Mexico: better weather than Iowa
Well, we’re back to cold and windy, and it may snow this week. But I shall not let it get me down. I love springtime, and it has not abandoned me forever. Springtime wouldn’t do that to me, and I won’t turn my back on it.
One time quite a few years ago, I visited a town in Mexico called Cuernavaca. The word “cuernavaca” means “cow horn,” but it’s really just a way of smooshing the native word for the town into something that sounded Spanish. I don’t remember what the native word was, but it meant “whispering trees.” Cuernavaca has the little tagline of “the city of eternal springtime.” From what I understand, just about every country has one of those, but I’m lucky to have visited Mexico’s.
It was really a beautiful town. It’s about an hour south of Mexico City, and like Mexico City, it’s at a pretty high altitude. That means it doesn’t get as hot as other parts of Mexico, and there are always nice breezes. It was a lovely place all around and I would like to go back.
Especially on a gloomily-poomily day like today. Mexico is fun. I ate ice cream there.
I love Cuernavaca and want to go back too! (People always ask me about its name too, and now I know, thanks!)
Sadly, however, it’s also been the site of some wicked human-rights vs. corporation showdowns that get glossed over by the beautiful parts. But (probably because of that) it also has some groundbreaking indigenous artist co-ops and grass-roots social justice organizations.
Er, I just realized I sounded kind of lecture-y there. Sorry. I bet you already know all this stuff.
If you like Cuernavaca, you’d love San Cristobal. And Chiapas as a state is hands down the most magical place in Mexico. I only wish I’d had an extra week after traveling through it to return to the anthropology museum in the DF.
Don’t worry about it, Katie. I’m lecturey all the time. I think people for the most part enjoy learning.
And thanks for the additional destination ideas, Kristen. I haven’t spent much time in Mexico, but my coworker just got back from a trip there, so now I’m all excited about it.
“Don’t turn around, uh oh, ja ja they call me sausage brown, uh oh.”
–lyrics to the oddly translated “After the fire” cover of Der Kommisar as missunderstood by young me.