Tetela del Monte

Tetela del Monte sits in the wooded hills on the north side of Cuernavaca, at about 1,790 m, and still feels like a village of its own: the census figure Wikipedia cites gave it 910 residents in 2010. The temperate, subhumid climate and the trees explain the many plant nurseries here, one of the things the place is known for.

Archaeological remains predate the Spanish, including pottery and figurines from the Preclassic with Olmec influence. Franciscans reached the region in 1524, and Fray Toribio de Benavente, Motolinía, arrived in Tetela in 1526 and directed construction of the chapel between 1530 and 1540, on top of an earlier teocalli. The place has gone by several names: Axomulco, San Gaspar Tetela, Santa María Tetela and, since residents accepted it in 1940, Tetela del Monte.

The Chapel of the Three Kings (Santos Reyes) has a painting of the Adoration of the Magi in its atrium. The bell tower dates to the 17th century and carries the date 1677; its two bronze bells were cast in 1768 and 1808. The atrial wall, designed and built by John Spencer, is also well known. The biggest celebration is the Three Kings fiesta on January 6 and 7, with toritos, firework castles and jaripeos, sometimes lasting nearly a week. Two more are the Santa Cruz fiesta on May 3, with bands, chinelos and a greased-pole climb, and Cristo Rey on the third Sunday of November, with a procession and fair.

For a walk, the Bosque Real ecological park covers 511 hectares, and El Salto is a spring pool where people swim and scramble.