Although it has gills, it is not a fish (note the feathery protrusions on the side of its head). It is a salamander native to the wetlands and canals around Mexico City, the most well-known of which are in Xochimilco. It is called an ajolote from the Nahuat axolotl, and Mexico is suddenly very proud of it.

Like a vehicle from an old James Bond movie I remember, it is amphibian.

Like the evil T-1000 cyborg in Terminator 2, it has an unbelievable ability to regenerate. If it loses a leg, it grows another one with no scarring.

Like Hannibal Lecter, it is carnivorous, although it prefers aquatic insects, worms and small fish to human flesh.

Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the ajolote (or axolotl) is associated with Xólotl, the Aztec deity connected with transformation. As the twin brother of Aztec king Quetzalcóatl, Xólotl transformed himself repeatedly while trying to escape sacrifice and finally hid in the water in the form of an ajolote.

Sadly, like the parrot Blu from the animated movie Rio, ajolotes in the wild are endangered due to habitat loss and polluted water.

My state of Michoacan has its own ajolote-like creature endemic to Lake Patzcuaro called an achoque.

• Ajolote de Xochimilco: Ambystoma mexicanum

• Achoque de Pátzcuaro: Ambystoma dumerilii

There is even an unusual conservation program involving the Dominican nuns of Patzcuaro, who have maintained a captive population for many years. Next time I’m in Patzcuaro, I’ll do some more research on this intriguing project.

So, there you have it. If you ever go searching for an ajolote in Mexico City, make sure and visit its original home, the canals of Xochimilco, with their colorful boats and party atmosphere.

Alhough, you’ll need something larger than a 50 peso bill.

Subscribe now

This photo is not from 1988—do you realize how hard it is to find an image from that long ago?! The search engine for my closet is not too effective.

Now that we are on the other side of 31 years with NOE, we introduce groups of Americans and Canadians to this part of Mexico each year through Niteo Tours.

Most come down for a bucket list item: the Monarch butterfly sanctuary. Most have been warned by a friend or relative that this area is dangerous. Most have done a Google search that does nothing to allay those concerns.

Imagine their surprise, the morning after their arrival, as they walk around the tranquil plaza of Patzcuaro, Michoacan, observing uniformed kids keeping up with an older brother or sister to get to school, a man carrying a bag of limes to market, an elderly couple feeding the pigeons. Everyone just going about their daily business.

The statue in the middle of the plaza is of 16^th century Vasco de Quiroga who, after arriving here from Spain, sought to make Patzcuaro the center of his utopia. He didn’t succeed; who has? But being here on a sunny, 70 F morning after having scraped ice off your windshield a day before feels a bit like paradise.

From Patzcuaro, we drive less than an hour away to Santa Clara del Cobre, the copper town, where we see how discarded copper wire and pipe are crafted—hammered actually—into all types of housewares.

The next day, we hit the road for San Miguel de Allende, recently voted the Number #1 city in the world by Travel + Leisure. In the world!

Finally, a couple of days later, what most of the group has been waiting for: the trip to the butterflies. We get an early start at the colonial Starbucks in San Miguel, which by this point in the trip sounds wonderful. The 3+ hours to the remote sanctuary will take us up to 10,000 feet above sea level. Scientists knew the monarch went south for the winter, but they didn’t discover where until 1976.

Arriving at the entrance, already seeing some monarchs flitting by, we are still a hike or horseback ride away from the specific area in the oyamel forest where tens of thousands of butterflies are waking up from their semi-hibernation.

We slow our breathing, close our eyes, and for a moment, the only sound we can hear is the soft fluttering of thousands of monarch butterflies. It’s magical!

I first visited El Rosario Sanctuary more than twenty years ago and have returned during six of the past eight winters. Over that time, I have witnessed an encouraging change: more and more people have come to understand that protecting the forest where the monarchs spend the winter is far more valuable than exploiting it.

Convincing the villagers that tourism could bring greater benefits than logging the oyamel firs was not easy. But the effort has paid off. Admission to the sanctuary has increased, generating more income for the community, while the guides at El Rosario carefully look after both visitors and butterflies. As tourists, we are actually part of the solution for saving the monarch.

After that long day to see the butterflies, most of the group thinks the trip is as good as over. Their first night in my hometown of Morelia is spent in deep sleep.

The next couple of days, some are usually a bit shocked by how majestic Morelia’s downtown feels. And how delicious Morelia’s varied types of tacos are. And how eager the students at the NOE Center are to practice their English with foreigners.

Although Niteo Tours are trips with a mission, they are not mission trips. I apologize to all you gluttons of punishment, but we stay in really nice hotels and eat at delicious restaurants. We also meet everyday Mexicans, do a taco crawl at authentic stands, and weeks later spend some of our time back home futilely explaining to friends and relatives that “Mexico is SO different from what you see on the news.”

Don’t believe me? Why not give it a shot?!

Subscribe now

We were in a cocina económica, one of Mexico’s best-kept secrets. Homemade cooking for less than five dollars. There is one, there are probably several, scattered around any downtown. This is how single men, widowers, families giving mom a day off, and anyone else who can’t get home for the midday comida have traditionally eaten the big meal of the day.

The one we found ourselves in this particular day had a small sign painted above the entrance. “Cocina.” No marketing budget.

I didn’t find it by searching for “Authentic Mexican restaurant” in Google maps. No, no, no! That will send you to a restaurant that does have a marketing budget. More expensive and less authentic. I just searched for “cocina economica” and looked at the rating (make sure it has at least 100). 4.4 or higher is good.

“All this for soup?” You are thinking. No, soup is just the beginning, la entrada. Next is the main dish, the plato fuerte. Mine was enchiladas, rice and beans with a small lettuce salad. The drink is included, always some type of agua fresca. Now, you might translate that as fresh water, but it’s actually not always easy to get a glass of plain water in these places. Agua fresca is fruit, sugar and water blended together. Think lemonade, but instead of lemons, it can be made with watermelon, agua de sandía. Or, guavas, agua de guayaba. A common one is agua de jamaica, made from hibiscus flowers. If you can think of a fruit, there’s probably an agua fresca for it.

So, you’ve had soup, a main dish and washed it all down with agua fresca. That was all she wrote for us, but some cocinas include a small dessert. Total cost: 90 pesos.

Below is the menu for this cocina económica and the different choices that must be made. Notice that they only open Monday – Friday, which is common. For the entrada, I also had the option of tomato soup. Not a fan. Under guisados, or main dishes, there were five choices, each one included rice and/or beans. Note that under precios, the first item is comida corrida. That is how this type of full-course meal is called in Mexico.

There is another cocina económica that we frequent, recommended by my mechanic, that specializes in pollo a la penca which is chicken that is slowly cooked under maguey cactus leaves.

The price for a comida corrida here is slightly higher. They list the five main dish choices first, then the guarniciones or sides. Two sides are included in the price. I ordered the specialty, pollo a la penca, with rice and steamed veggies. Mireya had the filete de pescado empapelado, which is fish and vegetables cooked in tin foil. It was all so tasty!

Once you find a good cocina económica, you’ll be a happy camper. ¡Provecho!

For those of you who consider vanilla ho-hum, consider the following.  Vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world, behind saffron (the liquid vanilla sold in supermarkets has little or no true extract).  It is harvested from the only species of orchid that produces edible fruit (out of 35,000 orchid species). And it took the European conquistadores nearly 300 years to figure out how to produce it!

The vanilla plant is a vine whose scientific name is even plain: Vanilla planifolia (all photographs ©Brian Overcast)

Vanilla’s history is fascinating, originating with the Totonac indigenous tribe around present-day Papantla, Mexico.  The Aztecs accepted vanilla as tribute from the Totonacs and used it in making cacahuatl, a chocolate drink reserved for the nobility (which also could contain chilies and pepper).  Legend has it that Montezuma II offered this drink to Hernan Cortes in 1519.

“Las que venden cacao hecho” (Those who sell cacao drink) in Historia General de las cosas de la Nueva España, L X Fo 69 by Bernardino de Sahagun, 16th century

After the conquest, the Spaniards took the plant back to Europe, but they couldn’t get it to produce vanilla pods.  They had forgotten the bee! It turns out that the black Melipona bee common to the Papantla area is tiny enough to crawl inside the flower and pollinate it.  The pollination piece of the vanilla puzzle wasn’t solved until 1836 by Charles Morren, a Belgian botanist. Five years later, an efficient method of hand pollination was developed, which is how vanilla is mass-produced today.

In the Pueblo Magico of Papantla, Veracruz, you can observe the original process where the vanilla pods are picked and then sun-dried.

If staring at vanilla pods gets boring, lift your sight to the voladores. Once I saw these “flyers” in action, I couldn’t take my eyes or my camera lens away from them.

I arrived in Papantla late afternoon and it felt more hot and humid than magical. I climbed up the stairs to the Plaza Pardo restaurant which overlooks the main plaza. Halfway through my meal, the sound of flutes began and a few minutes later, the famous voladores were atop the 30 meter pole near the cathedral. The magic had begun! During the next couple days, every time they would fly, I couldn’t help but stop what I was doing and stare.

Much could be written about the ceremony and its meaning. What struck me afterwards as I went through images captured by my camera was the serenity of the flyers. Perhaps that comes from repeating the ceremony several times a day for tourists. However, can you imagine the first Totonac flyers almost 1500 years ago? At that time, the ritual began by choosing the tree that would be used for the pole. No metal pole, no cement to hold it firm. Previous to flying, the voladores went through seven days of purification. Their attire was primarily comprised of feathers from birds. Climbing up that pole for the first time had to be a scary ordeal, knowing it could be their last.

This little town of Papantla has been recognized twice by the United Nations, yet neither recognition has anything to do with vanilla. Too plain, I guess.  El Tajín archaeological site was named a World Heritage site in 1992 and the ritual ceremony of the Voladores was named an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.

The iconic Pyramid of the Niches at Tajin has 365 recesses believed to symbolize the solar year and act as a calendar.

So, next time you are in an ice cream shop…well, this was going to be my ending. But I have recently discovered something vanilla that is scrumptious and that an expat reading this might appreciate: Kirkland (sorry) vanilla ice cream at Costco here in Morelia, and oh my, do I love vanilla once again!

If you had asked me a week ago if I liked the paintings of Edward Hopper, I would have replied, “Who’s he?” But that was before I started reading The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton.

Neither was I familiar with Mr. Botton or his book. I didn’t order it from Amazon or discover it in the wonderful English-lending library I frequent in Patzcuaro, Mexico. Rather, I was with my wife in a store near our home in Morelia that sells excess inventory from Target-yes, Target, USA (unlike Walmart, Office Depot, Costco, etc., there are no Target stores in Mexico). They have a beat-up book section where, for less than $1.50, I took a chance on The Art of Travel.

It is a delightful little book. Written by someone who cherishes travel, even its non-glamorous details: hotel rooms, airport layovers, quirky restaurants. Early in the book, he writes about aspects which most travelers just put up with while they imagine…

Read more

They played like never before and lost like always.

Mexico is out of the World Cup. So is the USA. And even though I was pessimistic at the beginning of the Cup (see my June 25th post here), both teams had me dreaming, especially Mexico.

My statement in that post was “if the US gets to the semifinals, it would be HUGE. If Mexico gets to the semifinals, EQUALLY MASSIVE! Winning everything is not even in the equation.” Sadly, I was right.

Soccer is a difficult sport for most Americans to wrap their heads around. There are few set plays. No time-outs. Before this World Cup with its “hydration breaks,” the coach could only talk to his players at halftime. It’s hard to put your finger on what dominant players do that makes them great. It’s magic. It’s Messi (see the highlights from Argentina‘s come-from-behind win over Egypt)!

Soccer sometimes feels a bit random. Like a lucky goal could get you a win. But somehow the cream always rises to the top …

Read more

The photo above of my TV screen says it all. “México no dormirá esta noche.” Mexico won’t sleep tonight. And to prove the point, a live image of Reforma Avenue in Mexico City with the Angel de la Independencia monument in the distance. Already there are more than 1 million people there celebrating in the light rain. Who knows how many more in the 21 other gathering areas the government has designated for the festivities? 15,000 total police will be patrolling these areas into the wee hours of dawn. Few countries know how to celebrate like Mexico.

The new catch phrase of this World Cup here is “¿Y Si Sí?” The direct translation is “And If Yes?” but the meaning of the phrase is “What if?” Mexico can’t win the World Cup, but what if? The next step to that …

Read more

Please do not tag me as unpatriotic for what I am going to say, but it is ridiculous to think that the US soccer team could win the World Cup, as defender Chris Richards was quoted following their victory over Australia. And as many US fans believe, primarily those who do not follow soccer.

I stand by what I wrote in last week’s post; if the US gets to the semifinals, it would be HUGE. If Mexico gets to the semifinals, EQUALLY MASSIVE!

But win it all? Not gonna happen. Sorry. Lo siento.

Players need to believe, I get it. But those European powerhouses in addition to Brazil and Argentina, they are really good.

Maybe I’ll be proven wrong, wouldn’t be the first time. For now, I’m enjoying the festive attitude here in Mexico, which hopefully will continue for another couple of weeks, in spite of the many analysts here who claim that Mexico was lucky to win 1-0, fortunate to win their group, and is going to get crushed in the second round of the knockout stage if they make it that far. Are the…

Read more

I became as nervous as the kids when we heard the radio announcer’s unbridled ¡GOOOOLLLLLLLLL!. Mexico 1, Germany 0. As happy as I was for the goal, my concern stemmed from the following calculation: the game would finish in an hour, we would arrive at the US Embassy in two hours. Yikes, will we even be able to get there?

You’re confused.

Here’s the deal, every major city in Mexico has a place where fans go after a major soccer triumph. In the most major city of Mexico City, that is the Angel de Independencia monument which is a block from the embassy. If Mexico were to defeat Germany, the most major celebration in recent history would clog up that part of the city …

Read more

Back then, there were 24 teams. This year, for the first time, there will be 48.

Back then, Germany was “West Germany,” and they lost to Argentina and Diego Maradona 3-2 in the final.

Back then, Mexico hosted the competition by itself. This year, it shares hosting responsibilities with Canada and the USA.

Classes in my state of Michoacan (as well as many others) have been cancelled on Thursday for the inaugural match between Mexico and South Africa. This will allow the teachers to travel to Mexico City to protest, a very real threat to the celebration that hosting a World Cup inauguration would normally be. Their mantra for many weeks has been, “Si no hay solución, no roda el balón.” If there is no solution, the ball will not roll.

Teacher’s union demands include an outrageous salary increase of 100%. They have been joined by groups from other social causes, such as the Madres Buscadoras, mothers whose children are missing. And groups that oppose the gentrification of certain Mexico City neighborhoods.

Back in 1986, using the World Cup to blackmail the government would have been considered almost unpatriotic. At that time, Mexico City was still recovering from the tragic earthquake of 1985. President Miguel de la Madrid was booed at the inauguration for the government’s lack of support for those affected. Yet preventing the competition from happening was not a possibility.

This year, even though the government of Claudia Sheinbaum has a much higher approval rating than that of the 1986 PRI, soccer is the one suffering from low approval ratings, especially among younger generations.

And the confidence in Mexico’s National Team is low.

Yet, I have a prediction for what will happen on Thursday at 1 pm when Mexico plays South Africa. The nation will come to a halt in front of televisions everywhere, even the protesters outside the stadium will be checking their phones. Everyone yearning to yell, “!GOOOOOOOOLLL!”

The goal of this post is to educate you on how to indicate with your hand how high something is in Mexico. The first time I saw this, I was completely flabbergasted. Because it’s different for a person than for a dog.

Height of a dog or anything else non-human, far left and middle. Height of a human, far right.

Yes, the hand gesture for a dog or a piece of furniture or anything that is not human is similar to the USA, although here they sometimes turn their hand sideways, which introduces a lack of precision into the measurement. There are other things that lack precision here, so it goes with the territory.

However, for a human, the hand gesture looks something like “I’m number one.” Sorry, but my wife didn’t want to pose. Basically, the top of your index finger indicates how tall the person is. …

Read more

The new version of myself (which took a good while to evolve) thinks like this: This person is just trying to help. Do they have an ulterior motive? Of course. Do they have another source of income? Definitely not. I let him load everything and gave him 25 pesos (around $1.50 USD), 20 more than if there wasn’t anything to load and he would have just “sale, sale, sale’d” me out of my parking spot.

The only thing missing from this photo is the ubiquitous parking attendant saying “sale, sale, sale” (backup, backup, backup), or “viene, viene, viene” (come, come, come) as you back out of the space. The norm is to roll down your window and drop some change in his hand before going on your way.

There are not many set guidelines for tipping in Mexico. What I suggest below is a combination of input from my Mexican wife and observing what others do. Note that I live in central Mexico, tipping in high-end places like Cancun may be different. If you think I’m a cheapskate (*codo), then, by all means, be more generous!

Restaurants used to be 10%, now are 10-20%, the higher percentage is for fine dining. Hotel bellboys 30-100 pesos. Taxi or Uber driver depends on the service given. Here in Morelia where taxis run from 80-120 pesos, I usually give a 10-20 peso tip. The person who bags your groceries (used to be a teenager but now is often an elderly person), 7-15 pesos.

Many tipping/giving opportunities present themselves while driving, which is why I always have a small container with change readily available.  I usually give 7-10 pesos to the gas station attendant, the parking attendant (el sale sale), the stoplight limpia parabrisas (windshield cleaner), the juggler, the fire blower, and a bit more to the poor mother with her two-year-old tied on with a reboso. I don’t spend much time anymore weighing the philosophical question of what they will do with the money, or what social trends I may be encouraging. This is their job, and most of the time they are making my life a little bit easier or enjoyable. 

Once I got over the “what-does-this-guy-want” attitude, tipping and giving small change became a way to contribute to the massive informal economy, a way to do my part.

*codo means elbow. If someone speaking of another person comments in Spanish that “le duele el codo,” (his elbow hurts), it means that the person they are referring to is a cheapskate. See video link for how this idiom came into being.

They came to be on a team. They left knowing English.

So many 20-40 year-olds I know have similar stories. Some are from wealthy families who could afford private English institutes. Many are from low-income families that we met through NOE. They all graduated high school, unlike over 70% of students in our state of Michoacan. Most went on to college, where a year at a public university costs less than $1,000 USD. Many who graduated college were hired by US companies to work in their field of study. Others, with fluency in English, make videos for US companies, answer emails in English or wor…

Read more

-common school rhyme in Mexico: the vowels and then “the donkey knows more than you.”

The vowel sounds in English make 16 distinct sounds. SIXTEEN!! We have diphthongs, long vowels, short vowels, etc.

“Why so many?” My students used to ask me? “To confuse foreigners,” I would reply.

Spanish has five. JUST FIVE! Learn them and you will be closer to pronouncing any Spanish word you see. Compared to the task facing those learning English, count yourself lucky.

Although, given that the schwa sound, that upside-down e (ə), is the most common vowel sound in English, it’s difficult for us to pronounce every single vowel. We are used to pronouncing the first one in a word and then uttering a guteral “uh” for the rest.

English speakers are also used to diphthongs, two vowels together that make one sound. Guess what? There is no such animal in Spanish. I was pronouncing the word maestro incorrectly for the longest time, saying mae- like my. Wrong! It is mah-ay, although Spanish speakers say it so fast, I had a hard time picking it up. Even when two vowels are together in Spanish, each vowel retains its sound.

Spanish vowels should be pronounced staccato-like, not too guttural. Putting a pencil in your mouth always helps. 

“a” sounds like “ah” (like when you visit the doctor and they use a tongue depressor). Like the a in “father,” but shorter. 

“e” sounds like ”ay” as in “pay” or “stay.” 

“i” sounds like “eeeh” as in “sea” or “feet.”

“o” sounds like “oh” as in, “oh, that salsa is hot!”

“u” sounds like the “u” in “clue.”

The rhyme at the beginning of the article is one commonly used in elementary schools across Mexico to teach children (although it is probably no longer politically correct). It is a fun way to practice the vowel sounds. And it allows me to share my favorite donkey photos. 😎

The Lotería (Mexican Bingo) table at a Kermesse in Morelia, Mexico.

You are invited to a Kermess (a fundraising carnival) in Mexico and wanting to contribute, you purchase a raffle ticket for a 40” flat screen television. When the raffle begins, a lively and loud Spanish speaker calls up a small girl to be the “mano santo” that will pick the winner.

She reaches in, picks a ticket, hands it to the MC and the number is flashed on the screen…your number! You’d never won anything in your life until this. You raise your hands and shout, “It’s me! It’s me!” To which the people around you respond, “Lo siento, a la otra.” Sorry, maybe next time. Ahh, Mexico, always full of surprises.

The MC keeps picking losing tickets until the tenth pick, and finally, the winner is revealed. The first pick in a raffle is seldom the winner in Mexico. Might be the third. Or the tenth. It may seem harsh, but once you know it will be handled this way, it is a lot of fun!

Subscribe now

Read more

So begins chapter 8 of Harriet Doerr’s “Stones for Ibarra.”

Although nowadays the walk may be only from our breakfast table to a computer screen, the struggles of Sara to learn Spanish in 1963 are similar to ours in 2026.

I’m not much of a short story reader, so it took me a bit to warm up to “Stones for Ibarra” which was originally a collection of short stories. Yet any tome that has won the National Book Award is worth the …

Read more

Mireya and I have had the IMSS (Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social) benefit through her work as a salaried employee for many years. It includes a public housing benefit, retirement, and medical coverage. 1 This year has been the first that we’ve used the medical part. We have been blessed with good health and paid out of pocket for minor issues. As I’ve mentioned before, medical expenses run around 10% of what similar procedures would cost in the US (see the end of the article for more details), so paying out of pocket is quite common.

Dr. Saul was an English student of mine who is now a radiologist. This image from his website gives you an idea of the advanced medical imagery available in Mexico for a fraction of what it would cost in the US.

Although I am still in good health, …

Read more

It was Easter Break and more train tickets had been sold than seats available.

April, 1986. Mireya and I had been apart for four months (me in Tucson, she in Mazatlan), our fairly new relationship entirely dependent on the Mexican postal system.

From the moment I told her I wanted to visit, her primary concern was “How do I tell my dad that I dated a gringo when I was in the US?” Spoiler: her dad already knew, but waited for her to work up the courage to tell him.

The malecon of Mazatlan at twilight, 2014.

Read more

I first visited this historic mining city on my honeymoon. Wed in Mireya’s hometown of Mazatlan on the Pacific coast, we drove to Guanajuato for a three-night stay. We visited the Mummy Museum and were told, like she had learned in school, that the bodies were naturally mummified due to the region’s highly mineralized soil.

This oft-repeated, erroneous view was also given by Tony Cohan in his book Mexican Days (which I nonetheless recommend):

“Some find visiting these desiccated relics a ghoulish experience; others take them in with necrophilic glee. A mineral peculiarity of the soil in the cemetery nearby confers the dubious fate of physical immortality on local corpses whose descendants haven’t kept up payment on grave plots.”

(Even Word didn’t recognize “necrophilic,” so I felt less guilty for having to look it up: an attraction towards corpses)

A couple of weeks ago, Mireya and I arrived at the Muse…

Read more

At 10:30 AM on Sunday morning, February 22nd, a neighbor called my wife warning her of highway closures. Burning vehicles. “El Mencho,” head of the most powerful cartel in Mexico CJNG (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación), had been shot down by the government in the state of Jalisco, the state we were in. A tour we were leading was just leaving Guanajuato, heading north to Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco. After consulting with our driver, we decided to take an alternate route. We relayed our thinking to the four American ladies on the tour, to which they replied, “let’s go!” I watched on Google Maps as the highway closures moved north from Guadalajara. Fortunately, our trip to the Hacienda Sepulveda was without incident, and the ladies spent the next two days telling concerned friends and families not to worry, they were in one of the most peaceful places on planet Earth.

48 hours later, we picked them up and drove to San Miguel de Allende for two nights, then spent a surreal day at the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacan. In all of these travels, we saw nothing concerning. Hmm, I guess all of Mexico wasn’t really “on fire” after all!

The cooing of a morning dove, stripped of the white noise of the city, is the only sound I hear. I am sitting on a bench outside of Hacienda Sepulveda watching the sunrise. It would not surprise me to see the head honcho (hacendado) from years gone arrive at this moment, ride his horse into the house through the extra-tall wooden door, and hang his hat on one of the bullhorns adorning the entrance.

All of this was easy to imagine after a tour of the grounds years ago by Santiago Serrano, fourth generation of the family who rescued the glory of this property. “Your room is called El Pajar because it was above the horse stables, they used to store the hay there.” Fortunately, the hay has been removed and in its place is a luxury hotel room.

Subscribe now

As a hotel, Sepulveda works just as well as a romantic getaway for a couple as for a family reunion with kids included. Activities range from riding horses to fishing or paddleboarding in the large pond.  Although the surrounding landscape is arid, once inside the hacienda, the sound of running water can be heard almost anywhere. One can enjoy a dip in the cool pool, a warm outdoor Jacuzzi or, in the case of my room El Pajar, a hot tub under the stars. 

Hacienda Sepulveda is connected to the unique history of the Altos de Jalisco, an important part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.  The nearby town of Lagos de Moreno was founded in 1563 as a strategic settlement to protect the route that connected the mines of Zacatecas with the agricultural region known as the Bajío.  It boasts one of the largest concentrations of civil and religious buildings from the 18^th and 19^th centuries and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.