San Miguel makes a good base for exploring central Guanajuato, which I do the next day in a car arranged by the hotel. Our first stop is El Santuario de Atotonilco, a Baroque, sun-bleached church about 14 kilometers out of town whose remarkable 18th-century frescoes have earned it a billing as “the Sistine Chapel of the Americas.” Its doors, alas, are locked, so after a quick look at the rope whips and crowns of thorns that a stall across the street hawks to visiting penitents, we move on.
An hour’s drive to the west takes us past corn and bean fields and into the rocky foothills of the Sierra Madre, where we pull up at the visitors’ center for Cañada de La Virgen, a pre-Columbian archeological site located smack in the middle of a vast cattle ranch. To get to the site itself, we have to board a small bus for the ride across the private property, then walk 15 minutes up a stony path under the baleful gaze of a circling turkey vulture. But the main attraction here, a terraced Mesoamerican pyramid built around 500 B.C., is worth the effort, especially when I learn that ruins only opened to the public a couple of years ago.
I’m back at the Rosewood by dusk, just in time to sample the goods at the hotel’s tequila bar, a clubby space stocked with more than 140 labels of tequila and mezcal. The tasting highlights four grades of tequila, in ascending order of smoothness: blanco, reposado, añejo, and extra añejo. Añejo means “aged,” and it makes for a mellow tipple. But on top of the wine I have with my dinner, it also makes packing that night for my early-morning run to the airport a challenge—a task made harder still by the prospect of having to tear myself away from the corazón de México.
The Details
GETTING THERE
Korean Air flies to Dallas-Fort Worth daily from Seoul; in June, American Airlines will begin to fly there from Hong Kong. Several carriers connect León’s Guanajuato International Airport with Dallas and other U.S. cities, including American Eagle Airlines.
WHERE TO STAY
The 67 rooms and suites at the Rosewood San Miguel de Allende (11 Nemesio Diez; 52-415/152-9700; doubles from US$470) are appointed with tzalam-wood floors, Oaxacan rugs, and French doors that open onto a balcony or terrace; most have fireplaces.
In Dallas, the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek (2821 Turtle Creek Blvd.; 1-214/559-2100; doubles from US$400) underwent an extensive renovation in 2010, adding a dose of contemporary style to its traditional elegance. The superb Mansion Restaurant showcases chef Bruno Davaillon’s contemporary American cuisine with a French twist.
This article originally appeared in the February/March 2014 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Down Mexico Way”).
