Alamos, Part Two

We drove up to the top of El Mirador, where the view of the town and the surrounding mountains was just beautiful.  You get a real taste of the lovely portales-roofed galleries or porches which are a prominent feature of many of the stately homes lining the main streets of town.  They typically have lushly landscaped interior courtyards built around a central fountain.

We learned some interesting history from Jim Swickard, the owner of the Hacienda.  Silver was discovered here in the late 1600s and many Andalusian architects built fabulous mansions here.  After Mexico's independence from Spain and the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s, Alamos was virtually left a ghost town, like so many mining towns in the US.  William Alcorn, a Pennsylvania dairy farmer, came to Alamos, married a local girl (she is still alive and active in town affairs) and bought a decaying mansion which he restored and opened as a hotel.  He began buying up real estate and Jim tells us he never spent more than $100 US dollars for a single property, no matter how many tens of thousands of square feet it might have encompassed!  For example, Jim's hotel, The Hacienda de los Santos, was created by buying up 7 different homes and enclosing them behind a single wall, encompassing more than 84,000 square feet.  Alcorn bought all 7 of those properties initially for less than $140 US dollars!!  Quite a story.

Some pictures from walks about town:

A great example of beautiful portales

Altars like this are found in little niches everywhere around town.

Bougainvillea (bugambilia) grow everywhere.

It's fun to peak through the grill work to see
the beautiful living areas inside.

This one is more typical of San Carlos.

Very skinny sidewalks are hard to walk on.  So are the
cobblestone streets.

Here they are building a road by hand!!!!

The pictures below will give you a taste of the hotel, though they don't do it justice.  First, a look at this gorgeous couple and a little of their story:

Jim and his wife, Nancy.  He is an amazing
man and she must be, too, although we didn't meet her.
They came here in 1987 on their
way to San Miguel de Allende and decided
to stay here.  Their two daughters, Jaime and
Jodi grew up here and are involved
in the business as well.  Jim is a fabulous
host and story teller.  Our dogs became friends
before we did :-)!

Our first glimpse into the hotel

Saint statues are everywhere.

View of El Mirador from the inner courtyard at night

Amazing artwork everywhere

Outside the cafe

Lady of Guadalupe

The spa area

Nacapule tree

Just another sitting area

Entrance to breakfast cafe - Cafe Agave

Close up of one of the fabulous old doors

Cafe Agave - how can you not be happy here!?!

This is the hotel's Cantina de Zapata.  All of those bottles behind us are tequilas!  Jim decorated this part of the hotel himself with all kinds of caballero (gentlemen cowboy) and vaquero (working cowboy) gear.  There are spurs and guns  and sombreros and even a water trough!  Boo was just thrilled to be here, as you can see.

These are all the special tequilas under lock and key.
I can't imagine how much they might cost.

Our favorite bartender, Mario

 Pictures of Pancho Villa and Zapata line the walls:

Looks to be a friendly sort

Looks to be a bit crazy

spur collection

We had the place and the fireplace to ourselves!  Branding irons are
on the walls next to the fireplace.

It was hard not to stay here all night but the celebrations were still going on downtown and at El Mirador, so what could we do?! Stay tuned for the third installment of Alamos!