Tepoztlán is one such town (although they lost the designation a few years back and then changed a few things to get it back. I need to find that story somehow). It's a small town about an hour's bus ride south from Mexico City, very close to the city of Cuernavaca, nestled into a lush valley on the edge of one of the mountain chains ringing the Valley of Mexico. The main draw, apart from its listing, is an Aztec pyramid ruin on a mountaintop overlooking the town.
Outside of Tasqueña metro station, there's a big bus terminal where I bought a ticket (104 pesos) for the Pullman de Morelos bus line. The bus left right away, so after the standard frisk and bag search we were off south. I always enjoy the ride out of the city, especially to the south, because you climb into the forested highlands and mountains. The ride was about an hour, so unfortunately, I did not get to see the conclusion of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The movies they show on all these buses are all the same bland dramas. No idea why.
Anyway, the bus dropped me at the edge of town and it was a pleasant 20 minute walk to the village main street. It was just ramping up for the day as I passed through, around 11 am. Lots of little stores, restaurants. Tepoztlán is supposed to be a big new age center, since the cosmic vibes are supposed to be really good there, and its apparently also a hotspot of UFO activity. So mixed in with the cafes and clothing stores were quite a few boutiques hawking Indian clothes, tie die, hemp necklaces, tarot readings, alien tee shirts, etc. The smell of frying itacates (a local triangular thick corn pancake) interspersed with nag champtha.
Finding your way around town is easy- the road into town turns and becomes the main drag, and you follow that past the zocalo (main town square where the market is) and it takes you straight to the base of the mountain trail up to the temple.
The trail is basically 2km of stone stairs, boulders, and rocky trail that winds its way up a steep valley and up through various crevasses. It's a strenuous challenge worth taking lots of water, and maybe an energy bar. It's also a really lovely hike since it follows the stream and its incredibly lush. I felt like Indiana Jones, hacking his way through the jungle. No insects, and really, not hot either. The walls of the cliffs on either side were covered with vines and the constant trickle of water coming down from above. At one point, you have to actually climb a set of metal stairs because the ascent goes literally straight vertical.
Your reward is a breathtaking panorama of the valley and the town and the surrounding mountaintops. There is a little hut selling cold drinks, and a short path to the Aztec pyramid which sits on its on promontory. Massive condors were wheeling overhead against a blue sky.
In the US, you probably would not be allowed to actually climb the pyramid, and probably there would be safety cable barriers everywhere. Not so much in Mexico. I cautiously followed a few people out onto one of the narrow ledges around the pyramid, less than 2' wide. It's very close to being terrifying along that ledge, leaning back against the face of the pyramid, with the chasm of jungle open below you. Actually, you don't even appreciate the height until you stand at the head of the trail back down.
The way down was much faster, although it began to get more crowded. Also, for some reason, there were people who were well into the 60s on the trail basically being held up by massive extended families and that slowed things down a lot too.
Back in town, I was starving from the hike, so I stopped into the market in the Zocalo.
Markets in Mexico are physically amorphous like fog. You pass a few people selling things on blankets on the sidewalk, then folding tables, and push carts, and taco and tortas and juice stands, and then the density skyrockets as does the amount of cover overhead, and suddenly the vendors stalls are wall to wall and you're under a continuous tarp roof. At the core of the most developed markets, there are actual buildings, nearly invisible becasuse you can't see the walls, but if you look up you can see the sawtooth or barrel vaulted roofs.
The market here didn't make it to the hard architecture phase, but it was a huge tarp covered space. I followed my ears more than my nose to find the sizzle of hot griddles in the labyrinth of comida corrida stalls in the center of the market.
For lunch, I had some itacates with crema and queso, a nopale (prickly pear) quesadilla, and an itacate with huitlacoche. Apart from the dairy, these are all very indigenous foods, the huitlacoche most of all.
Huitlacoche is a kind of black corn fungus, which in consistency and color looks a lot like a dark paté. It's a local thing, and I wanted to try it out. The taste is kind of meh. Not that remarkable, kind of an musty earthiness to it. What was especially unnerving is it is served with kernels of corn still in it, the yellow kernel swelling into black with the fungal growth. From wikipedia:
The fungus has had difficulty entering into the American and European diets as most farmers see it as blight, despite attempts by government and high profile chefs to introduce it.The fact that in the US, it's known as "Corn smut" probably doesn't help it's case either.
I wandered through the markets, tried some mezcal ice cream from the local famous ice cream shop, Teponieves, and worked my way over to the Ex-convent of the Dominicans. I love the old convents here. They're lovely, serene places, beautifully decorated, with occasional works of religious art. All the walls and ceilings at this convent (or monastery? it was all male monks) were hand painted with decoration.
Interestingly, the toilet room had short inspirational devotional poems dealing with defection and voiding painted on the wall above each toilet seat. I took a few photos and I need to get them translated.
The bus company has a one room ticket office towards the beginning of the street, and there I bought my return ticket and boarded a free combi shuttle back to the bus depot at the edge of the town. Another hour journey back (People Like Us, ugh) and I was crossing under the the "Welcome to Mexico City!" sign.
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