The outskirts of the neiboring city of Oaxaca shelter this famed colonial gem, renowned throughout Mexico for it's high degree of cultural preservation.
It´s spacious rooms and suites recreate the genteel hacienda atmosphere, with terraces, patio and private gardens overlooking the nearby Oaxaca valley and Sierra Juárez mountains.
Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles is the only 5 star hotel in the state of Oaxaca to have also carried 4 Diamonds from AAA. As such, it's Spa, traditional Temazcal, Oaxacan cooking classes, pool, jacuzzi suites, library, restaurant, bar and concierge are of outstanding quality, second to none.
And don't forget to poke around the grounds of this hotel-hacienda, discovering the majestic laureles from which it takes it`s name, along with intimate gardens that make for an ideal place of refuge after exploring the streets of the bustling city of Oaxaca.
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OAXACA, Mexico (AP) -- Poinsettias carpet the carefully tended gardens of Oaxaca's arch-ringed main plaza, where smoking wreckage and barricades stood just over a year ago. Local bands and marimbas have replaced the sound of explosions, and the smell of gasoline bombs and tear gas have given way to the scent of coffee and mole sauce, two of Oaxaca's specialties.
More than a year after police evicted protesters who held the city for months, visitors to Oaxaca will find a less crowded city with more local flavor than it had before the 2006 political uprising. There are fewer tourists, more open tables at restaurants ringing the square, and a new program that closes off the streets around the main plaza to create a pedestrian mall on the weekends.
"It is really pretty. It has changed so much," said Alfredo Santiago, a businessman on vacation from a Mexico City suburb who was hanging out with his son, listening to music in the flower bedecked main square in early January. "The truth is, we wouldn't have come last year, because of the problems, but now you can even bring kids, the family."
Like many Mexicans, Santiago was horrified by television images of burning buses and violent clashes with police in the streets of Oaxaca, founded in 1529. The city's massive green stone buildings and graceful archways are considered the archetype of a Mexican colonial-era city, drawing tourists from around the world, so seeing buildings burned or trashed came as a shock.
"It felt bad. It was like watching Oaxaca die," Santiago recalled. "We thought, why go to Oaxaca? It looks like Iraq."
While Oaxaca state -- whose capital city goes by the same name -- has everything from archaeological sites, beaches and forests to cloud-shrouded mountains, it suffered from the violent images, even though the protests were largely confined to the city. But now, foreign tourists are heading back.
Jim May, 60, a professional storyteller from Harvard, Illinois, was on his second trip back to Oaxaca since the disturbances -- his fifth or sixth trip to Oaxaca overall.
"I think that what I would tell people is that it's safe," said May. "There is some volatility in the political situation, but there is everywhere in the world."
Some travelers are even attracted by the city's still-lively political scene.
"That's why I came down here. I want to hear more about it," said Mike Dallas, 43, who teaches life skills in New York City. "I am fascinated by the fact that Mexicans would actually feel empowered enough to take over their town."
At the same time, Oaxaca "seems safer than anywhere I've been in America. I keep looking around for the security cameras ... but there aren't any," Dallas said, as he did what tourists have been doing in Oaxaca for decades -- relaxed at a cafe in the main square.
From May to November 2006, a coalition of striking teachers and leftist supporters blockaded the city to demand the resignation of the state governor, driving out tourists and paralyzing traffic, commerce and tourism.
The political divisions remain, but the violence has died out, at least for now. Most of the graffiti and damage has since been removed or repaired. The striking teachers got some of the pay raises they demanded, but their leftist allies got little: about a half-dozen protest leaders remained jailed, Gov. Ulises Ruiz remains in office, and little progress has been made in investigating the case of Brad Will, a New York journalist-activist shot to death during the uprising.
The artisans who made Oaxaca famous for black pottery, hand-woven carpets and the surreal painted wooden sculptures known as "alebrijes" are eager to greet returning visitors with their wares.
Isidor Chavez Hernandez, 36, still turns out hand-woven wool rugs on his loom in the town of Teotitlan del Valle, 17 miles east of Oaxaca city, just as his grandparents did. But he used to sell as many as six rugs per week -- now he sells about two per month.
"Business practically died off for eight months," Chavez Hernandez said as he threaded strands of naturally-colored wool into a complex pattern that might take weeks to finish. "We looked for other places to sell, some families left (for the United States), and some people did more farming."
While the protests were mostly limited to Oaxaca city, tourists largely avoided the entire state of Oaxaca, rich with archaeological ruins and quiet beaches. Tourists are returning throughout the region, and rediscovering once popular sites.
Just outside the city along the road to Teotitlan, visitors will find the Zapotec and Mixtec ruins of Mitla and Yagul, and just a bit further on is Hierve el Agua, a kind of giant outdoor stalagmite in the form of a frozen waterfall.
In fact, archaeological sites and artisan towns practically surround Oaxaca city in every direction: the ruins of Zaachila -
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- and San Bartolo Coyotepec -- known for its black pottery -- lie to the south; the hilltop temples of Monte Alban and Arrazola, known for its woodcarvings, are to the west. Hiking and mountain biking tours through these towns and sites are also available.
And to the south, a few hours' drive away, are the Pacific coast beaches of Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel and Zipolite.
Perhaps the biggest change has been for local residents. For them, downtown Oaxaca has once again become what it was for generations: a meeting place, a site to relax, chat and watch life go by.
"Before the problems started, we would do what we're doing right now, which is to come to the main square on weekends," said Hector Chavez, 45, a Oaxaca construction worker, as he listened to a free concert in the plaza. "Now, the peaceful atmosphere has returned, but the tourism and the job situation haven't yet recovered."
That means visitors are more likely to meet local residents than other tourists in the square. But one thing they are less likely to find are the street vendors who had long carved out their own space on one side of the plaza. Except for a few balloon vendors, the vendors are no longer allowed.
That has drawn complaints from some tourists, who now find the plaza a bit antiseptic. It also has drawn the ire of the vendors themselves -- precisely the kind of social tension that keeps Oaxaca's political pot bubbling.
"A lot of the vendors in the downtown historical district have approached us, looking for our help," said Florentino Lopez, the spokesman for the group that organized the 2006 protests. "We are reorganizing, and preparing for new demonstrations. For us, the political movement in Oaxaca continues."
If you go to Oaxaca
Getting there:
Continental flies direct from Houston, Texas, to Oaxaca, or visitors can fly into Mexico City and get one of the frequent connecting flights to Oaxaca.
Getting around:
Bicycle tours and local bus routes will take you to nearby towns. Some local restaurants and hotels offer day-trip package tours stopping at several towns or ruin sites, and first-class bus service to Mexico City and area beaches are available at a station near the city's center, Calzada Heroes de Chapultepec 1036. For bicycle tours near Oaxaca City, try Bicicletas Pedro Martinez, 011-52-951-514-5935.
Information:
Oaxaca state tourism office: 011-52-951-516-0123 and 951-502-1200. The state's tourism Internet site -- http://www.oaxaca.travel/ -- is only in Spanish.
Food:
Oaxaca is perhaps the food capital of Mexico, with native dishes ranging from fried grasshoppers to the state's famous string cheese. The most sought-after products are mescal, a cousin of tequila, and locally-grown but somewhat crudely processed chocolate. Two must-try meals: tlayudas -- huge corn tortillas covered with a variety of toppings -- and Oaxacan tamales.
What to wear:
Weather in Oaxaca is generally quite warm -- especially on the coast -- but in the city, a light sweater or windbreaker could come in useful after the sun sets. At higher altitudes, a light jacket is often needed.
When to go:
Oaxaca's hallmark folk festival, the Guelaguetza, is held in the second half of July.
Other attractions:
Oaxaca has archaeological sites, nature reserves, and Pacific coast beaches such as Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, Zipolite and Puerto Angel.
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General information about Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles - Spa
Cooler, breezier San Felipe village, in the foothills north of Oaxaca, town has recently become home to a number of restful luxury lodgings.
Hotel Hacienda los Laureles-SPA (Hidalgo #21 San Felipe del Agua tel/fax 5015301) manager@hotelhaciendaloslaureles.com or bookings@hotelhaciendaloslaureles.com, or reserve through bookings agent Mexico Boutique Hotels toll-free US - tel 018007289098 www.mexicoboutiquehotels.com) is the labor of love of German expatriate owner-managers Ligia and Peter Kaiser. After a career of managing hotels in Europe, Africa and the United States, Peter and Ligia decided to create their version of heaven in Oaxaca. During the late 1990's they rebuilt a traditional mexican hacienda, tenaciously preserving its rustic old-world essence, while installing the best of the new. Now, Hotel Hacienda Los Laurele´s centerpiece is it's lush interior hacienda garden of large tropical trees and climbing vines that at night are transformed in shadowed lighting with serenades of crickets and tree frogs.
The Hacienda´s 25 rooms, which all open onto this precious scene, are decorated with elegant simplicity, with high ceilings, beautiful floor tiles, and hand-made mahogany furniture. The bathrooms are luxurious and comfortable. Room rates run from about $260 US for deluxe rooms and $290 US for superior deluxe rooms. Suites for 3 – 6 or more people are also available. All rooms and suites come with air-conditioning, cable TV, pool with whirlpool tub, and an excellent terrace restaurant. Temazcal and SPA services are also available at extra cost.
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All quiet on the Oaxaca front - too quiet
Visitors to the Mexican jewel are so few that they are welcomed with open arms, says Fiona Dunlop.
If there's a right moment to go anywhere it is now, to Oaxaca, in the cacti-studded sierra of southern Mexico. Mexican attractions, like Monte Alban, are lacking visitors this year This colonial jewel has long been a firm favorite on the tourist trail but is now virtually deserted - an unjustified hangover from several months of turbulent demonstrations and confrontations that occurred last year.
Teachers' unions kicked off the demonstrations and occupation of the town centre in June, but once more radical elements had joined the action, violence escalated. Life, business and tourism came to a standstill, ended only when the newly sworn-in President Calderon sent in the troops in December 2006.
And since then? Nothing, or rather an incredibly slow trickle of tourists, far from the tens of thousands who normally revel in Oaxaca's cultural offerings, from the stupendous Zapotec site of Monte Alban to village crafts, jewellery shops, indigenous-baroque churches and the mesmerizing stage-set that is the leafy main square and its arcades of bars and restaurants. Not to mention the weather.
"My clientele has dropped by 90 per cent," says top chef Alejandro Ruiz looking around the town's best restaurant, Casa Oaxaca, where only a handful of tables are occupied. Normally it would be full and I'd have a queue for bookings."
This state of affairs is reiterated by Peter Kaiser, owner of the boutique hotel Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA, high on a hill overlooking the town. "We're all having a struggle - the Americans are too frightened to come. But we still have to pay our staff and keep the place running." Yet the repainted town looks immaculate as local Zapotecs lay out their wares in the shade of jacaranda trees blossoming purple and the bells of Santo Domingo toll. If there is a reason to go now it is to support everyone, from top to bottom, who is so utterly dependent on tourism in a state that has become Mexico's poorest.
Basics Last Frontiers (01296 653000; www.lastfrontiers.com) offers a 15-day tour of Mexico with three nights at Casa Oaxaca, or Hacienda los Laureles colonial hotel, in Oaxaca. cooking classes, spa service & tours visit wwww.hotelhaciendalosloslaureles.com.
The tailor-made trip also includes time in Merida, Chichen-Itza, Isla Holbox and the Riviera Maya and costs from £3,585 per person, on a b&b basis until the end of June, to include return flight with BA, transfers and car hire for seven days. For other operators offering Oaxaca, visit the Latin American Travel Association.
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Peter Kaiser opened a fresh bottle of mescal, poured us each a shot and pushed mine toward me. Mescal has been called tequila with a worm in the bottle
BY JIM BUDD/The Herald Mexico
El Universal
Domingo 29 de abril de 2007
Peter Kaiser opened a fresh bottle of mescal, poured us each a shot and pushed mine toward me. Mescal has been called tequila with a worm in the bottle. That is not quite accurate.
"You´ll find out why when you try this," Kaiser said. "Distilled three times. It´s really smooth."
Kaiser is a trim, handsome German who must be pushing 70. A professional hotel manager, a few years ago he opened his own boutique hotel on the outskirts of Oaxaca City. "After a lifetime of running other people´s inns, I thought it was time I got one of my own," he told me. Last year was quite a trial for the man, but he prefers to forget about that, look toward the future and rave about mescal.
Tequila is a form of mescal, Kaiser went on to explain, just as cognac is a form of brandy. By law, tequila must be made from blue agave grown in Jalisco or one of its neighboring states.
Tequila has enjoyed an enormous popularity in recent years. The way I see it, now prosperous individuals who have fond memories of tequila from their college days are sipping it again. They have been buying more expensive brands that simply did not exist a few years ago. These are the same people who started out in Fairfield Inns but now book rooms at a JW Marriott.
"Mescal is where the future is," Kaiser declared. He already had half a dozen bottles on the table and we had been taking sips of each. He poured our shots sparingly. "It packs a wallop." No "vallop." Kaiser has mastered American English, although he speaks it with a Henry Kissenger growl. Labels said 76 proof.
"To begin with," Kaiser said, "mescal is handmade."
That might not be quite an accurate description. But, as I was to find out, mescal, unlike tequila, is not mass produced. It is Oaxaca´s answer to mountain dew, made at home with loving care.
Oaxaca state, that is. The state is a bit larger than Belgium and the Netherlands combined. Out toward Mitla and beyond is where most Mescal is produced. Mitla is famous for its pre-Columbian ruins. Most tours stop at a mescal distillery on the way back into the city.
"My idea is to organize mescal tours and take people to several distilleries, show people what most tourists never see," Kaiser said. "It would be like Napa Valley or the wine country in France."
There are subtle differences in mescal, differences connoisseurs will want to learn about, he believes.
Like tequila, mescal is made from agave, a squat vegetable with broad, sword-like leaves that grows in arid areas and sometimes is referred to as the century plant. Actually, it does not wait a century to bloom, but shoots forth a flowered stalk when it reaches maturity after about 10 years. Mescal distillers harvest it just before full maturity, hacking off the leaves and digging up the core (the piña) from the ground.
These agave cores are carefully baked in a circular pit dug in the earth. This takes two or three days. The cooked cores, once cool, are crushed by a millstone often drawn by a donkey.
"That´s what I mean by handmade," Kaiser explained.
There are at least half a dozen types of agave from which mescal juice is extracted. Purists can spend an evening debating the merits of espadín compared to tobala, but I am not one to join in. I cannot tell a burgundy from Bordeaux. And it might be argued the distilling makes all the difference.
Distilling was introduced by the Spanish. Before the arrival of the conquistadors, the juice was simply fermented into pulque, which to me is a noxious form of beer. Fermentation still takes place, traditionally in huge wooden vats, but now the pulque is poured into 25-gallon ceramic pots and distilled.
Then it may be distilled again, and sometimes even a third time. Some of it is then aged for as much as six months. This is where globalization comes in.
"White mescal is what people drink here," Kaiser said. "It is fire water for machos. Matured mescal costs twice as much, maybe a dollar a bottle in a village. At my age, I prefer aged mescal, which is placed in oak barrels for about six months. It is not really as authentic, but it can be much smoother."
The worm, I learned, is optional. Experts say it imparts a subtle flavor. The worm, actually a butterfly larvae that grows from eggs laid in agave plants, sometimes is served as a condiment along with mescal. "It´s like peanuts," Kaiser said. "Here people eat grasshoppers. You´ll get used to it."
I never did, although the next day we visited several distilleries in several frankly grubby hamlets. Sanitation appeared not to be a priority, although, I suppose, triple distillation takes care of any bugs. All I remember about that was being told that when shopping I should ask for "single village" mescal. "It´s like single malt whiskey, but better," Kaiser told me. "When it comes from a single village, you know it was not adulterated."
Jimmbudd1@aol.com
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How to spend it . . . on a Temazcal bath by Sue Style.
Travelling in Mexico is a test at the best of times. At the worst of times, baggage goes walkabout, taxi drivers take one look at you and double the number they first thought of, internal flights are overbooked by rather more than the usual factor, surging voltages explode your laptop and - if you´re really unlucky - Moctezuma wreaks his time-honoured revenge. Help is at hand. After you´ve finished with Mexico City (or more likely vice-versa), head for the beautiful, UNESCO- protected city of Oaxaca and flop down at the HACIENDA LOS LAURELES-SPA IN OAXACA high above the city. Here you can take a temazcal, the traditional steam bath that has been used by Mexico´s many indigenous groups for centuries.
Before "receiving" the bath (I learn´t that you don´t "take" or "do" a temazcal, you "receive" it), both body and mind have to be prepared. You must abstain from absolutely everything - no solids or booze for at least four hours beforehand, and a clean break from smoking for a least five. Juice from a single fruit is permitted, bananas and milk specifically outlawed. You can also have a massage, either before or after the temazcal.
Most temazcal practicioners are women, and most recipients are also female. At Los Laureles-SPA the temazcalero is a man, Ignacio Hernández Alcantara, who describes himself as a "natural, traditional healer". He asked delicately if I would prefer his wife to do the massage, then suggested a compromise: they would share the task.
He disapeared and then re-emerged dressed in loose fitting white trousers, with an embroidered red sash aroud his waist. He began at my head, she started at my feet and they met somewhere in the middle. They pummelled, pinched, stretched and kneaded energetically, saying not a word, neither to me nor to each other. The healer´s hands hovered, circled, fluttered, then pounced on offending centers of tension. All the while he chanted gently and soothingly. Whenever he found a particularly knotty problem, he let out an extraordinary noise somewhere between a beautifully orchestrated belch and a deep throated roar, guaranteed to spook unwary pressure points.
The healer disapeared to stoke the fires in the temazcal, housed in a tiny brick and adobe hut in the garden, with instructions to join him when I was ready. Meanwhile he had exchanged his baggy trousers for a dazzling pair of Y-fronts and the embroidered sash was now around his head. He carried a selection of musical instraments, kept the drums and other stuff for himself and handed me some maracas. "The temazcal is going to help unblock all that creativity, get rid of the stresses in your life", he announced stearnly, instructing me to shake the maracas, holler my head off, move my body, copy him or do my thing. He motioned me to go in. It was intensely dark and the heat was suffocating.
He began to chant again, this time more insistently. I did as bidden, and shook, rattled, rolled and yelled as if my life depended on it. He dumped something deliciously aromatic on the fire, sending up a great gust of steam that practically winded me. " Breathe through your mouth", he advised. The next thing I knew, he tipped a bucket of cold water over my head. I gasped, hiccuped, wiped my eyes, tried to catch my breath. More heat, more icy cold dunkings, accompanied by more chants and prayers, in what came across as a curious but compelling blend of shamanistic and traditional Christian themes. "Is there something you wish for". "Health", I ventured, adding (for good measure) peace, happiness - "but especially health".
I emerged, blinking into the bright sunlight. My fellow traveller, seated beside the pool not far from the temazcal, observed me with interest over the top of his paper. "Good bath?", he enquired smoothly. "The best", I replied. "Yeah, it sounded like you were enjoying yourself."
Luis Miguel enjoys the exclusive services of Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles - Spa.
"Luis Miguel was fascinated by the mountain views and the beautiful gardens."
During a brief visit of four days to Oaxaca, Mexico, the singer Luis Miguel chose Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA as the place to stay for himself and his family and friends. Fascinated by the view of the Oaxaca mountains and the beautiful hotel gardens, he showed a great friendliness to all who had the opportunity to enjoy his presence. Ms. Yanette Carlos Ricárdez, the hotel receptionist, served as guide for Luis Miguel during a visit to her birthplace, Ocotlán de Morelos, where the singer visited the Rodolfo Morales Foundation.
As well as the Rodolfo Morales Foundation, Luis Miguel also visited Rodolfo Morales' house, where he admired the late painters work, also a visit to the Santo Domingo Convent, which is now a museum that is located next to the Santo Domingo de Guzmán church in the Historic Center of Oaxaca. The singer returned to the hotel in the afternoon to enjoy some exquisite regional dishes prepared by the Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA Chef, Horacio Reyes. Luis Miguel was very satisfied with the quality of service of Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA and left with lovely memories of the hotel and all the the people he got to know during his visit.
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"The Five Star hotel in the City of Oaxaca, Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA, now forms part of the prestigious group Mexico Boutique Hotels. Mexico Boutique Hotels is a collection of hotels that have qualified as "Boutique" for their intimate size and personal service."
"Membership of this group is by invitation only, after a rigorous examination of the services that a hotel offers. The title of "Boutique" is significant of good taste, from the decoration details of the hotel to the quality of the dining."
"Mexico Boutique Hotels are small, most have less than fifty rooms, which guarantees an attention and service of very high quality."
"John Youden, the General Director of the group and his wife, Florencia Youden, have shared the experience of the great hospitality that Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA offers, and have given to Peter and Ligia Kaiser the award trophy that signifies Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA is now part of this select group of hotels."
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"Services to ensure a pleasurable stay"
"Hacienda Los Laureles - Spa is located in Oaxaca, a typically Mexican area that is situated in the north of Oaxaca city and just 10 minutes from the historic center. The name San Felipe del Agua comes from the colonial aqueduct that supplied water to the city for many years, the ruins of which can still be seen today."
"The Hacienda, surrounded by traditional Mexican communities that give it an almost provincial feel, has 25 rooms that are decorated in mexican style. Gardens and the shade of old trees and cypresses surround the hacienda. The restaurant and bar "The Cypresses" serves food in an informal atmosphere on the terrace or if you prefer, there is a reserved area that reproduces the atmosphere of a typical hacienda. The hotels chef and his numerous kitchen staff prepare Mexican and international food as well as traditional Oaxacan fare."
"In addition, the hotel offers it´s guests a gym, running track, temascal (bath house), massages, etc., among other services to ensure a pleasurable stay at the Hacienda Los Laureles - Spa."
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"Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA is to be found in the capital of the historical state of Oaxaca, only 20 minutes from the airport and 10 minutes from the center of the city.
The hotel is situated in Oaxaca. Oaxaca is a city declared the cultural center for the humanities by UNESCO. This Business and Spa Hotel
offers it´s visitors 25 rooms and suites surrounded by gardens. All have areas for work and rest, a jacuzzi, a terrace and private garden with a view overlooking the main garden and towards the mountains of Oaxaca.
There are eight deluxe rooms, eight Superior rooms, three junior suites, four master suites and the large presidential suite. All of the rooms have a work area with special contacts to connect a computer or cellphone.
The rooms are decorated with tastefully chosen furniture and include a hair dryer, face mirrors, ceiling fans, security boxes, satellite television, mini bar, security locks and direct access for national and international telephone calls.
Restaurant and bar are available to guests where traditional Mexican and international food are served along with a special emphasis on the traditional Oaxacan food. additionally, room service is available from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.
Breakfast is served in the restaurant and bar "The Cypresses", lunch and dinner are served in the informal atmosphere of the external garden with a typical hacienda atmosphere.
The dining room and the special dining table, with cantera base and glass top surface have been placed especially for private dining for up to 24 diners. The meeting room, on the floor above, has a capacity for up to 100 people.
The hotel has a pool with jacuzzi, quarter of a kilometer jogging track, gymnasium, massage room and temazcal. It is also possible to ride horses or bicycles on the mountain tracks of Oaxaca, as a part of the ecological tours as well as visits to the Zapotec centers of Monte Albán and Mitla.
Other services offered by Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA are free coffee in your room from 7:30 until 9:00 a.m., local newspaper, business center and library, car rental (hertz), money exchange, medical service, laundry and dry cleaning, private parking and baby sitting service.
The hotel is available to organise social or work events. The Maestro Morales and Vista San Felipe rooms have the capacity to host a large number of guests.
It is also worth mentioning that the Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA offers psycotherapuetic temazcal. This service is provided by Ignacio Hernández Alcántara. Temazcal is a traditional indigenous steam bath that detoxifies the body.
Other physical benefits of the temazcal system are skin purification, bettering of the nervious system, elimination of stress, better blood circulation, strengthening immunity and giving new life to the posture of the body.
For more information about this beautiful hotel or to make reservations call: (01-951) 501-5300.
"Previously a family hacienda, this beautiful house and property have been renovated and converted into an elegant hotel with colonial architecture, cedar beams, an arcade of white columns and a sculptured garden."
"Los Cypresses, the hotel's restaurant, is equally elegant. Perched on a hill overlooking the valley, the mountains look like they are within arm's reach. .... The view is of a large central garden with a manicured lawn, old trees and a bubbling fountain. The soft music doesn't intrude into conversation."
" ... three different dining areas: a more formal inside room, a glass enclosed porch, and an outdoor terrace ..."
"The ... menu ... contains a broad selection of international cuisine and a special vegetarian menu."
"On a recent visit the ceviche de la casa, with onion, avocado, tomato and cilantro was outstanding. Equally satisfying was an entree of filete de mero portofino, fresh fish smothered with small shrimp and cooked perfectly in aluminum foil with a tasty light cream sauce."
"For dessert, the delicious flan was large in portion and the right texture. Also recommended is the manzana hojaldre al chantilly, apple in a puff pastry that tasted like a fancy version of the great apple turnovers grandma used to make."
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One year, or more, in Oaxaca by Jim Budd
There in the land of Benito Juárez and Porfirio Díaz, Peter Kaiser has come back to open his own hotel, The Hotel Hacienda los Laureles. He invited me to see the hotel, so I went, expecting to hear tales of his misadventures, something like the story described by an English person in "A year in Provence". The author, Peter Mayle, found the customs of the south of France very different to what he had known in London.
But here we find this completely satisfied German in Oaxaca. I understand him, drinking the best makes of Mezcal, while contemplating his patio, garden and the laurels that gave the name to the hotel. When night fell, he excused himself to light some lamps near in the trees in the garden. "Sometimes the boys forget," he explained. "I suppose this is the problem when one owns a hotel, it is hard work. Sometimes I have to go the kitchen to cook, sometimes I have to wash the plates if an employee doesn´t show up, but at least I am cooking and washing in my own place."
After spending 40 years administrating hotels for other people, Peter and his Mexican wife, Ligia (whom he married in the Bahamas, where both were employees), decided that it was time to work for themselves.
They had administrated the ex-Convent of Santa Catalina when it was a presidential hotel, Peter Kaiser felt tempted towards Oaxaca, but first decided to explore the rest of the country.
"We drove all the highways, from Alamos to Zacatecas, but we decided that there was really no place like Oaxaca," he said.
The decision was attributed to the climate and the people, and also the strong friendships gained by the couple in Oaxaca. The state tourism director gave them work while Peter looked for the right place to set up his hotel business, the right place took 3 years to find.
The place that he found was an old hacienda in Oaxaca, a village now converted into a beautiful suburb, and not for this less elegant, the hacienda is about five kilometers from the center of town and was constructed a century ago, the place needed alot of work. Water pipes and drainage systems had to be built, electrical cabling placed, also cabling for telephones and television, and the old rooms had to be renovated into guest rooms, 24 rooms in total.
Because he had administrated hotels on three continents, Peter Kaiser knew exactly what the guests would want. Good lighting, to start with. There are no dark corners in the Hotel Hacienda Los Laureles-SPA. Beautiful curtains and carpets; The bathroom accessories are elegant. The door locks are electronic, with plastic cards to turn the electric on in the rooms. On the ecological side, he recicles water to irrigate the garden.
The challenge now is to survive. Oaxaca is where the painter Francisco Toledo fought his battle against the decay of the Centro Histórico, this same center is now turning into one of the most cosmopolitan of Mexican cities and one of the most intellectually stimulating. Tourists arrive from the rest of the country, from the USA and from Europe, and they don´t want to leave. In the city there are probably more hotels like us,
a dozen, or more, hotels like the Hacienda los Laureles. However Peter thinks it is marvelous to be near to the mountains.
It´s the restaurant that now makes the money. There is a certain irony in this, the restaurant is the most difficult part of hotel operations. "If there are going to be complaints, they will be with the food and the service of the restaurant," he said.
The restaurant has a reputation for where the rich and powerful reunite to breakfast and where their ladies (oaxaca is a traditional city) meet in the afternoon to eat some cake, coffee or maybe something a little stronger. These clients adore the place and recommend it to their friends from outside of the city.
All has gone well in Oaxaca. Peter Kaiser has not written a new version of the work of Herman Wouk "Don´t stop the carnival," which tells the problematic tale of the when a newyorker opened a hotel in the Caribbean. On the contrary, here in Oaxaca there have been no problems."
Contact with Peter Kaiser can be made with the following e-mail address: manager@hotelhaciendaloslaureles.com.
Please send your comments about this article to: Fax 5605 9881 or to jimmbudd1@aol.com
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