The Cuernavaca Mercado

The Cuernavaca Mercado (market) is a sprawling thing that winds around and up and down. Very easy to get lost in. It's located in an arroyo just about 6 blocks east of downtown and the plaza. Much of it seems under ground with many alleys that bring you up to city streets. Just about everything is for sale but mostly divided into sections of flower sellers, meat, vegetable, herbs, clothes and music CD's. You might even see a small boy run by with a pigs head.

When I was taking Spanish classes at Encuentros I also took some evening cooking lessons. Most of our assignments included a shopping list 'in Spanish' and we were to shop at the central market before class. You'd be surprised at how many flavors of 'mole' there are. We had some very good meals those evenings.

I recently heard much of the market was damaged by fire this year. YouTube Video of the fire

Deep inside the Cuernavaca market

Steps up to street level

Bags of herbs

Women in the vegetable section

Las Lagunas de Zempoala

Las Lagunas de Zempoala is a National Park in the mountains above Cuernavaca at an altitude of about 2,900 meters (9500 feet) above sea level. The park encompasses seven small lakes of which three, Zempoala, Tonathiua and Prieta, contain water year-round and the other four are seasonal. The surrounding hillsides are covered in forests of pine and other evergreens.

Lots of activities including rowing, sailing, horseback riding and camping. There are many hiking trails to walk and cliffs to scale for the more adventurous.

Access to Las Lagunas de Zempoala is via the Mexico-Cuernavaca highway, either the old highway or the new toll road, turning off at Tres Marias and proceeding toward and past Huitzilac village.  You can also take the old highway out of Cuernavaca.

Robert Brady Museum

Next to the cathedral, in the Casa de Torre, the Museo Robert Brady houses an extensive collection of works and artefacts belonging to the American artist. Brady travelled the world in search of artistic acquisitions and the contents of this museum took a whole life-time to amass. His collection of 1300 pieces contains paintings by, among others, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Paul Klee and Francisco Toledo. There is also colonial furniture, textiles, pre-Hispanic objects, African art and ceramics. It is well worth a visit.

This collection was assembled by Robert Brady (1928-1986). Born in Iowa with a career in the fine arts at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tyler Arts Center of Temple University and the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, he established residence in Venice, Italy for five years before settling in Cuernavaca, Mexico in 1962.

Museum from the street


Main Bedroom


Kitchen


Yellow Bath

Robert Brady Museum

Grutas de Cacahuamilpa and Taxco

Las Grutas and Taxco are both easy day trips from Cuernavaca even though they are in the state of Guerrero. You could do them both with a car or a tour if you start early. I would not try Las Grutas via bus. Hard to tell what you'll find in Taxco and you might easily spend a day there.

The Grutas de Cacahuamilpa National Park in Guerrero, Mexico, is best known for the Grutas de Cacahuamilpa Caverns, which are one of the largest cave systems in the world. It is also home to the Grutas of Carlos Pacheco, a smaller system, as well as two subterranean rivers which have carved out tunnels in the rock. The park has extreme sports attractions such as rappelling, and rock climbing in Limontitla Canyon. as well as the two underground rivers to explore. It also has a small botanical garden, a pool and places to camp.

Grutas de Cacahuamilpa

Streets of Taxco