Saturday, July 28, 2012

Conocer México supone internarse en espesos bosques lluviosos, pasear por playas tropicales, atravesar vastos desiertos y ascender a volcanes coronados por la nieve, recorrer las calles para conocer las ruinas de las antiguas civilizaciones y conurbaciones modernas, es un atractivo turístico interesante. México se revela como un gran mosaico de culturas, gastronomía, paisajes, hábitats, artesanías, músicas, tesoros artísticos y acontecimientos históricos.

En los últimos años y gracias al desarrollo del turismo ecológico y de aventura es grato para el visitante disfrutar del senderismo por quebradas remotas, contemplar ballenas o flamencos, subir a los volcanes, bucear en aguas colmadas de peces exóticos, llegar en bicicleta hasta apartadas aldeas indígenas o navegar en kayak por los abundantes ríos o hasta las islas costeñas.

El consolidado prestigio de México como destino turístico no ha perdido sus encantos. Sus litorales pacífico y caribeño abrigan cientos de playas, no solamente Cancún, Los Cabos, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo y Acapulco las cuales son conocidas en los folletos de las agencias, sino otros tantas donde se goza de una incomparable belleza natural, rincones donde se puede alquilar alguna cabaña con techo de paja, o bien una sencilla hamaca y gozar del sol, del mar, la buena comida y el amable trato de nuestra gente.

Repartidos por el País, se guardan un sinfín de fascinantes yacimientos arqueológicos:
Teotihuacan, El Tajín, Monte Albán, Palenque, Chichén Itza, Uxmal, Coba, por citar algunos. Fruto del periodo colonial, México conserva muchas ciudades cargadas de historia y embellecidas por edificios centenarios, plazas donde borbotean las fuentes: Zacatecas, Álamos, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Puebla, Taxco, Cuernavaca, Pátzcuaro, Oaxaca, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Veracruz, Mérida… etc.
 More than 3,000 years ago, the first civilization in Mesoamerica blossomed on a fertile land south of the Gulf of Mexico.  There, the Olmecs pioneered a civil, military and religious organization that would spread, after evolving, to young cultures in Mesoamerica. The Maya, Purepechas, Huastecos and Aztecs among others, formed local empires whose vestiges can be traced in Uxmal, Tzinzunzan, Tajin and the Main Temple in Mexico City.  Their stunning ancient cities were part of a commercial and religious system with staggering, though partial, development in science.  The Mayans introduced the notion of mathematical zero to our hemisphere - as arabs did in western civilization –  but, paradoxically, the Mayans didn’t use the wheel for mechanical purposes.

Spanish conquerors brought European traditions to the land and imposed a new religion on its people.  From that violent fusion, New Spain emerged as a thriving new culture.  300 years later, inspired by French Enlightenment revolutionary ideas, Miguel Hidalgo started an 11 years war (1810-1821), which finally brought independence from Spain. Invaded by the United States and France, the new nation of Mexico faced onto the 19th century fighting for development while defending its territory from upcoming economic powers.

President Benito Juarez initiated a period of stability and growth. Porfirio Diaz consolidated the modern Mexican nation but the poorest paid the price. Democracy, Land  and Freedom were the flags for a Revolution (1910). Military governments ruled the country during the first half of the 20th century, and a hard fight for democracy continues in Mexico until this day. In the 21st century, Mexico is still looking for a place on the international stage.


AGUAS CALIENTES 


The city of Aguascalientes is made up of four traditional neighborhoods, all of which grew up around the central Plaza de la Patria: Guadalupe, San Marcos, El Encino and La Estacion. While Guadalupe and San Marcos are the most representative of local culture, all of them warrant at least a walk through; you're sure to pick up some of the city's folklore and customs along the way.
The neighborhood of Guadalupe, a traditional producer of pottery, centers around its local temple. At the heart of Guadalupe, you'll recognize this religious sanctuary – the second most important in the city and dating back to the late 18th-century – by its baroque façade. Look up and you won't miss the temple's enormous dome covered in traditional talavera tiles. Venture inside and you'll be surrounded by the temple's many flower and angel motifs – a true baroque paradise.
The next stop on your stroll through the city's neighborhoods will be San Marcos, founded in 1604 and once home to natives of Tlaxcala state who fled persecution. Today, the area hosts the traditional San Marcos Fair in springtime. You won't miss the Plaza de Toros (bullring), and make sure you stop by the Teatro del Pueblo (Town Theater) where free artistic shows are put on regularly.
Take a rest along the way in the San Marcos Gardens, a charming green spot where paths and trees are abundant. The gardens are traditionally frequented by poets, artists and lovers on lazy afternoons. Directly in front of the gardens, you'll see the baroque San Marcos Temple, its tiled dome glinting in the sun.
Arriving in the neighborhood of El Encino or La Triana, head for the Encino gardens with their tile-decorated central fountain, and enjoy a spot of tranquility. While in the area, the Jose Guadalupe Posada Museum – showcasing the work of an extraordinary cartoonist and engraver born in Aguascalientes – is well worth a visit. The museum houses two permanent exhibition rooms and another for temporary exhibitions. Last but not least, the neighborhood of La Estacion takes its name from the old railway station, inaugurated in 1911 and one of Aguascalientes' architectural and historical treasures.




The “Royal Road” of Tierra Adentro (the Land Within) was one of the most important roadways of colonial Mexico, crossing a handful of the central and northern states of the country. It was the route connecting the central region to the northernmost part of New Spain, as Mexico was known in colonial times, and was used by traders, nobles and slaves alike to move their goods. When you taste the diverse cuisine of Aguascalientes, you'll experience this extraordinary heritage firsthand.
Dishes from other parts of Mexico – such as enchiladas (tortillas in a spicy bean sauce), mole (traditional chilli- and chocolate-based sauce), birria (tripe), pozole (spiced corn-based soup) and lechon (baby pig) – took root in Aguascalientes, and new, exciting flavors were added from typical regional produce, such as grapes, guava, chillies and peach. Feel your taste buds dance under the regional delicacies of pork ribs with guava sauce, campesina soup, valentina-style chicken, cream tacos, sombrero soup, cheese and butter tamales, corn cake, Aguascalientes mole, four chilli noodle soup, Chichimeca-style rabbit, to name just a few.
If you're spending a few days in Aguascalientes, why not take a trip out to Calvillo, known for its production of guava – the raw ingredient for a range of delicious desserts, jellies, jams, empanadas and caramel-filled rolls. Another enticing product for which Aguascalientes is known in Mexico is wine. Though here you won't find the famous vineyards and traditions of Baja California, producers from Aguascalientes are on a mission to create higher quality wines and specialize in artisan production. Take a trip deep into Aguascalientes’ wine-producing lands: at the Letras Hacienda, tastings and tours of the machinery and process of production are offered; you can witness each stage of the journey, from the planting of grapes all the way to the finished bottle.
 POSADA HERRERAS


When it comes to art, Aguascalientes has a story to tell. Two of its most famous sons are the engraver, Jose Guadalupe Posada, creator of the famous Catrina and the inspiration for a whole festival (the Calaveras Festival); and the painter Saturnino Herran, whose murals, famed for their exquisite depictions of regional life, are part of the permanent collection at the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace) in Mexico City. Come and see these artists' work at its best: among the stunning colonial buildings of their hometown, Aguascalientes.
The Museo Guadalupe Posada (Guadalupe Posada Museum) offers you an insight into the history of a quintessentially Mexican icon: the emblematic Catrina (A skeleton in Victorian women's attire). A “popular” artist, Posada worked for almost all the country's publications that opposed Porfirio Diaz (Mexican president from 1876 to 1911), making political illustrations and satirical lithographs, including his famous caricature of death, la Catrina. The museum offers you a fascinating journey into Mexico's political past, as well as a closer look at the eerie Catrina.   If your taste for the macabre isn't yet satisfied, the National Museum of Death houses other original works by Posada and other plastic artists. The Feria de San Marcos and the Cultural Festival of Calaveras (Skulls) can be directly traced to Posada, who was born in the neighborhood where thy are now held.
The Museo De Aguascalientes (Aguascalientes Museum) is just one of the city's many early 20th-century Neoclassical buildings, yet this fine museum is home to the work of some distinctively un-classical painters, including Saturnino Herran, himself from Aguascalientes and a protegé of Diego Rivera, and Pedro and Rafael Coronel (of Zacatecas fame). Herran's vivid, naive-style paintings of 20th-century local life and customs, and the Coronel brothers' vibrant, at times abstract, images are reason enough to lure you for a rich afternoon's stroll around the museum's elegant galleries. Herrán painted portraits by commission, but he also chronicled the humbler details of Mexican provincial life: old men and local young women are revived in the vivid brushwork of his paintings. As well as a pleasant cultural afternoon, the Aguascalientes Museum offers you a lesson in Mexican social history.
You'll encounter a striking fusion of the colonial and the modern all over Aguascalientes. Some examples that are worth a visit include: Expo Plaza, which integrates the monumental Plaza de Toros (bullring), an exhibition area and a shopping mall; for those who like to try their luck, the recently inaugurated San Marcos Convention Center becomes a casino during the International San Marcos Fair; the Descubre (Discover) Interactive Science and Technology Museum lets you explore the magic of outer space in its four permanent exhibition rooms; and, finally, if you have a taste for cutting-edge culture, the Contemporary Art Museum brings you the latest developments in Mexican fine art.
One final must while you're in Aguascalientes is a visit to the Railroad Complex, Tres Centurias (Three Centuries). The name of the complex speaks for itself, as alongside its fountains and green areas, it boasts buildings from three different centuries. Among the turbines and old locomotives, you'll be transported back to the times of president Porfirio Diaz, when railroad construction in Mexico began.   Almost every train in the country once passed through Aguascalientes. Today, you'll find the memory of Mexico's early industrial past very much alive in the site's exciting museum, making the complex ideal for an educative family day out.
The hot sun of central Mexico will be your foremost challenge as you explore Aguascalientes, but the rewards of this vibrant city are many and diverse.

TEPEZALAS

 
In the midst of a deciduous forest climate, nestled along mountains and hills, you'll find Tepezala, a municipality in the state of Aguascalientes that offers you a journey to the region’s past through its different sites and traditions. As soon as you arrive, you'll be struck by the Our Lady Refugio Parish: a neoclassical style, pink quarry stoned temple, the large stained-glass windows allowing the soft blue light of the Aguascalientes sky to illuminate the interior as you stand and soak up its sacred atmosphere. A former spot on the Silver Route (that once extended from Mexico City all the way to Zacatecas), Tepezala boasts great silver, copper and precious stones mining industries. The former Las Pilas hacienda, now a series of fascinating ruins, is a snapshot of the heights enjoyed by the silver and minerals industries in the region.
In the historic center of Tepezala, head for the Cooperative Home Office, which tells the region’s oldest children’s tale through paintings kept in the kitchen’s wall. The traditional homes found in this town, built with regional stones, make up a picturesque landscape you won't easily forget.
The Religious Art Museum, the Tepezala Christ (a Black Christ made of animal blood and reeds) and the Maria Isabel Bullring, are just some of the tourist attractions that bring in both local and foreign tourists every year.
If you have a taste for the outdoors, Tepezala is home to an eco-ranch known as El Camiral, where exotic species, such as red deer, pheasants and ostriches, are the main visual attraction. This mountainous region is also home to the Mesillas Dam, whose peacefulness and beauty will lure you to spend the night camping under the moonlight.
As though its vocation were to delight the palate, this town offers a range of exquisite dishes such as pocholas, a delicacy made of ground chicken meat, baked with Mexican sauce and regional beans on the side.
When it comes to delicious deserts, you'll be seriously tempted in Tepezala: membrillo is a traditional concentrated candy whose main ingredient is, as its name in Spanish implies, the quince, and whose tantalizing flavor will leave you asking for more. Tepezala is a fitting representative of Aguascalientes’ gastronomical tradition, where the guava fruit is an essential ingredient in traditional candies, pastes and jams. Indulging your sweet tooth is obligatory in Tepezala

FERIA SAN MARCOS 


In the midst of a deciduous forest climate, nestled along mountains and hills, you'll find Tepezala, a municipality in the state of Aguascalientes that offers you a journey to the region’s past through its different sites and traditions. As soon as you arrive, you'll be struck by the Our Lady Refugio Parish: a neoclassical style, pink quarry stoned temple, the large stained-glass windows allowing the soft blue light of the Aguascalientes sky to illuminate the interior as you stand and soak up its sacred atmosphere. A former spot on the Silver Route (that once extended from Mexico City all the way to Zacatecas), Tepezala boasts great silver, copper and precious stones mining industries. The former Las Pilas hacienda, now a series of fascinating ruins, is a snapshot of the heights enjoyed by the silver and minerals industries in the region.
In the historic center of Tepezala, head for the Cooperative Home Office, which tells the region’s oldest children’s tale through paintings kept in the kitchen’s wall. The traditional homes found in this town, built with regional stones, make up a picturesque landscape you won't easily forget.
The Religious Art Museum, the Tepezala Christ (a Black Christ made of animal blood and reeds) and the Maria Isabel Bullring, are just some of the tourist attractions that bring in both local and foreign tourists every year.
If you have a taste for the outdoors, Tepezala is home to an eco-ranch known as El Camiral, where exotic species, such as red deer, pheasants and ostriches, are the main visual attraction. This mountainous region is also home to the Mesillas Dam, whose peacefulness and beauty will lure you to spend the night camping under the moonlight.
As though its vocation were to delight the palate, this town offers a range of exquisite dishes such as pocholas, a delicacy made of ground chicken meat, baked with Mexican sauce and regional beans on the side.
When it comes to delicious deserts, you'll be seriously tempted in Tepezala: membrillo is a traditional concentrated candy whose main ingredient is, as its name in Spanish implies, the quince, and whose tantalizing flavor will leave you asking for more. Tepezala is a fitting representative of Aguascalientes’ gastronomical tradition, where the guava fruit is an essential ingredient in traditional candies, pastes and jams. Indulging your sweet tooth is obligatory in Tepezala.