat through sentiment or patriotism, but through necessity. Among this class of hotel I feel it is only honest to except one at Cuernavaca, which has charming rooms, a most exquisite patio, and an “American table” about as good as that of the average New England summer boarding house.
Few Americans who are traveling for pleasure in Mexico will be likely to patronize what is known as a mesón. It would not have occurred to me to do so had I not slept in them in small towns off the{191} line of the railway, where there is no place else to stay. ”

“ His force consisted of two divisions of infantry under the respective command of Alatorre and Bonilla, and one of cavalry under Toro. [14] After the southern division at Cuernavaca had been incorporated with his army, the line of observation of Chalco and Tezcuco established, and the telegraph lines in the plains and Rio Frio repaired, Diaz' authority extended from Tabasco and Chiapas to Pachuca and Toluca. He had to devise means to procure resources for supporting his troops without imposing too heavy burdens on the people, in which he was singularly successful. [15]
Puebla. ”

“ The queen in April 1533 approved the suggestion made by the audiencia that President Fuenleal and two oidores should proceed to Cuernavaca and verify the paintings, taking with them the natives that had drawn them. Puga, Cedulario, 83-4. ↑ Cortés, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xii. 541-9, 554-63. On account of the enmity displayed by the audiencia he petitioned the king to send a special commissioner to make the count and deliver him his vassals, or to empower a commission of prelates and friars in New Spain to do so, otherwise a settlement would never be accomplished. ”

“ The people declare that the deputies who passed those laws and decrees, together with the functionaries that have obstinately attempted to carry them out, no longer meriting public confidence, must leave their positions and remain passive till the nation represented anew shall be reorganized according to the constitution and in a manner conducive to her happiness. 5. President Santa Anna is assured of the aid of the military force stationed at Cuernavaca in carrying out those purposes. The resolutions thus adopted were forwarded to Santa Anna May 25th. Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, MS., ix. ”

“ The churches and priests are the chief characteristic of Queretaro. No wonder it is such a church-town. It is more completely filled with these structures than any city I have seen—than any, probably, in the land, except Guadilajara. Puebla has far less, proportionately to its inhabitants, and far inferior ones, excepting its cathedral, which here is cheap and poor. ”