In Cuernavaca to Seville: the trail of Cortez
And Cuernavaca it smells of flowers and spring and its streets in the historic center seem to be drawn with a brush. It is a city that hurts go faster, one of those places where any traveler would want to stop for a while, if time belonged to us. In Cuernavaca you realize that, as I said That, freedom is a mirage, however, we must not give up. Hernán Cortés he knew what he was doing when he built his residence here, the rest of the warrior, another mirage after all, as the conqueror of Mexico knew it was already too late to become a landowner sedentary.
from Mexico City, we have reached the state of Morelos, where we crown, between pines and volcanic rock (in Mexico there are close to 3.000 Volcanes, if only 14 in activity) a port of 3.100 meters high along the road that leads to Cuernavaca and then connects with the "highway of the sun" to Acapulco.
Hernán Cortés knew what he was doing when he raised his residence here, the rest of the warrior, another mirage after all
On the front door, the cathedral shows off a caravel with two crossed bones, the classic pirate badge, the presumable imprint of the night in which the Jews crucified Jesus in the Goaltendera. already inside the temple, The murals that stage the useless evangelizing work of the Catholic missionaries in Japan. Among them is Philip Jesus, the only Mexican sanctified until Juan Pablo II elevated to the altars the indigenous Juan Diego. All the intrepid missionaries ended their days crucified in the A tree, and this is how these murals show us, unfortunately only partially preserved.
Despite the arrival of the Spanish and the baptisms, the indigenous people did not give up leaving the mark of their idols on the stones with which the cathedral was built. So, on some columns there are ornamental motifs reminiscent of the fearsome Huitzilipochtli o a Quetzalcoatl, ancient aztec gods. Even, some hid in the columns figures of the old divinities who later adored with devotion before the complacent gaze of the Catholic priests, very far from guessing the identity of the true recipient of the prayers. But the best of the cathedral is outside: the chapel of the Indians is one of the most beautiful and unique in all of Mexico and, likely, one of the largest. From here the new converts followed the religious ceremonies.
Some indigenous people hid in the columns of the cathedral figures of the old divinities that they later worshiped with devotion before the complacent gaze of the Catholic priests.
I cannot leave Cuernavaca without approaching the Palace of Cortewith, which began to be built in 1531, despite the lack of enthusiasm that my historical curiosity arouses in Esther, our guide. for whom "despite what people think, Cortés was always traveling and only lived there for a month”. But the history books insist on contradicting him. Cortés moved to Cuernavaca at the end of 1530, when the palace began to be built. He had his home there until December 1539, date of his second return to Spain. the mexican historian John Miralles calculates that, apart from his prolonged absences from Cuernavaca, Cortés lived in the palace-fortress between four and five years. With him was his mother, who died in Texcoco, and his second wife, Dona Juana de Zúñiga, what happened in this palatial house almost 19 years, estranged from her illustrious and elusive husband first (he only remembered her in his will to record that the amount of the marriage dowry be returned to him) and as widow of the Marquis del Valle, already beset by her husband's debts and enemies.
We headed there on foot. In Cuernavaca there is not a single statue of Cortés either, although yes, and very big, the Morelos and Juarez. It's a radiant sun and the traveling stands of roses (the dozen is sold for ten pesos) that are grown here spread their aroma through the streets of the center. The Palace of Cortes, a formidable fortress that imposes with its walls a time of past greatness, keeps inside a museum that we cannot visit, and well I'm sorry, due to time. The endless light, the pleasant temperature and the vast extensions of arable land ratify me in the idea that the conqueror from Extremadura was not a fool.
The endless light, the pleasant temperature and the vast extensions of arable land ratify me in the idea that the conqueror from Extremadura was not a fool
Four of the six children Cortés had with Juana de Zúñiga were born here. The remains of the conqueror's second wife rest, along with his daughter's Catalina, between the walls of convent of Madre de Dios de la Piedad, in the Seville neighborhood of Santa Crufrom. Up to there chance led me, a few months after returning from Mexico, Resurrection Sunday of 2003, when wandering early in the morning through the labyrinth of aromatic alleys characteristic of this unique Seville enclave, I was surprised reading an inscription, located to the right of the main door of the convent founded by Isabel la Católica in 1496, that gave an account of the last resting place of the niece of the Duke of Béjar. «It is the pantheon of Doña Juana Zúñiga and Dª Catalina Cortés, widow and daughter of Hernán Cortés», the legend testified with administrative coldness.
The doors of the temple were closed, but chance wanted a delivery truck to go to the convent to supply the cloistered nuns, which allowed me to talk to one of them, taking an interest in the tombs. At twelve o'clock mass was celebrated in the temple and then I could satisfy my curiosity, although the sister warned me that the pantheons were very humble.
The remains of Juana de Zúñiga, second wife of Cortes, they rest together with those of their daughter Catalina within the walls of the convent of Madre de Dios de la Piedad, in the Sevillian neighborhood of Santa Cruz
We got back fifteen minutes before mass started.. On both sides of the main altar, almost hidden from the eyes of the profane, two whitewashed niches accommodate, in fact, recumbent marble statues of the widow and one of the daughters of the conqueror of Mexico. on his remains, two suspended angels, torch in hand, guard the illustrious remains. the dominican sisters, eleven in all, they leave their cells and sit on benches on the sides of the altar. Three of them are Kenyans and they liven up the ceremony with African songs, i guess in swahili, Accompanied by instruments from their distant land, approaching the luminosity and the rumors of the Indian. The nuns outnumber the faithful, that we did not pass eight. Seville sleeps a week of processions and tourists prefer at this time the Reales Alcázares the the Maestranza. At our feet lie the remains of illustrious ancestors, among them those of the first hearer of the nearby Casa de la Contratación, killed in 1587 to 66 years, or those of some great-granddaughter of the admiral Christopher Columbus.
Ceremony finished, we approach the sober pantheons. No inscription identifies who corresponds to each, so I have to accept the presumption of someone who has been locked up here for a few years ("It seems to me that Doña Juana's is the one on the left", one of the nuns tells me), accustomed to the remains of the widow and daughter of Cortés accompanying their jubilant songs before the indifference of the tourists, who pass by the door of the imposing 17th century building due to ignorance or, perhaps, because culture doesn't matter if it's not bottled up in a colorful travel brochure. Cuernavaca and Seville, two cities that smell of flowers and spring and to which you cannot come without first reconciling with time.
