EXCURSIONES EN MEXICO

It’s time to start planning for our excursions while we’re in Cuernavaca. Attached you will find a list of sponsored excursions. None of the excursions are required, however, there are many that you would not want to pass up! To download a .pdf file of the excursions, click here: sli-e28093-spanish-language-institute-excursions

Here is some more information about some of the places we will be visiting:

Las Estacas Ecological Water Park: TLALTIZAPAN –

The natural beauty, conserved and improved over the years, has let this place be considered a one-of-a-kind Natural Park by the World Association of Aquatic Parks. It has various services for the comfort of its visitors: Swimming areas, campgrounds, trailer park (13 conditioned areas) and cabin rentals (for 40 people). We are also in the process of building a hostel. There are large, beautiful green areas and visitors will also find services such as horse rentals, miniature golf, restaurant, bar, palapas (shaded areas with tables) for work meetings, sports areas: volleyball, basketball, soccer, jogging areas, swimming pools, wading pools for children, a children’s lake with acrobatic equipment, 24 hour security and medical service. Swimming in the river is the main attraction of Las Estacas. Visitors enjoy swimming downstream, starting from the spring where the river begins, which generates 8,000 liters of water per second. One can swim, dive or float on inflatable rafts for one kilometer in completely clear water. It’s an unforgettable experience for both children and adults. Las Estacas has an ecological program to protect its flora and fauna, a water treatment program and a program to separate and recycle garbage.

Pyramids of Xochicalco:
Xochicalco is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The name “Xochicalco” means “in the house of Flowers” in the Nahuatl language. The site is located 38 km southwest of Cuernavaca, about 76 miles by road from Mexico City. The site is open to visitors all week, from 10am to 5pm, although access to the observatory is only allowed after noon. The apogee of Xochicalco came after the fall of Teotihuacán and it has been speculated that Xochicalco played a part in the fall of the Teotihuacano empire.

The architecture and iconography shows affinities with Teotihuacan, the Maya area, and the Matlatzinca culture of the Toluca Valley. Today some residents of the villages closest to the ruins of Xochicalco such as Cuentepec and Tetlama in eastern Morelos speak Nahuatl.

The main ceremonial center is atop an artificially leveled hill, with remains of residential structures, mostly unexcavated, on long terraces covering the slopes.

Xochicalco Solar Observatory:

The Solar Observatory of Xochicalco is something to behold. It is a natural cave that has been carved out by hand also. During two seasons every year, for two days each season, as the sun passes through its zenith, on May 14th and 15th and again on July 28th and 29th, a very strong ray of sunlight passes through a narrow shaft in the ceiling of the observatory to the floor. When you place your arm through the ray of light it is said that you can see your skeleton on the cave floor. (Actually it is the umbra and pre umbra of your shadow that creates this illusion.)

During other periods of the year light can be seen coming through the shaft but it is not as intense as during equinox.

The site was occupied by 200 BC, with the most notable architecture built between about 700 and 1000 AD. At its peak, the city may have had a population of up to 20,000 people.

Taxco—The Silver Mining Town
Frommer’s review:
The legendary silver city of Taxco, on the road between Acapulco and Mexico City, is renowned for its museums, picturesque hillside colonial-era charm, and, of course, its silver shops. North of Taxco and southwest of Mexico City, over the mountains, are the venerable thermal spas at Ixtapan de la Sal, as well as their more modern counterparts in Valle de Bravo. Verdant Cuernavaca, known as the land of eternal spring, has gained a reputation for its exceptional spa facilities and its wealth of cultural and historic attractions. Finally, Tepoztlán, with its enigmatic charms and legendary pyramid, captivates the few travelers who find their way there.

In Mexico and around the world, the town of Taxco de Alarcón — most commonly known simply as Taxco (tahs-koh) — is synonymous with silver. The town’s geography and architecture are equally precious: Taxco sits at nearly 1,515m (4,969 ft.) on a hill among hills, and almost any point in the city offers fantastic views.

Hernán Cortez discovered Taxco as he combed the area for treasure, but its rich caches of silver weren’t fully exploited for another 2 centuries. In 1751, the French prospector Joseph de la Borda — who came to be known locally as José — commissioned the baroque Santa Prisca Church that dominates Taxco’s zócalo (Plaza Borda) as a way of giving something back to the town. In the mid-1700s, Borda was considered the richest man in New Spain.

Teotihuacán—
Frommer’s review:

The ruins of Teotihuacán are among the most remarkable in Mexico — indeed, they are among the most important ruins in the world. Mystery envelops this former city of 200,000; although it was the epicenter of culture and commerce for ancient Mesoamerica, its inhabitants vanished without a trace. Teotihuacán (pronounced “teh-oh-tee-wa-khan”) means “place where gods were born,” reflecting the Aztec belief that the gods created the universe here.

Occupation of the area began around 500 B.C., but it wasn’t until after 100 B.C. that construction of the enormous Pyramid of the Sun commenced. Teotihuacán’s rise coincided with the classical Romans’ building of their great monuments, and with the beginning of cultures in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Oaxaca, and Puebla.

Teotihuacán’s magnificent pyramids and palaces covered about 30 sq. km (12 sq. miles). At its zenith, around A.D. 500, the city counted more inhabitants than in contemporary Rome. Through trade and other contact, Teotihuacán’s influence was known in other parts of Mexico and as far south as the Yucatán and Guatemala. Still, little information about the city’s inhabitants survives: what language they spoke, where they came from, why they abandoned the place around A.D. 700. It is known, however, that at the beginning of the 1st century A.D., the Xitle volcano erupted near Cuicuilco (south of Mexico City) and decimated that city, which was the most prominent of the time. Those inhabitants migrated to Teotihuacán. Scholars believe that Teotihuacán’s decline, probably caused by overpopulation and depletion of natural resources, was gradual, perhaps occurring over a 250-year period. In the last years, it appears that the people were poorly nourished and that the city was deliberately burned.