Tlayacapan lies in the north of Morelos, among dry hills, with Popocatépetl, the smoking volcano, standing in the distance. Its convent of San Juan Bautista is one of a number of fortress-like monasteries built by Augustinian, Franciscan and Dominican friars in the sixteenth century, within a few decades of the Spanish conquest, and they are among the earliest European buildings in the Americas. UNESCO listed the group in 1994. The church has a plain, heavy front and an open-air chapel, where the friars preached to crowds who were not yet used to indoor services.
The inside of the convent is a good example of how art and religion mixed in the early colonial period. The cloister walls were painted with scenes by indigenous artists working under friars, often in black and white in a style borrowed from European prints, and parts of these murals still survive. Outside, the town itself is known for its potters, who make glazed clay vessels and figures in the local style, and for the chinelos, dancers in tall feathered hats and long embroidered robes who appear at carnival time, each wearing a mask with a pointed beard.
The ride to Tlayacapan is attractive and relaxed. From Cuernavaca or Cuautla, secondary roads climb through dry hills and farmland, with tight bends and views of the valley, and the main hazards are the topes, the speed bumps that guard every village. They are sometimes unmarked, so slow down at the first sign of houses. On clear days the volcano is visible, though it sometimes sends up ash, and the road conditions vary after the summer rains, with potholes and washed-out edges.
Fuel is available in Tlayacapan itself, which has about eight thousand people, and larger stations are in Cuautla, a short ride south, where the cecina of Yecapixtla, thin salty beef cooked over charcoal, is a well-known local dish. Weekends bring visitors from Mexico City, so the town is busiest on Saturday and Sunday, and weekdays are calmer. The elevation is moderate, around sixteen hundred metres, so evenings are mild.