I had never been to Tonalá, Jalisco, Mexico, before
this week. We had been making plans to attend an International Book
Fair in Guadalajara's Expo Center in November and chose a hotel in
Tonalá to stay in during that time, as the rates were significantly
cheaper than hotels around the Expo. Some friends called a couple of
weeks ago to ask if we wanted to go to Tonalá with them in September.
We jumped at the chance to go early so we could scope out this little
town and our chosen hotel before the fair. I told our friends we would
love to go and off we went.
It is always a strange thing to
travel with friends when they are the ones doing the driving. You are
at their disposal and on their schedule. You can't just pull over to
take some snapshots whenever you want or stop somewhere to eat when
you're hungry. You've got to go with the flow of the group and make the
best of things. It was going to be different. I wasn't sure what to
expect.
One thing traveling through Mexico in a van affords that
bus travel doesn't is you get to see and experience Mexican rest stops.
This was a totally new experience. When traveling in a bus across
country, you never get to stop at these places. The friend who was
driving was extremely courteous not to smoke in the van with us
non-smokers on board. Outside of Leon, Guanajuato, right before
entering the state of Jalisco, he pulled off the road at a toll-road
rest stop so he could smoke and we could all use the facilities. What I
learned is that rest stops in Mexico are pretty much like rest stops in
America.
There was the immediate materialization-coming out of
nowhere-of a shiftless-looking bum who walked repeatedly around the van
looking in the windows as if he wanted to help himself to our luggage
and laptop computers. I stayed with the van while the others went to
the restrooms. Though I gave this guy the meanest and most menacing of
glares, he didn't seem to care and kept eyeing the van. I also noticed
a smell that I thought at first was coming from the dirty, shiftless
bum. But, it smelled too much like a very fresh barnyard to come from
him.
Right across from the rest stop's Snack and Barf Shack was a
truckload of hogs riding off to market in a three-tier livestock
trailer. They were squealing their displeasure over being crowded into
the back of this enormous trailer. Two of them even erupted into fights
and shot pig poop out the sides of the truck for our rest-stop
entertainment pleasure.
Just like in the States, the snack shop
takes advantage of thirsty travelers who have nowhere else to go. I had
to pay almost $1.40 USD for a small, weak cup of coffee, which was just
par for the course. The bathrooms were tragically ill equipped and
dirty. So, after that interesting learning experience, we were off
again on the road to our destination of Tonalá, Jalisco.
I am
ashamed to say I fell asleep in the van and missed the scenery all the
way to Tonalá. I always do this in cars and vans. I end up getting to
where I want to go without so much as a word to describe the roadside
sights and landscapes. On buses, I am too embarrassed to fall asleep
for fear of frightening all the other passengers with my unearthly
bodily noises that come screeching forth from my drooling mouth when
sleeping. In the van, our friends had set up a large foam pad and
pillows in the back, which was simply too much to resist. I took
advantage of it and slept the entire way, all four hours, to Tonalá.
I
awoke just as we pulled into the parking garage of the hotel in Tonalá.
Having left Guanajuato at 9:59 a.m., we arrived at the hotel where we
had reservations waiting at 1:45 p.m.-not bad timing. I forked out what
I thought a very reasonable $38.00 USD a night at the Hotel Hacienda
del Sol. I liked this hotel. It reminded me of a Best Western Inn with
a little too much western motif flare. But, it was ok. The rooms were
small, but had a TV, air-conditioner (didn't work well at all), an
ample bathroom, and a lousy reading lamp. How someone thinks a guest
can read with a 5-watt bulb is beyond me. However, the room was
extremely clean. The beds were made for people that are only four feet
tall. The door of the room had these bolts running up and down its
length in rows. I wasn't sure why they were there. They appeared to be
decorative in a cheesy sort of way.
Lately, I've been discovering
Mexico's obsession with high-tech toilet flushing. Now, don't get me
wrong. I do not go looking for these things; it is just they seem to
pop up when I least expect it. The bathroom had instructions for
flushing the toilet. I do not know why this is necessary since I have
personally done very well with my toilet-flushing practices all my
potty-trained life. But, lo and behold, here were special instructions
for flushing a high-tech toilet.
This toilet had a totally
different flushing mechanism. It was a circular device with a large red
portion and a small blue portion. It looked like a pie chart on
someone's overhead projector presentation to show the company's
deficits in red while the triangular blue area represented some
positive income. The instructions said in Spanish, now get this: to
flush solids, press red and to flush liquids, press blue. But, here was
the thing, and I spent an hour trying to figure this out; no matter
which one you pushed, the same amount of water came cascading down into
the toilet bowl. I even took the thing apart and flushed it over and
over again while watching the water levels in the tank. It all worked
the same which kept me awake wondering why?
I really need a life.
The
receptionist recommended a restaurant just a couple of blocks from the
hotel. (Another reason I loved this hotel: it was not only cheap but
also centrally located.) The prices were high but the food and service
were exceptional. If you are ever in Tonalá, you have to try the
Hacienda la Divina. The employees all were wonderfully accommodating
and bilingual. After a gut-busting meal of chicken fajitas and a tour
around the soon-to-be-opened art and craft gallery adjacent to the
restaurant, I headed off to the Plaza Cihuapilli. I had an appointment
with the Queen of Tonalá.
One
of the chief reasons I wanted to come to this small Mexican artisan
town was to see the statue of the woman who ruled the area. I mean,
this is a miraculous fact of history that is not just fascinating but a
great mystery in my mind. How could a woman, under the auspice of the
Aztec, Toltec, Cocas, and Tecuexes traditions and ideology, have ruled
a kingdom?
Women in this period of history in Mexico wove cloth
making not just utilitarian items to support their families but also
items to pay tribute to monarchs. Female slavery was a common theme
throughout the culture of that period. The women were used as breeders
to produce more slaves. In workforces, women were prostitutes,
courtesans, merchants, vendors, and amazingly, medicine women and
midwives. Some Spanish wrote that their ability in medicine not just
rivaled but exceeded European doctors. But, to be a queen in the
cultures of the various tribes? This was nothing short of remarkable. I
had seen photos of this woman's image but had to see her in person. It
was first and foremost on my list of "must-sees".
In the language
of native Mexico, Náhuatl, Cihuapilli means Lady Princess. Not too long
before the invasion of the Spanish into Tonalá, an underage Princess or
Prince inherited the throne of Tonalá. A relative, so the story goes,
was selected to rule as queen until, presumably, the underage heir
apparent would be old enough to take the rightful place as ruler.
Tzapotzingo, the relative, took control of the kingdom. It is said, in
some sources, that Tzapotzingo was a harmless and intelligent ruler
who, instead of seeking conquests through war, encouraged the
development of arts and crafts among her subjects. Isn't that
something? Maybe we men need the women to take over ruling the world.
What do you think? Rather than fighting, we should make art.
In
March of 1530, a Spaniard known for his cruelty and violence marched
into Tonalá. He had a mixed cadre of Spanish soldiers and indigenous
mercenaries. One source I read hinted that Nuño Beltran de Guzman was
not on very good terms with the King of Spain and therefore was looking
for a quick victory of any sort to mend fences, as it were, with the
King. What better target than a bunch of artists and craftsmen ruled by
a woman? Guzman's bravery simply overwhelms me.
Tzapotzingo,
according to some historians, either gave up without a fight or decided
to receive the invaders with open arms. This would turn out to be a
grave mistake.
The queen, after a meeting with her
administration, decided to be friends with the Spanish. However, a
contingency within her people decided otherwise and attacked Guzman's
forces. This, naturally, sparked a bloody conflict. This forced Queen
Tzapotzingo and some of her loyal followers to hide out in a fortified
mesa that still sits in the north part of town called Cerro de la
Reina. You can hike up to the mesa where Queen Tzapotzingo's reign came
to a tragic end and see, I've been told, Guadalajara from that vantage
point. Guzman fought his way into the fortified site, captured Queen
Tzapotzingo, and after drawing his sword, it is believed he told her
something like, "Today you will die, woman." The rest is history.
The
puzzling thing that always makes me wonder what if is the Spaniards who
recorded the conflicts in personal diaries said this of the people of
Tonalá: "they were faithful as lambs in peace, and ferocious as lions
in war." What if they had not initially welcomed Guzman and his fortune
seekers? What if they had exercised the military option at the get-go
and drove the Spanish off? The same question is most certainly begged
when I think of Cortez when he was invited with an almost
welcome-wagon, "Hello there, neighbor!" into Tenochtitlan by Montezuma.
Cortez could not have been more welcomed than if Montezuma personally
met him at the gate with a housewarming gift. What if they had
resisted? What if they had driven off the Spanish? Would the Spanish
have been just a passing historical thought had the indigenous fought
from the beginning? How would history have turned out then? While
Montezuma's motive was apparently to get a feel for who the gomers were
who were knocking on the front door, Queen Tzapotzingo's motive we will
never know. Maybe she was just a really nice lady.
Queen
Tzapotzingo's statue sits in the Plaza Cihuapilli, a clean and most
inviting little plaza for just sitting and staring at Her Majesty, the
Queen. She is depicted as a Wonder Woman-like Amazonian who is shown
doing what she should have done when Guzman came calling...hurling a
lethal-looking spear. Though she looks like a very young warrior woman,
some believe she was in her forties when her life came to an end at the
hands of her Spanish conquerors.
I could not leave the Queen's
side for some time. I took several pictures from various angles and
thought how so very sad it was that a woman, who when she took
possession of the throne Tonalá, a remarkable feat in those days,
encouraged her subject to be artists and craftsmen, and who was
tragically relieved of her throne and killed-literally-by gold diggers.
And,
I could not get out of my mind that she wanted her people to devote
themselves to arts and crafts and not to conquest. I rather like that.
Fiercely devoted to making crafts and arts, her people, her descendants, are fulfilling her wish even today!
And, by the way, traveling with friends? It worked out fine!
