the city of eternal spring

Last weekend, I was once again on the road traveling to another gorgeous place, but this time everything was organized by program so I didn't have to worry about what buses to take! We stayed in Cuernavaca, a old city with cobblestone streets and that is known as the city of eternal spring because the flowers are always blooming and the climate is great! We stayed in beautiful colonial hotel that had a garden and pool- I went swimming for the first time in forever. The first day we visited the house of Robert Brady, an american artist and art collector who lived in Cuernavaca for most of his life and is now a museum. He lived in a huge old colonial mansion and filled it with fascinating artifacts from all over the world and arranged them in a very unusal and aesthetically pleasing way. He collected traditional textiles and made pillows out of them and even displayed artwork in the bathroom! It is definitely a dream house and if I had the chance I would move in in a second! We later explored to city, went to the very old house/ palace where Cortez lived (not a very cozy place, to say the least) but it does have some spectacular murals by Diego Rivera. The next day, we headed out to Taxco, which is a magical city in the mountains that used to be a huge silver mining town, and is still famous for it many, many silver shops. I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of cheap silver, but i did by a ring that i really like and elephant earnings for my host mother because she loves them and has a collection. The city as absolutely gorgeous because all the buildings are white and the streets are cobblestones, very steep and winding. It was so lovely to just wander down the streets and window shop; we also visited the main church of course, the zocalo (where there were lots of adorable children which made me happy) and I ate mango ice cream. That night we sat up on the roof patio of our hotel in cuernavaca and swung on the swing and looked out on the garden and city below- it was beautiful!
The next day traveled to Tepotzlan, a pueblo that is famous for its carnival and a pyramid that is on top of a mountain. We spent most of the morning hiking up the very steep mountain- it was stairs and rocks the whole way up. But I made it to the top and there was a mesoamerican pyramid believe it or not, as well as a beautiful view. It was interesting to see all the people hiking up- families with babies and dogs and women in very unpractical shoes! After we climbed back down, we had a feast in a beautiful restaurant- they had artichokes which was very exciting and i had a delicious chile stuffed with cheese. The day wasn't over, because we still had to cross the pueblo and the carnival to get to our bus. The streets were packed with people drinking, eating and dancing and selling all kinds of wares. We wound our way to the zocalo, where people dressed in tall hats, masks and robes were performing the traditional dance of the pueblo which was very exciting. By the end of the day were were exhausted, but it was a very memorable trip!