Tlaltizapan (Morelos), 03-04.02.08

This ride started at the insanely late hour of almost 11:00, owed to the fact that I arrived late at the rendezvous point with Gaby, and that we needed extra time to pack al the things that we were going to need in our two-day journey.

So, just minutes before 11:00 we started cycling towards Tlalpan, in southern direction, all the way up to La Joya and the Caminero Monument, just at the junction where both paid and free Cuernavaca highways start. We took then the free Cuernavaca highway.

We started the ascent from this point all the way up to La Cima summit, stopping just some minutes at El Mirador restaurant (elev: 2700 m), in order to have a glimpse of the imposing almost aerial view from the Mexico City valley that is available at this sightseeing point, located 500 m above the city level. After taking the de rigueur pictures, we continued our ascent to the summit (elev: 3000 m), and after reaching it, we started the descent to Tres Marías, where we arrived at 14:30. In Tres Marías we re-charged our liquids and continued the descent to Cuernavaca, reaching the Zapata Monument (at the entrance of Cuernavaca) at 15:20, continuing our descent to the center of the city.

As Gaby had never before arrived cycling in Cuernavaca in day hours, we decided to stop at the center of the city in order to have a look at the main buildings. So we headed to the Cuauhnáhuac Museum, located in the Cortes Palace, to have a look at it, after having visited the Morelos Statue and State Government Palace, both located in the Main Square of the city.

Once in front of the Cortes Palace, it was a crime not entering in it, since Gaby had never before known the museum (being myself twice before a visitant of it). So we attached the bicycles at the entrance of the Museum, and voilá, there we went. The Cuauhnahuac Museum houses an impressive arrangement of cultural riches and anthropological findings, along with several murals (frescoes) painted by the revered post-revolutionary painter Diego Rivera. You can have a glimpse of all those riches in the photoset.

Once exiting the Cuauhnahuac Museum at 18:30, it was realized that we had to pernoctate at Cuernavaca, since darkness was already looming. We choosed then to visit the Cuernavaca Cathedral and attended part of a mass. After the mass, we roamed a little bit alongside the cathedral and its outskirts, even playing a little ball game with a local. Once taken the de rigueur photographs, we started the haunting of a room in a decent hotel. But as this was a long weekend (three days of weekend in fact, owed to a national holiday), it was a little bit difficult to find a room in a decent hotel, as all of them were fully booked already. It was required the visit to at least five hotels before we could find an available room to pass the night (at the España hotel).

Once downloaded all our luggage at the room, we started then the haunting of a good meal, since it was already 22:00 and we had eaten no real food in all the day. We were told that the best option was to dine in front of the Estrella Blanca bus terminal, so we headed in that direction, fortunately not far from the hotel (just a couple of blocks away). The dinning was wonderful ! Lots of food (Cecina and other delicacies) for a reasonable price ! :-) After that wonderful dinning we returned to the hotel in order to let rest our humble humanities.

At the following day, the cycling ride started again really late, as we abandoned the hotel just before 15:00. After loading liquids in our bicycles, we headed south from Cuernavaca, this time to Alpuyeca, using the free Acapulco highway. The descent to Alpuyeca was carried with no problems at all, crossing in our path the towns of Temixco, Acatlipa and Xochitepec. As the plan was to arrive at Tlatizapán (where the Carnival party was being carried out), after Alpuyeca we cycled towards Xoxocotla, Galeana and finally Zacatepec.

Once in Zacatepec we went to visit the Emiliano Zapata Ingenio (major sugar factory in the region) and the center of the city, where a beautiful church stands. We decided to purchase our return bus tickets in Zacatepec in advance, before we went to Tlatizapán, since on that day the journey back home was going to be a fully booked return trip. After purchasing the tickets for the last bus (21:20), we headed towards our final destination: Tlatizapán.

After leaving Zacatepec at 17:30, we started the last 10 km trip to Tlaltizapán, where we arrived before 18:00. We headed towards the Zapata General Headquarters Museum, which unfortunately was already closed. After taking the compulsory pictures, we went on to follow the Carnival dancing that was crossing our path. After climbing to the church, we had a better view of this picturesque spectacle. The pictures of this event are certainly remarkable.

After paying a short visit to the Tlatizapan church, we started the return trip to Zacatepec at 19:00, under complete darkness. I would like to thank the driver of a pick-up that escorted us from in the ride between Taltizapán and Zacatepec, without by-passing us and sending its high lights whenever possible in order we could see the road :-)

After dinning in the center of Zacatepec, at 21:00 we went to the Pullman bus terminal where we loaded our bicycles in the bus and started resting in the long way back home, arriving in Mexico City at 01:00 (owed to the big traffic mess along the Cuernavaca highway) at the Taxqueña bus terminal. From Taxqueña all that was required was a short 10-minutes ride to our houses and voilá, we were again back at the safety of home :-)

As usual, all the pictures of this travel are available at the following photoset. And the GPS track is also available, in both formats: GPX or KMZ .

Thank you for reading. Till the next travel !

Zacatepec (Morelos), 26.11.06

Map Navigation: This dynamic Trackmap shows the GPS track (red line) and some geo-referenced photos (red dots) of the cycling tour. Wheel up and wheel down your mouse to zoom in or zoom out the map. Click on any point in the map to center it on that point. Or just drag the map with your mouse. To see the photos, hoover the mouse over the red dots. Click on the photo to go to the picture page.


Photoset Map

Photoset Show

GPS Track: GPX (MapSource, et al), or KMZ (Google Earth)

GPS Cycling Data:






Distance: 135 Km, Total Ascent: 1000 m

Travel Report:

It is a pity that I can arrive early only to others invitation to ride. This travel to Zacatepec (in the southern state of Morelos) started at 13:00, because as usual: I had to sort some things on Sunday morning (things that must get sorted the day before). This route to Cuernavaca is becoming our most beloved route. It usually offers good weather, provides a good elevation (if rided both ways) and its free highway has a lot of towns along the road in case of need. It even offers some 17 km as "jogging" before the ascent starts. The only drawback I notice is that the summit top is a little flat, compared for example against Llano Grande, on the road to Puebla, so you can't know where the hell is the real summit. That is why I have decided to mark it on Km 44.

First thing in this route is to take Tlalpan, a big big avenue that cuts the city in two parts, north-south direction. Its big advantage is that it has no traffic signals, so you can ride on this avenue at 40 Km/hr with no problem, the only limitation are your legs :-). You have to save them for the oncoming ascent to La Cima. Again, this summit has an altitude of only 3020 m, 200 m less than Llano Grande, but well, you can not always ride to Puebla :-)

Tlalpan was full of traffic, owed to the late hour and to a soccer match that was being played in a big stadium along this street. Police forces were present in every corner ! I guess in order to prevent vandalism. Once we took the free highway to Cuernavaca, the traffic diminished, and now our only concern was the sun. We had lots of it. But i do not make any complaints. After last Sunday's ride to Puebla under heavy rain for the most part of the day, a ride under an unobstructed sun is always welcomed. This time we decided not to stop is the Mirador, a sightseeing points at 2700 m, because the traffic negotiation in that point gets always a little complicated, and we have been there over 4 times (in past rides), so we decided it was time to forget that custom.

So we headed direct to our first stop (to take a picture): summit La Cima. We passed Parres (last town in the city), leaving behind the DF. But just before we reached La Cima, there was an accident on the highway, involving a motorbike, whose driver had crashed against the contention wall in a curve. The motorbike was on the floor (with big apparent damages), but its driver did not appear near. Other motorbikers were looking for him in the surrounding area. It was really a sad view. At that time, I did remember the motto: "Speed kills". In fact, after La Cima, there was a second accident, this time involving a car, which rested on its roof ! 2 accidents in a couple of kilometers. The ambulances were arriving at both sites. After taking our mandatory picture at the summit La Cima, we started our descent to Cuernavaca.

I can not say a lot of the descent, as my five senses were fixated in the road conditions and traffic (in both lanes). When I arrived at the Zapata (alt: 1800 m) I couldn't stop there to take a picture, because there was a lot of traffic, so I continued to La Paloma (the Dove), in order to gain access to the Libramiento (a big big turn around the city of Cuernavaca, in order to avoid its traffic jam). Once we took a picture on the Libramiento, we started giving the city a turn, just to take the free highway to Acapulco, once we encounter it at the other side of Cuernavaca.

We rided to Temixco and to Acatlipa, two towns along the road to Acapulco. In Acatlipa we took a road that enabled us to cross the autopista (paid highway) to Acapulco, since we were heading to Zacatepec (which was on the other side of this highway). The route that we have decided to take was a new one, shorter that the conventional one, but now i reckon it was more hilly. We headed to Tepetzingo and Acamilpa. These town appeared like phantom towns as they are far of the bigger cities of the region, but anyway, they were calm and peaceful. On our way we passed the Cementera Cuauhtemoc (a concrete factory). I didn't know it ever existed, and I have been a lot of times in this state (albeit in car). The road was hilly, ups and down, between green fields and running rivers :-) It was an idyllic scene, if it were not for the hurry I was for having started this ride so late.

Along the route we reached Pueblo Nuevo, and later Tlaltizapan, where I could pass to salute some friends. After a short stop (because it was now 18:00 and night was looming), I continue the ride, this time to Zacatepec (a city where we could board the bus to get back home). In Tlalquitenango, the darkness took reign and we have to ride the last leg again, under the cover of the night. The good thing was that there was no much traffic, and we could finally arrive at Zacatepec with no surprises. Here we decided to have a look at the Ingenio Emiliano Zapata (sugar cane processing plant, main economy activity of the city) and to the main square, were we could observe its Cathedral, a beautiful high-towered Gothic-styled church, in the middle of this tropical city :-) After taking a couple of shots, we rided to the bus station, where for 73 pesos, we could purchase our home ticket, for the bus that was departing in just three minutes. We arrived at Mexico City 2 hours later (21:30), so I could even took the subway to arrive safe at home :-)

Thank you for reading. Till the next journey.