San Blas la Tovara Spring

La Tovara Springs San Blas Nayarit

La Tovara is a fresh water spring. The water is crystal clear and perfect for swimming especially since they put up a fence to keep the crocodiles out. Swim at your own risk.

A trip on the Jungle Boat Ride to La Tovara will be the highlight of your vacation in San Blas. With the mangrove wetlands as your backup you will see rare tropical birds as well as turtles, iguanas and crocodiles. This is an excellent trip for birdwatchers. Be sure to stop at the crocodile farm where they breed crocodiles for repopulation.

Check out Visit San Blas for more informtion about accomodations, maps, food and other information about the local area.

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Institution of the province of Tlaxcala by Charles IV, king of Spain

The former palace of the viceroys, where Cortés stayed when he was in Tlaxcala, now commemorates the history of the region’s people. Covering the interior walls of the 16th-century palace are immense, brilliantly colored examples of Mexican muralism.

The murals by Desiderio Hernández Xochitiotzin (b.1922), depicting everything from early inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico to the Wars of Independence, accompanied by reproductions of the 16th-century codices that inspired the work. The murals in the Palacio de Gobierno of Ciudad de Tlaxcala entitled “The history of Tlaxcala” were created beginning in 1956 and continued until 2000 by Desiderio Hernandez Xochitiotzin.

At the time of its construction in 1545, the palace was divided into three parts. The west end of the building housed the granary, the center contained the home of the four indigenous lords, and Spanish viceroys had quarters in the west. Don’t miss the representation of Tlaxacala (“corn tortilla” in Náhuatl) at the top of the far right arch.

On the north side of the zócalo. Open daily 9am-6pm. Free.
Guides loiter inside, offering to explain the murals in Spanish or English for a few pesos.

Ritual festivities for Camaxtli	Christian religion and the indians
Spanish conquistadors meeting the Indians of Tlaxcala 2Indian temples burning after the Spanish conquest	Indian temples burning after the Spanish conquest
Encounter of Indian princes in Tlaxcala	Spanish conquistadors meeting the Indians of Tlaxcala
an indian god leads his people to the promised land of Tlaxcala	Indian vendors at the market of Tlaxcala
Tlaxcaltecan warriors fighting against warrior from Texcoco, Cuauhtepec and Ocelotepec	Tlaxcaltecan victory against the Aztecs
Tlaxcaltecan ceremonies in honor of Xochiquetzalli	Tlaxcaltecan ceremonies in honor of Xochiquetzalli 2
Mexican emperor Maximilian and empress Charlotte	Tlaxcalan warriors confronting Spanish conquistadors
Malinche interpretor of Hernan Cortes	Indian warriors
History of Mexico since its independence	History of Mexico since its independence 2
Quetzalcoatl announcing his return for the year one cane	Pre-conquest image of Tlaxcala
Patron god of Tlaxcala	Discussions between Taxcaltecans and Cortes
Destruction of the indian gods by the Spanish conquest	Discussions between Taxcaltecans and Hernan Cortes 2
Discussions between Cholultecas and Teochichimecas at their arrival in the valley of Tlaxcala	Tlaxcala gets a Spanish province ( 1545 )

The Legend

Virgin of Ocotlan

In late spring of 1541, a young native Tlaxcalan man named Juan Diego (sometimes given as Juan Diego Bernardino) was going to draw water from a river believed at the time to have healing properties. Juan Diego was a convert to Catholicism who was known for his piety and was a topil (altar server) at the Franciscan monastery. There was an epidemic in the region and he wanted to bring the water home to his family, who were sick.

As he came to a hilltop, he encountered a beautiful lady who asked him, “God bless you, my son, where are you going?”

Juan Diego explained that he was going to bring medicinal water to the sick. The lady responded, “Follow me closely. I will give you another water with which you will extinguish the contagion and cure not only your family but all who drink of it, for my heart is always inclined toward the lowly and will not suffer to see such things without remedying them.”

The woman led Juan Diego down the steep hill as night began to fall. At the bottom was a pine grove with a spring of water, that still exists today. The lady told Juan Diego that whoever drank the smallest drop would be restored to perfect health. She then told him that he would find an image of her in the pine grove where they were standing, a “true portrait of her perfections and clemencies, and that he should advise the Franciscan fathers to place it in the church of St. Lawrence” that stood on top of the hill.

Juan Diego took water from the spring and hastened off to cure the sick. Later he went to the Franciscan monastery to tell the friars of his experience. The friars observed the expression on Juan Diego’s face as he told the story and believed him, possibly also because he was a regular altar server there.

That evening they followed him back to the pine grove. In the light of the sunset, the trees seemed to burn without being consumed. One tree was particularly fat, so they opened it up with a hatchet and found the statue of Mary as Juan Diego had said they would. They prepared a litter from tree branches and flowers and lifted the statue up onto their shoulders to carry it to the church of St. Lawrence.

History of the Shrine

Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, then Archbishop of Puebla, made a visit to the shrine in 1644, although he does not mention a statue. He wrote in his own account of the visit that he recited the rosary there and praised the religious devotion of the inhabitants of the town. The first mention of the statue occurs in 1689, in the frontispiece of a history of the city of Tlaxcala, published by Don Juan Benaventura Zapata y Mendoza.

Diego de Osoria de Escobar, Archbishop of Puebla in 1670, appointed Juan de Escobar as caretaker of the shrine. Juan de Escobar is responsible for constructing the shrine with its present floor plan, with the chancel, transept, and cupola. The second caretaker, Francisco Fernández, was in charge of the shrine from 1691-1716. He installed the retablo dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The third caretaker, Manuel Loayzaga, was the man responsible for giving the shrine the appearance it has today. He put in the magnificent central retablo with the great silver niche in which the statue stands as well as the pulpit. The pièce de resistance however is the camarín, the eight-sided chapel behind the niche that is used as the Virgin’s dressing room. It is decorated with “solomonic columns”, paintings from the Life of the Virgin, portraits of Doctors of the Church who defended the Virgin Mary, and at the centre, the great round table on which the statue stands as it is being dressed.

Just as importantly, Loayzaga put the final, “official” version of the Ocotlán legend into print, publishing two editions of his book Historia de la milagrosíssima imagen de Nuestra Señora de Occotlán (sic) in 1747 and 1750.

The Statue

Normally, the statue is dressed in a cape. of which it owns many, and a large crown that was given to the statue in 1975. It also has pierced ears, earrings, and many finger rings in addition to the scepter it carries. A silver crescent moon with a “man in the moon” face looking up at her has been put at the base of the image to confirm its identity as an Immaculate Conception.

Devotion to the Virgin of Ocotlán is concentrated around the various processions that take place several times during the year. The statue leaves its niche over the altar on three fixed dates: New Year’s Day and the first and third Mondays in May. The Monday processions are referred to as the bajada (descent) and the subida (ascent) respectively.

The shrine of the Virgin of Ocotlán is now a parish church. It is located on a hill overlooking the city. From the zocalo go two blocks north on Independenia to Guridi y Alcocer. Turn right and when the road forks, take the left fork uphill to the church.

In 1865 the first mummified body that lay in the Santa Paula Pantheon was extracted, and as the years go by, other bodies are discovered in the same condition due to the characteristics of the soil in which they rested. At present more than one hundred mummies make up the inventory of the museum created in their honor.

The wonder aroused by the mummies has been the inspiration for countless films starring Mexican wrestling heroes, and in the 1970s these films introduced other countries to the image of these stiffened bodies. In 2007 the Municipal Government redesigned the old Mummy Museum’s exhibits thematically, and with an infrastructure suitable for this exhibition which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

These scientists have performed studies on mummies in other parts of the world, and in Guanajuato they are applying advanced techniques that will result in the enrichment of museum archives since it may be possible to learn possible causes of death, approximate ages, social environment and even the facial reconstruction of the mummified bodies.

The Mummies are part of Guanajuato’s Heritage and for this reason we conserve, preserve and share them with the visitors that come to our city in search of them. Dr. Eduardo Romero Hicks, Mayor of Guanajuato

The Santa Paula Pantheon is a magical place with a mysterious atmosphere, and the beauty of its niches, tombs and mausoleums transport us in time and space, capturing the imagination of the wary and incredulous visitor. From its belly come the mummified bodies that are exhibited in the Mummy Museum of Guanajuato.

The Mummies have generated great worldwide interest in visiting them and researching the reasons for mummification, which as opposed to other mummies in the world, are conserved through a natural process.

111 bodies of mummified women, men and children make up the collection of Guanajuato’s Mummy Museum. Exhumed between 1865 and 1989.

Throughout its existence, the Mummy Museum of Guanajuato has undergone few modifications to its facilities, but on March 21, 2007 it was reopened after a substantial renovation. It’s important to note that the modification and renovation of museum space was completed in fewer than 60 hours, signifying a true challenge for the workers of Guanajuato, who through the initiative of the mayor, Dr. Eduardo Romero Hicks, successfully carried out the task of preserving and promoting the heritage of the City of Guanajuato.

Theater: The Museum’s Introductory Video. “Historic, Artistic”: Origins of the museum and some important artists whose work is centered on the Mummies of Guanajuato.

Recreating Origins: Reconstruction of the way in which the mummified bodies were exhibited since the second half of the 19th Century.

Voices of the Dead: Some of the collection’s most representative constituents tell us their story.

Little Angels: Baby mummies, dressed according to the “Little Angels” tradition.

Image Studies: Studies performed on the mummified bodies of a man and woman. Interesting findings.

Tragic Deaths: People whose lives were cut short by alarming events.

Typical Clothing: Mummies who were buried in typical clothing.

Mother and Child: The Museum’s most important piece is kept in this hall: The World’s Smallest Mummy.

Santa Paula: Reconstruction of the Pantheon’s niches that the Museum’s mummies were extracted from, and exhibition of bodies from the collection’s different stages.

Coffins: Here you’ll see what the Museum’s halls looked like before this year’s renovation.

The press conference was held at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford.

The research team includes Ronald Beckett and Jerry Conlogue, the co-directors of Quinnipiac’s Bioanthropology Research Institute and former hosts of National Geographic’s Mummy Road Show.

The third member of the team is Jerry Melbye, director of the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University.

In May 2007 the three scientists were invited by the mayor of Guanajuato, Dr. Eduardo Romero Hicks, an American-trained medical doctor, to collect as much data as possible from 22 of the 59 mummies now on display at the Mueso de Las Momias. The first of these mummies was found in a mausoleum crypt in Guanajuato in 1896 and the last was removed in 1958.

There were 111 mummies found in this location. This collection represents one of the largest groups of natural mummies on display in the Western Hemisphere. The scientists researched each specimen in detail using the latest technological devices and forensic knowledge.

It is believed that the mummies involved died sometime between 1850 and 1950. The local legend is that these mummies were preserved as a result of the life-preserving sulfur and mineral-rich water of Guanajuato. Mayor Hicks will attend the press conference in person to answer any questions regarding the project, the museum in Guanajuato or these myths.

At the press conference three case studies were explained in more detail. One significant factor of this research study is the pure scope of the project. Thoroughly investigating 22 mummies in one assignment just hasn’t been done in previous studies.

All of the mummies examined were “common” folk, not royalty, who lived in this working-class silver- mining community. The results shed light on the health and lifestyles of a broad sector of people residing in this ancient village. A fetal mummy, a newborn boy, a man who supposedly hanged and a woman who was rumored to be buried alive were among the cases investigated.

Financial support for the research project was acquired from the government of Guanajuato, research grants from Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences and from the researchers themselves.

Downtown Tula a semi-central zocalo, a centrally located cathedral and several commercial streets. To reach the centro just head toward the cathedral from whatever route interests you. The cathedral is visible from everywhere and is near everything. Juarez runs past the side of the cathedral to the zocalo.

Tula is one of the best studied archaeological sites in Mexico, archaeologists from all the world have visited it. Considered the first large settlement in northern Mesoamerica and once the Toltecs’ greatest city.

Tula is believed to be founded during the 9th century by the legendary Ce Actatl Topiltzin (Quetzalcoatl). Ce Actatl Topiltzin, the most venerated kin in indigena history and mythology. Under his rule, Tula grew to hold thousands of inhabitants and developed an architecture that would serve as the prototype for Aztec cities.

The Toltecs, whose name means builders in Nahuatl, relied on irrigation for their agricultural success modeled their architecture after the sytle of Teotihuacan. During the 200 year long Toltec rein after drought and crop failures weakened the Toltec capital in 1165 the Chichimecs attacked and destroyed Tula. The ruins of the city, eroded due to the poor rock quality found in the area, as well as poor maintenance because of the Toltecs sporadic internal instability. Quetzalcoatl urged the Toltecs to evacuate the city prompting some residents to bury their possessions and move to the region called Tlapallan. Tula was eventually absorbed by the Aztec empire. Aztec ceramics and pottery can be found scattered among the ruins.

Immediately west of the Edifico de los Atlantes is the Palacio Quemado (Burnt Palace). Believed to have been an administrative center in ancient Tula. A chacmool (messenger to the gods) was originally found in the central patio. Like many other indigenous cultures, the Toltecs built their largest buildings on the eastern boundary of the plaza to witness the sunrise. Toltec leaders attempted to maintain sociopolitical control by inspiring awe and linking natural phenomena to the government. Tula’s Templo Principal once towered over the others. Because of deliberate destruction by the Chicimecs and others following Tula’s adandonment at the end of the 12th century, it now pales in comparison to the Edificio de los Atlantes. Temple Principal was most likely once aborned with a massive scuptural slab found nearby which is covered with images of Quetzalcoatl in his manifestation as Tlahuizcaltec Uhtli (The Morning Star). Adjoining the ballcourt on the interior of the plaza is El Tzompantli, a small platform built by the Aztecs. Tzompantli means “place of skulls” and was used to display the victims of sacrifice.