Since
we are celebrating the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution this year, there
never has been a better time to spend a few days or an entire vacation at one
of the hacienda hotels in Morelos. Probably you need no excuse, but if you do
and want to contribute to the education of one or more children, you need only
point out that there would be no hacienda resorts in Morelos had it not been
for Emiliano Zapata and the Revolution. You can learn all about that by
watching an old Marlon Brando movie (the screenplay was by John Steinbeck).
We
can thank Zapata for giving Mexico the equivalent of those hostelries in medieval
castles that are found in Europe. In Morelos the climate is better. Also, the
hacienda hotels offer luxury accommodations, swimming pools and, in some cases,
eminent chefs, horses for riding and golf courses nearby. Zapata must be
turning in his grave.
Actually,
on only five of the 40 feudal-like Morelos estates has the manor mouse – or
what was left of it – been converted into a playground for the 21st
century bourgeois. The surrounding lands are now for the most part controlled
by the farmers who toil on them.
First
to be converted – and this began in1945 – was San José de Vista Hermosa. Today,
along with its grandiose swimming pool, Vista Hermosa offers guests tennis,
volleyball and fronton plus bowling and billiards should the skies turn cloudy.
There are horses to ride and massages available afterward. Lake Tequesquitengo
was created for the resort, so if water skiing is your thing, here you have it.
Golf is nearby as are facilities for flying in ultra-light aircraft or
parachuting (the two are not part of the same package), plus much more. Few
beach resorts offer half as much.
Another
two decades went by before the Hacienda Cocoyoc became a resort. Once again,
what remained of ancient structures provided the setting. In the Sixteenth
Century, what today is Morelos was but part of the lands awarded to Herman
Cortes as Marquis del Valle de Oaxaca in gratitude for his conquest of Mexico. Cortes
and his heirs saw future riches in the production of sugar. To give you an idea
of the importance of sugar, the Dutch agreed to exchange the colony now known
as New York for one sugar-producing island in the Caribbean.
Cocoyoc,
from Mexico City, is the most easily-reached of the hacienda hotels. It has
among its attractions a fully-equipped spa, a nine-hole golf course on the
premises plus another with 18-holes nearby. Facilities include its own
convention center with 22 meeting rooms of various sizes. This has made it
contemporarily historic. According to management, the Free Trade Agreement with
the United States and Canada was negotiated at Cocoyoc. Later, both Vicente Fox
and Felipe Calderon met there with advisors to organize what would become their
respective cabinets.
More intimate is the Hacienda San
Gabriel de las Palmas, which describes itself as a resort, a spa and a museum.
Its 20 rooms are furnished with antiques, its walls hung with ancient oils and
its amenities, along with the spa, include two swimming pools, both horses and
bicycles for riding and paths among the sugar cane for walking. Small it may
be, but the hacienda boasts two restaurants, three bars and a special room for
sampling more than 150 wines from around the world. Here, too, small
conventions sometimes take place during the otherwise un-crowded middle of the
week. The hacienda also is a favorite place for stately weddings.
Originally built as a monastery, San
Gabriel lies in Amazuzac, about half an hour from the center of Cuernavaca and
90 minutes from Mexico City – if you do not get lost. Recommended is arranging
for a vehicle to take you there and later to get you home, not an outrageous
expense for anyone staying at San Gabriel.
The only slightly larger Hacienda de
Cortés (23 rooms) is easier to reach, being in Cuernavaca proper, although for
me no place is easy to find in Cuernavaca proper. Its original name was San
Antonio Atlacomuco, but it alone remained in the Cortes family until 1642 when
the Sixth Marquise del Valle de Oaxaca became the Duchess of Monte Leone and
moved to Italy. After the Zapata hordes ransacked the place, her descendents recovered
the manor house, only to sell it. The new owners in 1973 began transforming it
into the delightful inn it is today.
Although it sometimes hosts meetings
and conventions mid-week (the hacienda hotels are all but empty otherwise,
except on weekends and during vacation periods), the Hacienda de Cortés appeals
mostly to customers who want nothing to do but relax. There is a swimming pool,
complete with Jacuzzi plus a place for children to play while their harried
parents forget that they are harried parents.
The Hotel Hacienda San Antonio el
Puente claims to be the most elegant of the resorts in Morelos. Newest of the
hacienda hotels, it is new both because it alone dates back only to the 18th
century and because it has only been open only for the past three years.
Newness has its advantage. The 72 rooms may have ancient walls, but within they
are air conditioned and feature such modern delights as flat screen television
and in-room safes. The restaurant takes pride in its gourmet fare.
Best
way to reach this treasure is having somebody else drive you there. Calle
Reforma in Fraccionamiento Real del Puente, Xochitepec, is not easy to locate
on your own. Prices at San Antonio are high, but all these hotels have rates
that vary almost from room to room and day to day. Bargains can be found
mid-week when no convention has booked a property.
Housed
within some of the oldest structures in Mexico, the hacienda hotels all have a
story to tell. All but San Antonio el Puente claim to have been founded by
Cortes, who did indeed own all these lands after the Conquest. What surprises
is how often they were sold and resold. Sugar may be green gold, but extracting
wealth from cane is no easier than is converting ore into coins. One gathers
that gentlemen farmers often lacked administrative skills.
During
the three-decade administration of Porfirio Diaz, things changed. Railroads
were built. With railroads, sugar could
be transported to ports much more easily. Sugar brought money into the country.
The government of the day defended the hacienda system and helped the owners of
great estates expand their lands and their production. Acquiring, by fair means
or foul, the lands belonging to impoverished small farmers, the hacienda owners
created a feudalistic class of serfs whom they treated miserably. This was
their great mistake, one that has been repeated over the centuries around the
world. The poor are the greatest potential enemies of the rich, and when the
poor have nothing left to lose, they will risk their lives to take all they can
get from the rich.
What
every rebellion needs is a leader. The landless hordes of Morelos found theirs
in Emiliano Zapata. Zapata had been a wrangler and saw how prized horses often
were treated better than peons. That he exploded is not surprising. An official
icon today, the memory of Zapata remains nonetheless despised by many. He has
been called a Mexican Attila whose later-day Huns left Morelos devastated and
in ruins. What I keep wondering is why his forces, having driven out their
enemies, did not take over the haciendas, keep them operating and share the
wealth. But I am naïve. Instead, the vast lands covering hundreds of square
kilometers were converted into small parcels that harvested only misery.
The
great manor houses were left to become abandoned ruins. Apparently none of
Zapata’s followers ever moved in. If I counted correctly, only five out of
forty former haciendas now have hacienda hotels. San Gaspar is a golf club and Temixco a glorified swimming pool.
Both someday may have hotels of their own. The lands have been divided up among
the families that worked them under a system of agrarian reform. At Apanquetzalco,
another ruined manor house with resurrection aspirations, I asked Ricardo
Rincón, one of the ejido leaders, if life on these lands is any better than it
was before Zapata. He shook his head. He has hopes that the opening of a hotel
will change things. One can only hope that hotel employees will be treated
better than their peon ancestors.
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