the soul of mexico

THE SOUL OF
MEXICO
Mexico's colonial cities are alive with culturebustling markets, Baroque cathedrals, and archaeological museums.
SUSANMORGANdelivers the definitive guide
to six that are
all an easy drive from the capital. Photographed
byColienaRentmeester
MEXICO
Gulf
. Guanajuato
. Queretaro
WEATHERThetemperate
of
cIimate ofthe centra I
Mexicohighlands-at an altitude of
~orelia
0 Mexico City
7,000 feet-is at its best from
Cuernavaca. . Puebla
Decem ber th roug h ApriI:
.
degrees.GETTING
Oaxaca
I
www.latinexcursions.com)
to plan tailor-made
works with a local
trips (car and driver included).
47 POCITOS,
GUANAJUATO
52-473/732-1197
DOUBLESFROM$100
WHERE TO EAT
La Casa del Portal
Traditional
I
Michoacan
cuisine-including
a fortifying
sopa tarasca.
DINNERFORTWO$40
30 GUILLERMO
PRIETO,
MOREllA
52.443/313.4899
DOUBLES FROM $155
DINNERFORTWO$54
310 AVDA.MADERO,PTE.CENTRO
DOUBLES FROM $140
HIST6RICO, MOREllA;52.443/
6 SUR 304 CALLEJ6NDE LOS SAPOS,
312-0633; www.hotelvirrey.com
3102BLVD.BENITO
JUAREZ,
COl.
CENTRO,CUERNAVACA
52.777/312.3656
Quinta Las Acacias
Casa Hidalgo
DOUBLESFROM$185
Terrace
La Casa de la Marquesa
168PASEO
DELAPRESA,
the city, with
DOUBLESFROM$125
GUANAJUATO;
888/497-4129
OR52.473/731-1517;
www.
Hotel Virrey de Mendoza
www.meson-sacrislia.com
41MADERO,
QUERETARO
52.442/212-0092
quintalasacacias.com
www.lacasadelamarquesa.com
Casa Colonial
Mo/e pob/ano at the courtyard
restaurant of Puebla's Mes6n
Sacristfa de la Compallfa.
Gaia Restaurante
dining
Alhondiga
de Granaditas
6 MENDIZABAL,
GUANAJUATO
La Tallera Museo
Casa
in the heart
internationa
of
I fa reo
DINNER FOR TWO $50
100LEYBA,
CUERNAVACA
EI Naranjo
Celebrity chef and owner lIiana
DOUBLES FROM $146
37 NETZAHUALCOYOTL,
de la Vega makes a different
39 MORElOSSUR, COl. CENTRO,
COl. CENTRO,CUERNAVACA
mole for each day of the week.
LUNCHFORTWO$45
52-777/312.7033
www.casacolonial.com
painter who worked with the graphic artist
Pablo O'Higgins, a United States-born
Mexican citizen and colleague of Diego
Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco.The university lecture halls, conforming to European tradition, are called aulasand named
for great philosophers; a miniature wooden
sign embossed with gold-leaf lettering
indicates the Aula Carlos Marx.
At Museo del Dulce, the candy museum, we fill a basket with handmade tin
toys, pumpkin-seed brittle, and dulcede
camote, pastel-colored
confections
made
We stop for savory snacks, antojitos(literally "little whims," like the tasty quesadillas stuffed with the corn fungus
huitlacoche,and tacosalpastor),in the vaultlike bar at the Hotel Virrey de Mendoza,
a grand 17th-century palace built for the
city's first viceroy.At the edge of town, an
impressive 18th-century aqueduct-a
graceful arcade of pink stone-merges
the countryside with the city streets.
Guanajuato
THE HIGH PLATEAU THAT stretches
from
Morelia to Guanajuato seems to be skimming the surface of the surrounding lakes.
The modern road into town descends into
198
2005
+ LEISURE
DECEMBER
52-777/312.8171
Museo de las Culturas
de Oaxaca
MACEDONIO
ALCALA,
OAXACA
203TRUJANO,
OAXACA;
52.951/514.1878 52.951/516.9741
from sweet-potato pastes. Flirtatious teenage girls costumed as nuns sell bottles of
Rompope, an eggnog-flavored liqueur.
TRAVEL
de
Museo Regional
Cuauhnahuac
52.777/312.2749
DOUBLES FROM $140
MOREllA; 52-443/312.0036
Estudio
David Alfaro Siqueiros
52VENUS,
COl.JARDINES
DECUERNAVACA;
52.777/315.1115
6 JARDINDELOSNIHOS HEROES,COl.
CENTRO,CUERNAVACA
Los Juaninos
www.hoteljuaninos.com.mx
yCasa de
Diego Rivera
WHERE TO STAY
Meson Sacristla
de la Companla
PUEBLA;877/27B.8018
.
Museo
52.951/514-4173
I miles from Mexico City. Oaxaca can a Iso be reached by
regularflights
to Oaxaca Xoxocotlan Airport, 15 miles from
(866/626-3750;
CENTRO
HIST6RlCO,
MOREllA
52.443/312-8157
www.casa.oaxaca.com
Angeles to Mexico City's Benito Juarez airport. All of the towns
discussed, with the exception of Oaxaca, are fewer than 250
company
440 AVDA. MADERO, PTE.
407 GARCiAVIGIL,OAXACA
all offer di rect flights from Los
I the town's historic center. TOURSDriving on your own in Mexico
I
should be approached with caution. Latin Excursions
gardens and peacocks.
DOUBLESFROM$238
107RICARDO
LINARES,
COl.CENTRO,
Casa Oaxaca
THERE
American, Aeromexico,
United, and Alaska Airlines
WHAT TO DO
Museodel Dulce
CUERNAVACA;
888/413-9199
OR52-777/362-0000
www.lasmananitas.com.mx
sunny and dry, with an
average temperature
of 70
MEXICO
Las Mananitas
A classic hotel with lush
a rugged dirt-walled tunnel that forks,
finally surfaces at the edge of the Jar'
de la Union, Guanajuato's triangul
shaped plaza, a pedestrian precinct b
dered by laurel trees and cafes.
With its narrow cobblestoned all
ways, or callejones,and higgledy-pigglc
layout, the city is a startling contrast to }
relia: a Cubist landscape encountered aJ
a vision of the rational sublime. Guanaju
is the birthplace of Rivera, and we visit
childhood home, a prim Victorian ho;
built on a rocky outcropping in the Cen
Historico. Its interior is laid out in a cra
quilt pattern, curiously accommodating
site's irregular terrain. »