Transcription
Do you wonder where all the gold that the Castilians stole is? Well, in the year 1519, the Castilians arrived in Mesoamerica. They found lands rich in natural resources, gold, and silver. Upon their arrival, mining and resource extraction began. With all that money, the Castilians built the most impressive cities in the world of that era, but they did not build them in Europe. The most modern, elegant, and ostentatious cities in the world were built in New Spain, in what is now known as Mexico. The Dubai of that era was Morelia, Michoacán. Welcome to Exploring the World. Hey gang, how are you? Your friend Leoncillo speaking. Welcome to another chapter of Exploring the World. On this occasion, we find ourselves in the beautiful city of Morelia, capital of the state of Michoacán in Mexico. A beautiful, impressive city. We are going to walk its streets so you can get to know the historic center, and it is just too, too beautiful. A city declared a World Cultural Heritage site since 1991. And look, we will be finding these kinds of corners throughout this entire tour. So, join us to discover this marvelous city. Look, I think Helen is already making friends. Oh. Oh. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ah. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good morning. >> Good morning. I tell you, I've seen you on the shows. >> Ah, yes, >> yes, yes, yes. This girl, where is she going? >> We're just waking up here, well, but >> no, how nice, a little coffee. >> Yes, to wake up, eating more of the coffee, there it is. >> Lilian's Coffee. >> It's here in the center. >> It's in the center, but it's near where El Clavijero is. It's very >> Which is the typical one? Typical. >> The typical ones are the ates. >> Ates. Ates. But there are also the murelianas, too. It's this one, or the glorias, or the cocadas too. There are many delicious, very typical sweets. >> Let's go now that we are here to enjoy >> with you so that you have good views around here. >> Likewise. Thank you very much. Have a nice day. Likewise. >> See you. >> I knew it. I said Helen is making friends quickly. Well, nothing. Thank you very much to all the subscribers who watch these videos, and we are going to continue exploring here so you can get to know it. Well, folks, just look, we've only walked a few meters and we've already found these beautiful corners, with stone planters, with these bougainvillea that give a beautiful color, and constructions in a totally colonial style in pink quarry stone. Oh, no, no. What? Opulence, the streets of Morelia. We can see over there. Just look at this postcard that this block gives us. And it's complicated to keep moving forward because every corner is a potential photo, and also, with the weather being kind of rainy, cloudy, a bit wet, it gives it an even more mysterious style, a nostalgic touch, a bohemian touch, and we're still sleepy. Honestly, we arrived last night, we found interesting things, I'll tell you about them later, but I feel like I lacked sleep, honestly. So, well, let's keep walking. Yesterday night we arrived at the hotel and walked these streets at night, the little lamps lit, many lights. Look, this is the city of Morelia. Look how beautiful Bartolomé de las Casas street is. Look, here we are walking along this kind of, well, it's not a promenade, it's a narrow street. Yesterday it was illuminated in a very beautiful way. Today it also looks very beautiful in the daytime. More so yesterday, since we arrived at night, we didn't have a chance to see it in detail. Now in the daytime, I can see the colors, the styles, the ironwork well. Look how beautiful it is. It's a grand city. Oh, just look. Hey, what's up? Hey, a tenor singing there. And it turns out that we tried to get to the hotel, but we found that there was a celebration there, right? An LGBTQ+ Pride parade. I don't know if letters have been added yet, honestly. [Music] [Music] So, >> they don't remove them, they just add letters. So, they closed everything here. The passage was complicated, we decided to get off instead. I take out the drone, it crashes, it breaks just like that, I just took it out and suddenly, bam, it hit a wall and there it was. Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. Ah, so the thing is, all of this was completely closed and there was no passage, so we parked and joined, right? Well, with them, join. Yes. I mean, I say, "Join in the party, just that, don't get scared." So, the only thing was that we got out, about 5 or 10 minutes passed, and the rain started, and hard. >> The downpour started, hard, powerful, and the parade ended suddenly, just like that, poof. The people dispersed, it ended, and they moved on to the main event, which was like a concert way in the back. Yes, look over there, way back there, a concert started, lights, sound, stage. It also caught my attention that the buildings looked all dark, right? All off, but suddenly they lit up the cathedral with fireworks. >> With fireworks. What a gem, truly marvelous. I'll show you some scenes so you can see what it was like. But well, let's get back to the here and now, it's 8:35 AM. We are in pleasant weather, as you can see, rainy. These are the streets. As we walk through all of this, observe how the city is. This city has existed since approximately 1550 when it was founded. Obviously, there was nothing here. There were small indigenous populations, Purépechas, and when the Spaniards arrived, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza ordered this city to be built, but originally it began with the name Valladolid in Spain. By the year 1830, the name changed to Morelia because José María de Morel, José María Morelos, was born here. So, that's why the name was changed, but only in 1830. So, think about this. By the year 1600, that is, by the 17th century, all of this already existed, it existed. Have you seen photographs, well, not photographs, paintings, images, or illustrations of what the United States was like in the 17th century? It was practically a small ranch, civilizations with just a few people, constructions of sticks and things like that. While this city, these steps, these fountains, these cathedrals, these streets, these, well, the arches are not, because they are newer, from the 1700s. But imagine, look and think, what happened to us, how is it that we had so much advantage, so much opulence, so much was extracted, so much was left here to build these kinds of cities with temples, with luxurious materials, quarry stone, no, no, no. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Ah. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] What strange figures, right? Why would they have decided to put them in that shape? It's nice here, right? This little alley that brings us here, under the aqueduct. That's just a part of the aqueduct. One part goes far, far away over there. And look how it looks around here. They remind me a bit of how I imagine Real de Catorce looked before it became a ghost town. Real de Catorce was one of the most opulent cities in all of Mexico. Remember that it was the second city, or even became the first place for silver extraction on the entire planet. It was an opulent city. The town of Light was also opulent. And these kinds of constructions here in Morelia persisted. It didn't become a ghost town, but they are contemporary. They are from the same eras, only here it continued, the city was not abandoned, a very large city. That's where we can also see the opulence of this city of Morelia, what it was around the year 1500 to the year 1800 and so on. A gem, a marvel. Just look at this little hallway. Well, folks, now we are going to walk through the Alley of Romance. Just look at this. No, no, no. Every corner this place has, I don't like that the music is at full volume. I don't know if you can hear it, but I would like only the fountain and the sound of the rain here to be heard, right? But you can't have everything in life. Wow, what a great job our ancestors did. How beautiful it is here. I'm sure you didn't know that these corners existed in Mexico. Very likely you didn't know. Look at the fountains, beautiful fish carved in quarry stone. Look at this color, the bougainvillea. Here's another fountain over here. A hallway, it says here, Callecita del Pichel, over there Sotera TV Gallos, Gola de Iris, which is written in old Spanish, because I don't understand it. There's the plaque but I don't understand it. Look at the bougainvillea. I love bougainvillea, you know. Sometimes I say I'm a bit of an old lady for some things. I love bougainvillea, look. Wow, what a scene, huh? Just look. What a gem. We also found here that there are padlocks. Look, it's not the Alley of Romance. I imagine people leave their love padlocks here. And yes, there they are, some stronger than others. Look, that one is like from a safe. That one there, look, a safe. This one is like unbreakable. The others are more relaxed. Wow, just look at this, huh? This alley. Incredible. How beautiful it is. [Applause] Just a total success. This piacha of the fountain. Di La Fontana, right? I made a mistake. The Alley of Romance. Ah, no, that's not true. That's in Guanajuato. This is the Alley of Romance. Wow, what a success, huh? What a hit. What a hit. And we're going to peek over there so you can see where we're going to come out. >> Yes, well, yes. Look, he lives there. >> Yes, it has its pros and cons, right? It's very beautiful, but also a lot of annoying people like us taking pictures. Today it's raining, so maybe that's why it's empty, but I imagine it must be a place extremely visited by tourists, photographed and all. Oh, what a gem, what a gem. Good morning. It's totally impressive here. Just this, this is not a set, I mean, it is the street. People live here, they have their businesses here. It's not like a place fabricated for tourism. No, no, no. Authentic style, classic. And we have the good luck that the rain is accompanying us. And that adds a very nostalgic, mysterious, bohemian, beautiful touch, simply beautiful. Here I want to give you this reflection. Our Castilian ancestors from the 17th to the 19th century left us the most advanced cities in the world. Meanwhile, the United States was a dusty country built on sticks. We had the newest, most modern, most ostentatious cities on the entire planet. The Castilians left us an empire with a territory twice the size of what we have today. A very rich heritage, a mix of the best of Europe and the best of America. What have we done with it? Sold it, forgotten it, lost it, even cursed it instead of honoring it? When you ask yourself again where all the gold they stole from us is, it's simple. Just look at the historic center of your city. Ask yourself when it was built and you'll see that all that gold is there. But the true wealth is not in the walls. The true wealth is in the history and the legacy of what we are. We behave like the son of a millionaire who spent his father's fortune because he didn't earn it himself. The decadence of the country has come since 1810 when they didn't know what to do with so much inheritance. That's where the real theft began. But well, this is just an idea and a reflection of what I have researched, what I have seen, and what I have read. I would like to read you in the comments. We continue with the exploration. Well, folks, after walking a few streets, we are now reaching the heart of Morelia. This is where yesterday all the event was, all the people. Right now there are many people because of the race, but the rain also means there aren't so many people on the street, right? So, good morning. >> Good morning. This is how this glorious center is, very, very beautiful. Just look at the detail on the cathedral, the fountains. What's more, Morelia is truly extremely beautiful. Yesterday they had it illuminated with rainbow colors. It has its flags. But yesterday it was illuminated and the cathedral appeared dark, and then later, at night, around 9 PM, something like that, boom, it lit up, and it's a marvelous thing. It's very, very, very beautiful. [Applause] Truly, it's impressive how beautiful it is. Look at all the quarry stone, pink quarry stone everywhere. There we have, I imagine, some demonstrations, right? Of the 8M. That was surely it. They haven't restored it yet because, mind you, this isn't something that's just repaired, it has to be restored due to its antiquity and being a World Heritage site. This is something that every person, every human being should be able to enjoy. That's what it means to be a city, a World Heritage city. Man, we are going to enter the temple here, the Morelia Cathedral, and I don't know it, only from the outside. Let's see how it is inside. Let's see how much it impresses us. But I think it will be, right? Man, if the streets are like this, I can imagine what it's like inside. The thing is, it's Sunday and there's mass, so we're going to enter. Discreetly. Just look at this monumental entrance. Let's leave the umbrella here for a moment. Let's see, [Music] Lord, your sad [Music] [Applause] [Music] Lord pastor [Music] What madness we just saw, elegance. Chandeliers, gold altarpieces. No, no, no. Something, something impressive. I tell you, I expected no less, if the streets are so ostentatious, the cathedral had to, it had to surpass it. And yes, yes it did, easily, easily, one of the most elegant things I've seen. We haven't walked 300 meters and we're already encountering a new temple, a new chapel, a new sanctuary, an ex-convent, well, what a gem. Look at this. What an elegant gem, this classic quarry stone kiosk, luxury ironwork, with matte black paint. Below we have something that is wood. How tall it is! It's very, very tall. It's a very, very tall kiosk. And something peculiar about it is that this kiosk is basically decorative because there are no stairs for any civilian to climb up. It has that door, but I imagine that door is for if someone is going to have an event, the orchestra will play, a mariachi, or something like that, they enter from below and that's it, but around it there's no access, huh? I mean, there's no way to climb up to the kiosk for a simple mortal. The gardens, look, the gardens are crazy. It's this fine grass, you know, this grass that isn't prickly, it's soft, thin, fine, compact grass. Just look how it looks. Green, completely fine. Like this. Another fountain. No, no, no. Clean, above all, this historic center is also clean. Yesterday night we passed by here and saw these kinds of little cages up there illuminated. No, no, no. Beautiful, truly, we arrived in Morelia. I had been here before, I didn't remember it very well, I remembered some things about the center being beautiful, about the cathedral being beautiful from the outside, I didn't see it from the inside, and I also remembered the aqueduct, but for example, some corners, honestly, I don't remember anything, huh? And look here. I'm going to be quiet so you can hear the ambient sound. And well, as I say, you look to the left, a temple, you look to the right, a cathedral. You look back and a convent, you look forward and a, I don't know, a monastery. No, no, no. Impressive. Ah, look at the old sewage system. Even for this they had elegance, huh? Truly, how beautiful. It's like a kind of sun rising at sunset, at a different level, and the sewage system. This tells me that surely there must be tunnels underneath, tunnels in the style of the Cristeros, in the style of what was used in Jalisco and all that. Let's remember that at some point, around 1930, Plutarco's law prohibited practicing any religion. Imagine what that meant in Mexico when you have 95% Catholic population. It was madness. I don't know how, I don't know how they managed to get that authorized, but it was a death penalty to practice any religion. Ah, it was crazy. Look, here's another manhole cover like these. Just check out this street. The buttresses of this building are marvelous, the buttresses. Look at the tower. The buttresses are very beautiful with that drop there, the downspout. Yesterday night, while we were exploring the streets, we also found this corner here, some arcades as businesses, some little stalls. Very beautiful, look. Let's try to cross the street here. And here I'm going to go for it. Let's go, look. We're going to show the arcades here. Look, that's what it looks like from the outside, and inside there are businesses. At night they were very active, they sold what we call "cena," fried things, flautas, tacos. And during the day, I guess so too. Look, there they are. Maybe during the day they sell pozole, they sell enchiladas, other types of things. Let's see, it kind of catches my attention. Did you see how the water falls there, and where the water falls, there's all the life. There's moss, there are flowers, there are plants, shrubs, there's everything. Do you know what happened here? No, it's strange because over here on the left, it sounds like they're having a mass or something. And but this side looks abandoned. Look, [Music] it's a more urban area, so to speak. Oh, look at those skeletons up there. There are the public restrooms. There are other restrooms here too. Check this out, huh? It's already like a caution, risk of collapse, but since it's a World Heritage site, they can't just demolish it. They can't. Either they restore it, or they have to let time take its course and pulverize it so they can then build something there. But until then, they have to leave it like this by law. Otherwise, UNESCO could say, "Well, we'll take away the title of World Heritage City, and you can do whatever you want." That's what would happen. Well, folks, we are arriving at the Las Rosas area, the Conservatory of Music of Las Rosas, the garden. Wow, how beautiful it is, man. It's an enormously beautiful city. A small garden. Look at this building. It seems like there's a kind of pedestrian walkway on the corner. Let's see what appears there. Look. Majestic [Applause] Here, Palacio Clavijero. Let's go in. Let's peek. What? What is it? Ah, it's a museum. Oh, look, it's an art museum. From here I can see some paintings. There it is. Look, Nigromante street, corner of Melchor Ocampo. Ah, it has braille, huh? Those dots you see here are braille language for people with visual impairment, the blind. We went straight down Nigromante street and came across this, which is the conservatory or part of the Las Rosas conservatory area. What decoration, huh? What architecture. [Applause] Walking here in the rain has been complicated, but it's worth it to show this beautiful city. And well, gang, in the company of the street philosopher Pérez, we say goodbye to this tour of the marvelous, beautiful, imperial World Heritage site, Morelia, Michoacán. We hope you have been informed and entertained. Subscribe to the channel, it's completely free. I am your friend Leoncillo.