Cuernavaca- Park, Cortes' palace, John Spencer

Cuernovaca the city of eternal spring due to its temperate climate we spent the morning with a guide named Charlie and one of the things we showed us was 2 different trees one is the amate tree and the other is this tree here. The amate tree is the symbol of the city and has yellow bark. I do not remember the name of the second tree, but I know that it is a tree from the south and is proof that this city was once used to cultivate trees. The Nahuatl name for this city mean near the woods.

Charlie also spoke to us a bit about the political parties. There are three main political parties in Mexico the PRI, PAN, and Green party. Each party has a different color or set of colors. As the parties change, you can see the changes in the colors in the city. For example, the handrails in the park were newly painted purple to represent the latest political party. But there was a variety of other colors such as yellow and blue present in the park representing other parties. The natural color for parks is green.

"To calm/relieve pain is the work of God" This is in regards to education here in Mexico. In Mexico, all education is free. But what is required in high school (and in the past/present? college) is humanitarian work. At least a year of working in rural areas doing service for little to no pay. This helps to pay of the costs of education and shows that you value the education that has been given you. In Mexico, education is only required up to 9th grade and many don't reach this level.

It is also interesting to note that the police are not allowed on private school campuses. So, if you are ever hiding from the police that would be the best place to go.

  

Deaths are quite common in Cuernavaca -Mostly due to gangs and drugs according to our guide. Deaths are often covered up in Mexico. This wall was started by the people after a politician gave several speeches after his son and 6 others were found shot and shoved into a small car in the desert. It shows photos of the people who have been killed or are missing.

Here we are at lunch. I had a strange stuffed pepper. It was stuffed with sweet meats and had a sweet pecan pie like sauce on top with pomegranate seeds. 

Here we are at Cortes' palace. We really only visited to see the murals by Diego Rivera.

This painting shows a side of the relationship between Frida and Diego two of Mexico's most prominent painters. Frida often praised Diego for his accuracy in his paintings of the faces and events being portrayed. however in this painting of Pancho villa a famous Mexico hero/cowboy the horse is painted white. Pancho was famous for having a black horse to the point where songs were written about it. When Frida saw the white horse she got in a bit of a fight with her husband until he threw in the towel and said she could paint the horse, but it had to be white. So, here is the painting by Diego and Frida.

When Diego Rivera had to paint one of the Presidents he staged a showing with his friends where he would say something like "And the president could be any man and has every man's face"and then his friends would stand up and applaud. He did this in this because he wanted the president's approval when he painted his face in the instead of the face of the president. This painting later came to be the model of a statue of this president. However, it look more like Diego Rivera than the President.

Behind the statue you can see the artisan market where local handmade wares are sold. 

This cathedral is different than the others we have seen starting with the cross skull and crossbones above the door. This church was converted into a cathedral. It used to be very elaboratly decorated but now holds few decorations due to the ifluence of Bishop Sergio Méndez Arceo. Who wanted to break some of the superstitious traditions of the people such as rubbing the statues for blessings.

Left: door to cathedral

Right: A light fixture designed by John Spencer. A famous European trained artist. It is the insignia of the city designed as a cross.

Interestingly several of the paintings on the walls of the cathedral were done by indigenous people from paintings in books. The monks were not very good artist and hired indigenous to decorate the cathedral. 

This is a church whose crazy walls were constructed by the priest and the doors by John Spencer his friend. I think it was very clever as there are many doors and openings making the courtyard accessible. The whimsy of the curls and butterflies of the walls give the church a feeling of a community park rather than sacred ground. And, children often come here to play ball. 

 Cathedrals were often built on top of old pyramids. Whether this one was built on top of an old temple is unknown, but you can see from some of the stones in the walls that old pyramid stones were used to build the walls .
\