Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Luck and fate in Mexico's Tepotzotlán
An appointed "magical town" near Mexico City.
Clockwise from left: photo shoot of the folk group Las Palomitas Serranas; the drink of the gods, pulque; a parrot in Tepotzotlán's market.
Hidden in Mexico City's northern outskirts is the town of Tepotzotlán. Despite how close they are to one another, Tepotzotlán is about a two-hour drive from Mexico City due to havoc traffic.
When I arrived, I had to get my hands on some tasty pulque, a traditional alcoholic drink that's made by fermenting nectar from the maguey plant. For an inexpensive price, local brew houses around the neighborhood sell what the Aztecs called “the drink of the gods.” With a liter of pulque successfully procured, we enjoyed the drink on a rooftop overlooking most of Mexico City.
Tepotzotlán's namesake hill.
I learned an interesting fact about the name of the small town. The náhuatl word Tepotzotlán means "aside the hunchback," because of a hill that resembles a hunchback (left). Rumor has it that thieves built an underground tunnel that ran from the hill to the San Francisco Javier church to steal gold. Others say they have seen lights floating around the hill and suddenly disappearing. The town itself is categorized by the country's tourism board as a "Magical Town of Mexico", which might lend a little more credence to the legends.
My second day here, I decided to go into the city. I’ve never been a fan of big cities – but the Zocalo is the reason why I love Mexico City. Authentic artisan crafts, Aztec dancers doing herbal smuging, signs of what used to be Aztec structures, it all made me feel at home and proud of my roots.
I felt the same way when I climbed the 365 steps of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, and roamed around Frida Khalo’s Blue House in Coyacan.
Returning from the city to Tepotzotlán’s main square, I decided to enjoy a michelada, a 32-ounce draft beer rimmed with tamarind and chili powder. As I sat and enjoyed my drink, I got to reflecting on my adventures in Mexico City and Tepotzotlán, and on the special aura of these places.
The last hours in Tepotzotlán were probably the most magical. My day of departure arose. I had plans to catch a 7 p.m. bus that would take me to the western city of Zihuatanejo to visit more family. Noon came up, and fate stepped in. Earlier in my trip, I had met a talented young woman who sang and played huapango – traditional Mexican folk music – with her two sisters. She gave me the opportunity to photo shoot their band, Las Palomitas Serranas, in Tepotzotlán’s main square and the San Francisco Javier church.
As they stood and posed in their traditional embroidered Mexican dress and instruments, I realized that the trip to this magical town had come at an opportune time. Riding back into Mexico City, I knew this would not be my last visit here.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Luck and fate in Mexico's Tepotzotlán
An appointed "magical town" near Mexico City.
Luck and fate in Mexico's Tepotzotlán
An appointed "magical town" near Mexico City.
Clockwise from left: photo shoot of the folk group Las Palomitas Serranas; the drink of the gods, pulque; a parrot in Tepotzotlán's market.
Hidden in Mexico City's northern outskirts is the town of Tepotzotlán. Despite how close they are to one another, Tepotzotlán is about a two-hour drive from Mexico City due to havoc traffic.
When I arrived, I had to get my hands on some tasty pulque, a traditional alcoholic drink that's made by fermenting nectar from the maguey plant. For an inexpensive price, local brew houses around the neighborhood sell what the Aztecs called “the drink of the gods.” With a liter of pulque successfully procured, we enjoyed the drink on a rooftop overlooking most of Mexico City.
Tepotzotlán's namesake hill.
I learned an interesting fact about the name of the small town. The náhuatl word Tepotzotlán means "aside the hunchback," because of a hill that resembles a hunchback (left). Rumor has it that thieves built an underground tunnel that ran from the hill to the San Francisco Javier church to steal gold. Others say they have seen lights floating around the hill and suddenly disappearing. The town itself is categorized by the country's tourism board as a "Magical Town of Mexico", which might lend a little more credence to the legends.
My second day here, I decided to go into the city. I’ve never been a fan of big cities – but the Zocalo is the reason why I love Mexico City. Authentic artisan crafts, Aztec dancers doing herbal smuging, signs of what used to be Aztec structures, it all made me feel at home and proud of my roots.
I felt the same way when I climbed the 365 steps of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, and roamed around Frida Khalo’s Blue House in Coyacan.
Returning from the city to Tepotzotlán’s main square, I decided to enjoy a michelada, a 32-ounce draft beer rimmed with tamarind and chili powder. As I sat and enjoyed my drink, I got to reflecting on my adventures in Mexico City and Tepotzotlán, and on the special aura of these places.
The last hours in Tepotzotlán were probably the most magical. My day of departure arose. I had plans to catch a 7 p.m. bus that would take me to the western city of Zihuatanejo to visit more family. Noon came up, and fate stepped in. Earlier in my trip, I had met a talented young woman who sang and played huapango – traditional Mexican folk music – with her two sisters. She gave me the opportunity to photo shoot their band, Las Palomitas Serranas, in Tepotzotlán’s main square and the San Francisco Javier church.
As they stood and posed in their traditional embroidered Mexican dress and instruments, I realized that the trip to this magical town had come at an opportune time. Riding back into Mexico City, I knew this would not be my last visit here.
Comments