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December 29, 2006
Pretty/Tasty
Cuernavaca is the capital of the state of Morelos. The state's name comes from a famous Afro-Mexican revolutionary, José María Morelos, who figured prominently in the war for independence, and it was this state that was the home of Emiliano Zapata, one of the biggies in the revolution. The capital is about 85 km (50 miles) south of Mexico City, making it a relatively short bus ride, traffic permitting.
I had always heard about Cuernavaca being a beautiful colonial town with perfect weather throughout the year, and it certainly lives up to that reputation. It is certainly a colonial town with a lot of the old stuff left in-tact: a cathedral that looks like a fortress when it's lit up at night, the Palacio de Cortés (which looks like a fortress at any time of day), and lots of smaller works like homes that endure from that era. And the weather is beautiful.
My experiences in colonial towns are also starting to show me that they usually have some great restaurants too. First there was the Café y Nevería Acrópolis in Zacatecas, and now I've stumbled across the Tratoría Marco Polo (Hidalgo 26; 777/318-40-32) in Cuernavaca. Located right across from the cathedral, it's located upstairs in a building that has an arcade of shops on the bottom floor. Their balcony overlooks the street and the cathedral and is nothing short of "charming." They have a wide range of food, and there is a lot of it that lacto-ovo vegetarians like us can eat. I'm usually not one to repeat visits to restaurants when faced with a limited amount of time in a city, unless (like Vege Taco of Coyoacán), their food is interesting and well-prepared. We ate at the Marco Polo three times during our visit, and I'm already looking forward to a return visit in the future.
We also ate at the Casa Hidalgo (Hidalgo 6; 777/312-27-49), a more hip and fancy joint located right across from the Palacio de Cortés. There were a number of things we could eat there too, most of them being pasta. Since we'd had our fill of that at the Tratoría Marco Polo, we opted for the chiles rellenos, filled with cheese. You can also get them filled with meat, like they serve them at el Rancherito in Olney, Illinois. This is a property owned by the same folks that own the hotel where we're staying, the Casa Colonial. The Casa Hidalgo also has rooms, but I can't say anything about those as we didn't stay there.
I have to admit that we did not eat at what is supposedly one of the most famous restaurants in the country: Las Mañanitas (Ricardo Linares 107; 777/362-00-00), which is also a fancy resort-style hotel. People can't say enough about this place, but we didn't venture out that way because we stayed within walking distance of our hotel and while they have a diverse and ever-changing menu, everything I read about them mentioned only dishes with meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat. One hates to make a reservation, get all dressed up, take a cab out to a place, go through the whole sit-down-order-drinks process, only to look at the menu and realize that the only thing he can get is a small salad. No, if we're going to that much trouble and expense, I want to know in advance that I can get something interesting that I like. I want to know I can enjoy the food as much as some meat-eating-José that goes there and has his run of the whole menu. Since Las Mañanitas doesn't publish their menu online (again, it changes frequently), and as they don't make any mention on their web site about having interesting vegetarian dishes, we opted out.
Of course, there's a lot more to Cuernavaca than old buildings and food. Malcolm Lowry's book, "Under the Volcano" was set here (although the town is called something else). Jazz greats Charles Mingus and Gil Evans died here, seeking indigenous treatments for terminal illnesses. Many gringos come here to study Spanish, and it's a great place for that because it's small, manageable and safe.
If you're a gringo and you come here, I can also recommend Casa Colonial for your accomodation needs. I expected it to be an overpriced "colonial" (read: old, no A/C, no hot water, no Internet) hotel, but in truth, it's not bad for the price. There are some limitations: a relatively limited breakfast (and no other meals) in the "restaurant," lots and lots and lots of stairs, windows without curtains that other guests can look into as they walk to and from their rooms, not-entirely-hot water, sketchy cable that comes and goes, having to get someone to open the gated entrance for you every time you come and go, a bar that is only attended if you ask for it to be, and Internet only reliable in the public areas. But it's kept spotless, the appointments are incredible (real, original contemporary art!), the beds are comfortable, the plumbing works, sewer gas from the shower drains is minimal (and they even give you covers for the drains), and most of all (and this alone makes up for all the other shortcomings), the views and the courtyard are spectacular.
Just make sure you don't get Number 12...
Posted by crispy at December 29, 2006 07:53 AM
Comments
"... dishes with meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat ..."
Wow! I can't imagine that much meat! That's seven times more meat than I get if I order a steak!
So, drains in Mexico emit sewer gases? That can be dangerous. Is that everywhere? In my limited understanding, all you need to do to eliminate the problem is to have the drain pipe curve before it gets to the actual drain, so it seems a strange problem to have.
On the chile rellenos: They are additionally strange at Rancherito in that it's not really a stuffed pepper. You get what looks like a mound of cheese, which conceals tons of meat. Somewhere in there is a pepper that has been split and spread out like a butterflied porkchop (I know you're into that!).
I ate there the last two daze. They call me amigo. I call them sir.
Posted by: Mark Allen at December 29, 2006 05:27 PM
Mark Allen writes:
So, drains in Mexico emit sewer gases? That can be dangerous. Is that everywhere? In my limited understanding, all you need to do to eliminate the problem is to have the drain pipe curve before it gets to the actual drain, so it seems a strange problem to have.
Yes. You would think that it's not a difficult problem to overcome, but it seems to happen in a lot of hotels in Mexico. It happens when you run water in the shower at the Hotel San Francisco Plaza when you first start the water in the shower, it happened at the Casa Colonial, and it even happens at one of the very hip boutique hotels in Mexico City, Habita.
I have to ask around about this because you're right. It should be easily controlled. I guess it's not limited to just Mexico, but it does seem to happen here with great [read this review, or this one, or this one, or this one...]
I wonder if, because they're hotels, and who knows WHAT kind of things people regularly put down hotel shower/tub drains, hotels in Mexico are built without traps, so that the management doesn't have to regularly clean the traps every hour.
I posted a question about it at Yahoo! Answers about it, but so far, no really good answers have come in.
Posted by: Chris Coen at December 30, 2006 02:21 PM