Valle de Bravo

The first people to settle here were the Matlatzinca. Between 1474 and 1479 the Aztec ruler Axayacatl conquered the region, one of the last additions to the Aztec Empire. After the fall of Tenochtitlan the Spanish captains Andrés de Tapia and Gonzalo de Sandoval subdued the area, and Dominicans and Augustinians followed. Around 1530 the Franciscan friar Gregorio Jiménez de la Cuenca founded the town as a congregation called El Pino, and a Franciscan convent was established between 1607 and 1615. The town's early name, Valle de Temascaltepec, comes from the Nahuatl for "hill of steam baths", and a temazcal still appears on its coat of arms.

The town suffered greatly during the War of Independence, when the Crown tried to repress the rebellion there, and later took the name of the general Nicolás Bravo. It gained town status in 1842, became a municipality in 1852 and a city in 1878, and saw Zapatista incursions during the Revolution.

The 20th century reshaped the landscape. From 1938 to 1947 the Federal Electricity Commission built the Miguel Alemán hydroelectric system, whose dams flooded the valley to create the present lake, which also supplies water to Mexico City. Hotels, golf clubs, sailing clubs and weekend houses followed. In the 1960s the Circuito Avándaro motor races made the town famous until a fatal accident ended them in 1969, and on 11–12 September 1971 the Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro drew a vast crowd — "the Mexican Woodstock". Valle de Bravo was declared a ciudad típica in 1971 and a Pueblo Mágico in 2005.

The town's look is part of its identity: white walls, red-tiled roofs and cobbled lanes, and the town was named a ciudad típica in 1971. Religious life centres on the parish church of San Francisco and on the sanctuary of Santa María Ahuacatlán, whose Black Christ on the main altar is still worshipped. Most people are Catholic, with Protestant and evangelical congregations too, and the arrival of foreign residents has broadened the town's places of worship.

The calendar mixes local tradition with the cultural tastes of weekend visitors. The Festival Vallesano in March brings sport, horse riding, art and music; the Festival de las Almas, in late September or early October, is a week of film, dance, theatre and Day of the Dead altars, with events spreading to other towns of the State of Mexico. Sunday afternoons bring music to the bandstand in the Jardín Central.

Valle de Bravo is also known for adventure. It has more than 40 nautical clubs on the lake and is internationally renowned for paragliding, hang gliding and ultralight flying; it hosted the 2009 Paragliding World Championship, the Monarca Paragliding Open is held here, and a hang-glider maker has its main manufacturing facility in the area. The memory of the 1971 Avándaro festival, a landmark of Mexican rock, remains part of local lore.

At the 2005 count the town had about 22,000 people and the whole municipality about 53,000. The municipality covers about 422 square kilometres, half of it mountains and hills, and takes in dozens of villages and the Avándaro area to the south.

Tourism is the key industry. Millions of visitors a year — many of them weekenders from Mexico City and Toluca — support about 60 per cent of the municipality's jobs, in hotels, restaurants, sailing and flying schools, shops and services. Outside the town farming continues, mainly for family use: maize, beans, potatoes, peas, broad beans, tomatoes and onions, with potatoes and peas grown for sale. There is also some small-scale industry making ceramics, furniture and building materials.

The week has two rhythms. On weekdays the old town belongs to its residents; at weekends and holidays the roads from the capital fill, the Embarcadero and the square are crowded, and the lake is busy with boats. Nahua, Matlatzinca and Purépecha communities live in the municipality, and their languages can still be heard.

The lake and the forests shape the kitchen. Trout is the local signature — rainbow trout is fished on the lake — and lake bass appears on menus too. Restaurants on the Embarcadero, including some that float beside the dock, serve fish with views over the water.

The traditional dishes of the State of Mexico are eaten here as well: mole de guajolote, turkey in mole; barbacoa and consomé de borrego, lamb and its broth; carnitas, pork cooked in its own fat; steamed pork and beef head; and tamales. Atoles, warm thickened drinks, come in many flavours, including guava and blackberry, and traditional sweets are sold as a local craft.

Around the Jardín Central, street stalls sell corn, campechanas, tacos, pambazos and traditional ice cream, especially on Sunday afternoons when the bandstand has music. At the other end of the scale, the restaurants of Valle de Bravo and Avándaro have a reputation for international cooking.