A Day in Colonial Morelia

Stately. Elegant. Glorious. Striking. Grand. Impressive. Vibrant. Historic. Conservative. Proud. Panoramic. Romantic. Livable. Well-Preserved. Authentic. Eternal. Colonial. Clean. Affordable. Cultured. Interesting. Walkable. Pink. Those are the adjectives that quickly come to mind when I think about the centuries-old heart of Michoacan’s capital city, Morelia. Founded in 1541, its colonial center was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. In addition to admiring the well-preserved colonial architecture of the city, constructed with the quarried pinkish rock, cantera, there are five things that I always enthusiastically do when I am in Morelia.

First, shortly after sunrise, walking by its gorgeous cathedral, I head down its wide boulevard past the iconic Fuente las Tarascas/Fountain of the Tarascas, through the cobbled pedestrian promenade, ending up at the Plaza Morelos. There, I stop to admire not only a part of the nearby University of Michoacan’s old campus and the imposing Morelos on horseback statue, I appreciatively gaze at some of the remaining 253 arches of the Aqueduct.

However, the real purpose of my walk is to arrive at the city’s main park, the Bosque Cuauhtemoc, to get a true sense of a segment of the awakening city. There, I watch: birds high in the trees; people of all ages jogging and exercising, either individually or in groups; upscale people walking their upscale dogs while stopping to socialize with others doing the same; and waterfowl in a man-made pond with a fountain. Departing, I observe, across the street, students going to their classes at the medical school of the U. Of Michoacan's newer campus.

Then, walking through a variety of neighborhoods outside of the city center, I go about 3 miles until I arrive at the Parque Zoologico Benito Juarez. There I do a lot of watching also: children interacting with their parents, siblings, and/or grandparents or with classmates/teachers and excitedly cavorting with the animals on display; the residents of the new reptile house; romantic couples; human visitors eating all kinds of Mexican-style zoo food; and each and every bird exhibit as this sprawling zoo has the largest collection of birds in Latin America.

Loving to walk in this city (although it has a very efficient and inexpensive combi/van public transportation system), I take a different route back to the colonial center. At the Casa de las Artesanias/the House of Handicrafts, located in the oldest building in Morelia, the ex-Convento de San Francisco, I spend an hour or so downstairs looking at the best selection and highest quality of arts and crafts and carved and painted wooden furniture that the state of Michoacan has to offer, particularly admiring the glazed ceramic pineapples from San Jose de Gracia and the whimsical Day of the Dead paper mache representations. Upstairs, I go from room to room as each represents a different Michoacan artesan town’s specialty, such as guitars from Paracho, devil's masks from Tocuaro, gold and silver jewelry from Huetamo, and copperware from Santa Clara del Cobre.

Next, as I meander a short distance through some narrow streets, of course as this is Morelia’s essence, lined with pink colonial buildings, I end up at the indoor municipal market, Mercado de San Juan/Mercado Revolucion. Fruits, vegetables, beans, chiles, rice, cheese, bread/bolillos and teleras, candies, corn tortillas, corundas/triangular tamales, dried seafood, fresh meats and fish, poultry, dry goods of every description, and stall after stall of prepared foods of the region (such as posole, menudo, gigantic shrimp cocktails, garlic fried shrimp) are awaiting you in this huge marketplace-which happens to be my favorite indoor market of the many that I have visited in Mexico. Markets like this are another great place to observe how people in a city really live. At one of the many outdoor restaurants by the market serving antojitos/masa-based snacks, I invariably dine on two super large hand-made quesadillas filled with tinga, or in season, squash blossoms, and make a real meal of it by eating loads of pickled vegetables that are set on the tables in large bowls.

In the mood to see and experience an amazing array of edible handicrafts, I head back past the cathedral and the adjoining spacious zocalo, past the beautiful public library housed in 17th century Baroque architecture, and arrive at the Mercado de Dulces y Artesanias/the Candy and Handicrafts Market. There you will find at dozens of nearly identical stalls all of the regional and traditional sweets and candies that are representative of Michoacan (also, there are numerous stalls selling inexpensive local handicrafts). For a partial sampling of those sweet (and sour) delights there are: dulces de leche, ates en cubitos, crystalized frutas cubiertas, tamarind paste tarugos, cajeta glorias, mounds of coconut cocadas, rollos de guayaba, seeded or nut jamoncillos, mueganos, ollitas de barro, Zamoran chongos, rainbow paletones, nutty palenquetas, borrachitos, and egg nog-like rompope. What you purchase and don’t consume there can make for delightful and yearned after souvenirs.

Well, I have described my typical day in one of my all-time favorite cities- more so than even Boston or San Francisco. Only a few hours from Mexico City and Guadalajara, one thing that Morelia does not have that those two famous must see American cities do have is hordes of foreign tourists. That is good for me when I visit as I really do not like crowds but it really is a shame as Morelia, no hype intended, is all of the above adjectives and even more!