Celebrating Carnival in Tepoztlan

Sometimes you visit certain places more than once, Not only because a certain place is amazing and it made such an impact, Sometimes because there was so many to see and you couldn't see everything, but from sometimes it is because the place got something else to offer. Just like last summer we visited Tepoztlan. In the summer of 2007 it was for climbing Tepozteco and to see the view of the city top-down and to feel the energy that surrounds the city (not that I felt it, but it sure was amazing to be there at the top of Tepozteco and see the view and an ancient Aztec temple). This time the motivation to see Tepoztlan was different, because this time we went to see the carnival of Tepoztlan.

As many when hearing the word carnival think of "Mardi Grass, Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans, the carnival of Tepoztlan is something entirely different.

It is an carnival based on father-to-son traditions and were preformed long before the Spanish even thought of discovering Mexico, but due to the flow of time it became a mix between Christian and Indians rites. But the real comparison goes struck with the conversional carnivals is who the people get dressed. At the normal carnival it is all about the people who are wearing almost nothing. In Tepoztlan it is all about the Chinelo's a costume that is based on the symbol of the state Morelos. Want to learn more about the carnival in Tepoztlan I recommend to go to this site and learn all about it. Site Carnival Tepoztlan

Because we arrived early in Tepoztlan (because otherwise all the parking place would be full, yeah the carnival in Tepoztlan attracts loads of people) we had some time to visit the city and to eat something, because we didn't had breakfast yet.

So we went through the crowds and found a nice street vendor were we could eat and it was really nice, wasn't it for the fact that you were surrounded by heads of dead goats (see photos) and dead bugs which you could eat (yeah I ate one and to be honest it wasn't that bad, it was only to salty). After breakfast we found some time to go up the mountain (of Tepozteco) and see the amazing view. Also because I really liked the walk to the summit (and the temple). It is really one of those classic moments where the journey is almost more amazing than arriving at the top. But because there were so many people some parts of the way to the top was really dangerous, just because there were so many people and no room to put your feet down. So by the time we got up we had to go down again, because otherwise we would miss the carnival parade and that was the reason why we went to Tepoztlan.

The carnival was great, but the only thing that was bothering me was that there were so many people and it was difficult and maybe impossible to make a good picture, because or people were walking into the shot (which isn’t that bad, I can life with that) or they hit you and all the photo’s you made were moved. But it didn’t matter because the party was great and the live-bands and the dancing Chinelo’s were great. I too, tried to dance, but that was a complete failure. After we saw enough of the dancing we went to do some shopping, because the entire town was filled with market stands were you could buy anything. So we did :D, but with a pockets full of (useless) things and a really nice memory of an unconventional carnival we went to Cuernavaca (to home) to get some well deserved sleep.