Hacienda Las Moras

The transition from sunny, warm, Mazatlan to cool, cloudy, Beaverton was not as bad as I expected. After a day or two of walking from window to window trying to get some light in my brain and dressing myself in flannel and shawls I'm back to normal. It's good to be with my stuff. (even though at my advanced age I have way too much stuff) Our trip to the hacienda which occurred on Nov 10th was so fabulous I had to write about it even though it was a couple weeks ago.

We set off about 12:15 from our condo with Gary and Carol to go to lunch and visit a tequila factory, Los Osuna. We drove up the Malecon, past all the beautiful hotels and shops in the Zona Dorada, out into the country north and west of Mazatlan. Gary, who can't see worth a whit sat in the backseat of his car with me and Marshmellow (the dog), while Carol drove with Rick riding shotgun. And we drove and drove, and drove. Gary knew where the place was but was at a disadvantage being half blind and trying to give directions from the rear. The roads are poorly marked in Mexico. Finally we found the cut-off for the road to Noria and the Hacienda Las Moras (mulberries). Gary told Carol to drive carefully because there could be goats and burros crossing the road. That verbal cue plus the visual of the Mexican landscape must have woken up an ancient memory of my first trip to Mexico in 1964. Tears welled up in my eyes and I had to stop myself from crying. My friends Nancy Teeter and Carol Gruber took a month long road trip here so many years ago.

We followed the signs for the Hacienda---difficult because there were so many side roads (dirt). On a hill we spotted a small church which belonged to the property so we knew we were close. Gary asked us if we wanted to eat first or see the tequila place first and we all yelled out in unison---EAT!!! We found the parking lot after taking a dangerous service road. Rick got out of the car and opened the gate. We were the only people there, but soon an English-speaking caretaker arrived and said the dining room was open. Someone said if it wasn't, Gary was walking home. It was 2:15

The hacienda was magical, grand and old, colorful paint, carved furniture, fountains and flowers. We walked to the covered outdoor dining room through a huge lobby(?) with very high ceilings and huge paintings on the walls. We found a big, round table and a nice waiter handed us the English/Spanish menus Carol and I ordered mango margaritas, Pacifico for the guys.

The food was delicious. I had bean soup, as did Rick, and Huatinago Veracruzana. Rick also had fonduta which was melted Chihuahua cheese covered with diced spicy chorizo.
Afer lunch we strolled around the grounds among the peacocks and roosters roaming free and down the hill to the paddocks for the horses. The caretaker came back and asked Carol and I if we wanted to see the rooms. When he opened the door, Carol took a deep breath and said, "what a place for an affair". It was beautiful, massive, antique furniture, dark colors, no telephone and no television. OH yeah!!!

All of us except Gary came very close to throwing up our hand and yelling "uncle" when we were driving around, tired, hungry, thirsty, and frustrated. I'm so happy we didn't. The hacienda was one of the best things that happened to us in Mexico. It took us twenty minutes to get home. We never did get to see the tequila place---next time.

While we were driving in the countryside we came upon something that could have been a movie scene, I swear. We came around a corner and there were, under a shady tree, two police cars one one side and a police pick-up on the other. There was just enough space for a car to maneuver through. There were at least a dozen Federales in full regalia, guns, assault rifles and bandelaros. They stopped us, of course. Gary spoke to them in Spanish, popped the trunk for a quick inspection and off we went.

I'll post some pictures which do not fully explain the feeling of being in this beautiful place. Rick says when we go back we are going to spend a few days there.