Chamilpa

Chamilpa, also called San Lorenzo Chamilpa, is one of the historic pueblos of Cuernavaca, on the city's northern edge where the streets begin to climb toward Huitzilac. The name comes from the Nahuatl Chiamilpan and means "the field where chia is sown". According to the municipal government and Explora Morelos, the village was officially founded on 30 March 1539 by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, and its Indigenous people were entrusted to Hernán Cortés, working in the sugar-cane harvest and processing and later as servants on haciendas.

The chapel of San Lorenzo Mártir, built in the middle of the 16th century, survives from that period, with an atrium wall of inverted arches. The atrium served as the village cemetery until May 1986, and inscriptions can still be read on some tombs. Chamilpa also has a Casa de la Cultura. The village's communal land later gave rise to something larger: between 1960 and 1964 plots were donated for buildings first meant to house a military college, and the campus of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos now stands there, at Avenida Universidad 1001, with 49 undergraduate programmes. That is why the name Chamilpa is so familiar to students from across the state.

The main festival is San Lorenzo on August 10, described as one of the most traditional in Morelos. Preparations start on August 1, and after the 1 p.m. Mass people walk in procession to the mayordomo's house, where tables and chairs are set up in the patio or on a closed street. Mayordomos are residents who keep the saint's image at home for a year, build a flower-and-candle altar and host a monthly rosary for neighbours.

Uphill, on village land, the San Lorenzo Chamilpa Ecotourism Park offers mountain-bike trails, an archery range, walking paths, horseback rides and camping.