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When a hotel itself is the destination.
The Hotel Hacienda Uayamon, part of Starwood's The Luxury
Hotels Collection, sits in a sprawling property not too far from
Campeche City, but far enough that the only sounds here are the sounds of
nature: thousands of birds, rustling tropical vegetation, your wine glasses
clinking at dinner time in the old main house.
If Canada has its chateaus, Spain has its paradores and
Germany has its castles, Mexico has its Haciendas. These
properties grew out of Spanish Crown endowments before Mexico's War of
Independence in the early 1800's and prospered until the Mexican Revolution
in the early 1900's.
In recent years, visionary Mexican entrepreneurs began
rescuing these beautiful places and turning them into luxury retreats.
Hacienda Uayamon, for example, offers only 2 suites and 10 villas,
all very private and away from the main building which houses the
restaurant, the management office and the store.
Many of the structures date from the original hacienda's
buildings, like the hospital, the machine shop and the main building. The
pool was built in one of the old structures. The villas were
built in the architectural style of the time but with the modern amenities
of a luxury hotel. The bed is plush, the bathroom, shower and tub are
luxurious.
The whole place reminds one of Isabel Allende's the House of
the Spirits and Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate. Service is very
good and the food is excellent.
No discos or rowdy vacationers around here. The clientele
tends to be mostly couples from North America and Europe. Winter is high
season so book early if you wish to stay at the hacienda between November
(German couples like to visit during this month) and March.
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