By Jim Atkinson
Trace the country’s history with a tour through its colorful – and occasionally
There is a particular moment on a visit to colonial Mexico that perfectly captures the region’s transcendent magic.
One instant you are in a cab, gliding toward the city of Guanajuato along a modern Mexican highway replete with all the contemporary accoutrements: billboards, traffic jams, and rude drivers. Suddenly, the car plunges into a deep, nearly pitch-black tunnel.
Then, just as abruptly, the cab bursts into sunlight, as if from some tourists’ purgatory, into a Xanadu of domed cathedrals, craggy cobblestoned streets, the sound of strolling street musicians, and the aphrodisiacal aroma of frying beef. Even after half a dozen trips to the region, I’m still surprised by the sensation of having time-traveled back 400 years in the distance of half a mile.
Many cities in Mexico can lay claim to the designation “colonial” – from Guadalajara in the west to Veracruz on the Gulf Coast to Mérida in the Yucatán – because they were founded and flourished during the colonial era, which ran from the early sixteenth to the early nineteenth century. But the true colonial region is generally thought to be the central highlands that spread west to east from Mexico City – the so-called heartland that includes Guanajuato, Querétaro, Mineral de Pozos, Puebla, San Miguel de Allende, Morelia, Pátzcuaro, and Cuernavaca. This region sits physically in the center of the country, and it has been central to Mexico’s history too: This is where the Spanish settled in the sixteenth century, where the seeds of the Mexican war against Spain were sown and harvested in the nineteenth, where the nation’s founding fortunes from farming and the mining of precious metals began.
These towns have all been painstakingly maintained or restored so that travelers experience a one-stop primer on Mexican history and culture – everything from ornate colonial architecture to “Mex Mex” food to psychedelically colored Indian folk art – with the sweetest mountain climate this side of Santa Fe. Plus, they are accessible – you could visit all the places here using hired drivers in about ten days to two weeks – and are still one of the best travel bargains going. Though this list is by no means encompassing, it’s a good start to discovering the charm of colonial Mexico.
GUANAJUATO
Mountains, Mummies, and Diego Rivera
Guanajuato is the quirkiest of the colonial cities, a kind of eccentric old uncle. Besides its spooky tunnel system, which used to be part of the town’s sewer matrix, it is home to a mummy museum. Its more sober civic side serves as the seat of government for the state of Guanajuato and home to the state university. Like most colonial towns, it is very walkable, despite steep streets covered with uneven cobblestones.
Don’t Miss: The museums. Start with the Museo Casa Diego Rivera, in the same unimposing walk-up building where the flamboyant muralist grew up during the late nineteenth century. Museo Iconográfico del Quijote sits in a similarly nondescript colonial mansion and contains a thorough collection of sketched, painted, and sculpted renderings of the literary antihero, including works by Dalí and Picasso.
The Museo de Los Momias is a more lowbrow cultural experience, but for a short cab ride and a long wait in line, you can view scores of mummified corpses (mainly of miners from years gone by; the oldest is 140) that were exhumed from the cemetery to make room for new arrivals when their gravesites went unpaid. Macabre, perhaps, but it’s an interesting glimpse into Mexican history.
Other Highlights: The town’s 400-year-old Basílica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato is an architectural marvel. The bright yellow baroque church contains the oldest Christian statue in Mexico, a magnificent jeweled rendition of the Virgin from the eighth century.
Eat Like a Local: The best Guanajuato restaurant isn’t Mexican, but French, and it’s not in the city proper, but in the suburb of Marfil. Chez Nicole serves a rarely encountered French-Mexican fusion; try the filet de trucha salmonada (sautéed pink trout, stuffed with corn and served with a poblano chile sauce).
QUERéTARO
Cathedrals, Opals, and … Ant Eggs?
At roughly ten times the size of Guanajuato, Querétaro, about 90 miles east, is the colonial region’s industrial and commercial center. At first blush, it’s a big, loud, bustling city of traffic jams and auto parts factories, but enter the city’s old town – a spectacularly restored seven-square-mile sector that contains a stunning collection of Spanish colonial architecture – and you leave modernity far, far away.
Don’t Miss: Like most colonial towns, Querétaro has a rich mining history. Its specialty has always been opals – particularly the red fire opal – which sell at shops such as Lapidaria de Querétaro for about half their U.S. price. Find even better bargains on simple folk-art jewelry made with nonprecious stones such as quartz along the old city’s many shopping callejónes, or alleys.
Other Highlights: The old city is a museum unto itself. Its finest pieces are churches and former convents, the masterpiece of which is the Templo de Santa Rosa de Viterbo, rightfully described as looking a bit like some kind of eighteenth-century spaceship. The town’s huge aqueduct, with 74 arches (many as high as 20 feet), was considered the signal engineering achievement of eighteenth-century colonial Mexico.
Eat Like a Local: Try the regional delicacy known as escamoles, which are the larvae of ants. These tiny eggs are usually sautéed in butter with onions, green peppers, or cilantro, and are best found at Casa de la Marquesa restaurant.
MINERAL DE POZOS
Little Town, Big Heart
After the big-city buzz of Querétaro, take respite in the tiny village of Mineral de Pozos (population 2,000), located about 50 miles northwest. With its unrehabilitated cobble stoned streets that stretch for a mile in each direction, Pozos is about as close to the real colonial Mexico as you’ll get.
Don’t Miss: Whatever celebration happens to be going on that day. Like many small Mexican towns, Pozos doesn’t need much of an excuse for a parade or fiesta. The last time I was in town, I hit the mother lode: San Pedro Day, the celebration of the city’s patron saint. When there’s a celebration in Pozos, pretty much everyone in town shows up to take part. Several bands – ranging from mariachis to punkish rockers – make music; artisans display various crafts; impromptu taco and ice cream stands materialize. And, of course, a conflagration of fireworks caps the evening.
Eat Like a Local: The black-and-white soup at Café des Artistes – half huitlacoche (a dark, musky-tasting mushroomlike gall that grows on corn and is elsewhere known as “corn smut”) and half puréed corn – is about as authentic an inland Mexican specialty
as you’ll find.
MORELIA AND PÁTZCUARO
A Life-and-Death Experience
Approximately 100 miles west of San Miguel de Allende, in the state of Michoacán, are two more colonial cities worth a visit: Morelia (population 550,000), a UNESCO World Heritage Artistic Site, and its much smaller neighbor, Pátzcuaro (population 50,000). Together, they provide a thrilling cultural and ecotourism experience.
Don’t Miss: November 1, El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico, arguably the country’s most important holiday. On this day, Mexicans believe, the souls of dead relatives – especially the very young – return to visit, and their loved ones prepare altars to greet them. Some are modest in-home table settings of flowers and the deceased’s favorite foods; others are quite elaborate graveside presentations.
Perhaps because it began as a pagan Indian ritual, nowhere in Mexico is this day observed more enthusiastically than in Pátzcuaro, which still has a large population of P’urhépecha Indians and where you can take cemetery tours on the big night. Celebrants toast their loved ones with tequila and, quite literally, dance on – or at least around – their graves. It’s a unique and unforgettable cultural experience.
Other Highlights: At Michoacán’s most famous ecotourism attraction, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in the mountains in the far northeast of the state, hundreds of millions of the butterflies migrate and overwinter. Stay in Morelia, Michoacán’s sophisticated and vibrant capital, and have your Virtuoso advisor arrange a guided tour of one of the five monarch sanctuaries nearby. It makes for a fairly tiring day trip, as, aside from the two-hour drive to the most popular sanctuary, El Rosario, you must climb about 800 feet from the main entrance to the butterfly overlook at 10,800 feet. Ah, but it’s worth every huff and puff, as the sight of these creatures, like some kind of glittering carpet over the land, is definitely one of those things you must see before you pass from the planet.
Eat Like a Local: Corundas are a kind of tamale, but with a local spin: The masa is wrapped in a corn plant leaf, which has been folded into a triangular shape. Generally, corundas are not stuffed with meat, though some have pork in the center. The key to this dish is what you dribble over it, generally one part cream, one part hot sauce. ¡Ay corunda!
Stay: Set on four acres in the hills just outside Morelia, picturesque Villa Montaña Hotel & Spa boasts 36 casita-style rooms with fireplaces, tiled floors, and antique furnishings. Doubles from $190, including breakfast, welcome cocktails, and a complimentary session for two in the spa’s sensory flotation chamber.
PUEBLA
Holy Mole!
Located about 75 miles east of Mexico City, the bustling city of Puebla (population 1 million) contains 70 beautiful churches and more than 1,000 exemplars of colonial architecture. Puebla is the fourth-largest city in Mexico, but you’d never know it to walk the charming cobblestoned streets of its Centro district. With a commitment to preserving its colonial architecture, it is the most conservative of the colonial cities; the aging patriarch of a proud family that doesn’t mind living in the past.
Don’t Miss: Puebla’s excellent Museo Amparo, probably the best of colonial Mexico’s many fine museums dedicated to both pre- and post-Spanish eras.
Eat Like a Local: Anything, anywhere, with mole sauce on it. Puebla is one of the capitals of this unique Mexican sauce, which includes, most prominently, chocolate and chilies, but also numerous other spices and ingredients. It’s a perfectly representative food: spicy, rich, and hugely popular.
Stay: La Purificadora, originally a water purification plant, is a hip, 26-room boutique hotel with equal parts old (original nineteenth-century walls) and new (a stunning glass-walled swimming pool). The rooftop bar is a hoot. Doubles from $155, including breakfast and a $50 food and beverage credit.
CUERNAVACA
Where the Sun Always Shines
Cuernavaca is known as the “City of Eternal Spring,” and the nickname is no exaggeration. This mountain getaway, capital of the state of Morelos, though dating back to pre-Columbian times, always looks and feels as if it has just been scrubbed by hand and dried by the glorious sun. With a population of 700,000, it is a thriving metropolis that draws both the wealthy of Mexico City (a 45-minute drive) and artistic types.
Don’t Miss: The ruins of Teopanzolco. These ancient temples of the Tlahuica Indians, which initially appear as a large double pyramid, sit more or less in the middle of town as a constant reminder of Cuernavaca’s long history.
Eat Like a Local: Try the tacos at Grano del Oro, one of many taquerias that line what is known locally as the “calle de los tacos” (street of tacos). These are not the crisp tacos we’ve grown accustomed to in the States, but delicate, almost dainty soft tortillas stuffed with your favorite filling – mine being Alhambra (ground beef, bacon, and cheese).
SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE
All About Art
This most popular and Americanized of the colonial towns is the region’s cultural center, with two major art schools and a profusion of galleries. Though foreigners (mostly Americans) now make up 15 percent of its population of about 62,000, it continues to artfully balance modernity and history. It’s a good place to end a colonial tour, an easy 90-minute drive from Guanajuato International Airport in León.
Don’t Miss: The art galleries. Two favorites are Zócalo and Galeria Mariposa, both of which offer fine folk art: papier-mâché, paintings, wood and clay sculptures, fine pottery, and copper urns. In recent years such galleries have become a bit pricey, but plenty of smaller galleries and shops, especially along Recreo and Zacateros streets, offer less expensive folk art, such as calaveras (skeleton statuettes that are part of Day of the Dead celebrations) for under $50. Less expensive still are the seemingly endless offerings at the Mercado de Artesanías, a short walk from the central jardín (garden), where reasonably priced jewelry, pottery, and embroidery are also available at kiosks.
Other Highlights: A modest plaza surrounded by well-coiffed laurel trees and shadowed by a lovely neo-Gothic parroquia (parish church), Jardín Principal is the heart of town, with an inexhaustible supply of free entertainment, much of it provided by art students – drum bands, pickup mariachi groups, sketch artists, and jugglers. Food vendors crowd its outer perimeter, and impromptu events just seem to erupt: On my last visit, a guitar band was strumming away when a middle-aged couple decided to enjoy a dance. They were soon joined by 50 or so other habitués, and the fiesta was on.
Eat Like a Local: Adjacent to the parroquia (within praying distance, locals like to say) sits an old chapel that now houses the premier restaurant in town, La Capilla. Watch the sunset while dining on dishes such as wild mushroom ravioli with sage cream sauce and chicken breast with mango-garlic sauce and fried plantains.
Interestingly, across the same narrow, cobblestoned street, you’ll find the best-food-for-the-peso in town at El Ten Ten Pie, a well-scrubbed adobe hole-in-the-wall that serves a wide array of soft tacos with fillings ranging from mushrooms to tangy chicken to pumpkin seeds. They go for two to three dollars apiece, but the funky atmosphere is free.
Stay: Famed Casa de Sierra Nevada charms with 37 guestrooms that sprawl throughout several casas. No two are alike – you may find a fireplace in one, a copper tub in another – but all have modern amenities, as well as butler service. Its cooking school is reason enough to visit. Doubles from $202, including breakfast and two welcome margaritas.
COLONIAL QUEST
Trips with history – and a generous helping of art and culture.
Classic Vacations’ eight-day privately guided tour starts in Guanajuato, where you’ll peer into Boca del Infierno, a mineshaft that plunges 2,000 feet; explore the labyrinthine Callejón del Beso (Alley of the Kiss); gawk at the macabre mummy museum; and discover the most scenic view in the city (don’t forget your camera). The trip moves on to Morelia, Querétaro, and the archaeological site of Teotihuacán before wrapping up in Mexico City. Departures: Any day through 2010; from $3,769.
Explore not just the culture, but the cuisine with Journey Mexico’s seven-day stay in the country’s colonial heartland. In Guanajuato, visit a textiles museum and potter’s workshop; in Mineral de Pozos, tour an abandoned mine and meet with a local artisan who handcrafts musical instruments. Meet more artists in San Miguel, where you’ll also hone your culinary skills with classes as the renowned Sazón Cookery School. Departures: Any day through 2010; from $2,704.
Check six colonial cities off your list with SAT Mexico’s nine-day trip: Querétaro, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Morelia, Pátzcuaro, and Guadalajara. Highlights include a visit to Tepotzotlán’s San Francisco Javier monastery; Dolores Hidalgo, where the independence movement started and where you’ll marvel at the curious underground avenue along the bottom of a hollowed-out ravine; and an afternoon visit to Tlaquepaque, a Guadalajara suburb that is an important arts-and-crafts center. Departures: Most days through December 15, 2010; from $3,391.
GETTING THERE Mexicana Airlines, now part of the Oneworld airline alliance, serves 36 destinations in Mexico, including many colonial cities.