enquiries and reservations here
or here
privatouring@blogspot.com
ooo000OOO000ooo Rates: $60.00 American currency for 1 or 2 persons per night, with a three night minimum. This includes a full-scale breakfast or brunch each morning.
Due to our location and attendant provisioning imperatives, we require a minimum stay of 3 nights. Discounts are considered for stays of 6 nights and longer.
Prepayment can be made by American-currency personal check, mailed to our address in Mission, Texas. Our mailing address is 1020 Seitz #4, Mission, Texas, 78572. Checks are made payable to David Christian Newton.
Account balances must be liquidated at departure, preferably in Mexican or American cash based upon rate-of-exchange information most recently available.
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QUINTA TESORO de la SIERRA MADRE
It would be our pleasure to welcome you to our little adobe home situated about 225 miles south-southwest of the international metroplex of McAllen, Texas - Reynosa, Tamaulipas, or between four and six hours of easy driving, depending on your number of stops. We are situated 30 miles west-northwest of Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the Mexican State of Tamaulipas, in the middle of a truly majestic and compelling geographical and cultural zone
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We have a long west-facing corridor,
where our visitors can sit in a mesadora (huge rustic rocking chair) and read an Agatha Christi mystery under the shade of an avocado tree.....or await the arrival of flocks of parrots headed to or from the nearby Sierra Madres. The rugged summits can be seen in the very near distance, and just knowing there were colonial gold mines there makes a person wonder.....Look! A family is going down to the Rio for an afternoon swim.... and they meet a man coming up on horseback....are they friends, or family? The Quinta's Cats come, go, sleep, and pass by to size you up for a hand-out or head-scratching...as do the Dogs...... The neighbour's rooster breaks the silence briefly....then you wake up from a 22-minute siesta to find another Corona, with lime, in the little ice-bucket on the table by your huge rustic rocking chair, locally called mesadoras.
Your adobe hide-away is situated....
on a large tract that descends to the Rio Corona ( pictured below) is a clear, cypress-lined, spring-fed mountain stream which supports considerable irrigation in the area. The Rio Corona holds blue catfish, largemouth bass, and two types of perch, and the environmental condition of the river continues a steady improvement. In all cases we strive to encourage and enhance natural activity.....although sometimes we just go for a walk with the neighbour's 160 pound Rhodesian Lion Hound (aka- "ridgeback hound) along the banks of the Corona.
The primitive area of the Quinta's grounds..... .... lies about 100 yards from the home. We strive to maintain this portion of the property.....that which is adjacent to the Rio Corona, in as primeval a condition as possible. These efforts have been rewarded by c0ntinual visits by hundreds of birds, butterflies, and other creatures on a daily basis as well a never ending effusion of flowering things. For instance, we have red, yellow, gold, and blue shrimp plants, numbering well over 100, which are especially good for attracting hummingbirds.
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BUTTERFLIES ABOUND
These beautiful insects are found in great abundance in this area. The number of species counted on the Quinta itself by one expert, on one day's efforts, exceeded 50. The combination of nectars, minerals, moisture, shade, and sunlight forms a perfect place for the pursuits of most butterflies and moths.
We are situated.....on one of the major flyways of the famed Mariposa Monarca (monarch butterfly), and they flood through the grounds of the Quinta twice a year....usually for a period of a couple of months each time. April and May marks the northward flight, and October - November is normally the time for the Monarcas to be making their way to the cold mountains of Michoacan, several hundred more miles to the southwest. There are times that the Monarch completely cover up the durantas, blue mist, other other vegetation, obscuring the trees and plants from view. They make "butterfly beards" even high up on the cypress trees down by the Rio Corona.
Birds are also visitors in abundance.....
with as many as 400 species having been sighted on or near the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre. The first crests of the Sierra El Cautivo ( a major segment of the Sierra Madre Oriental) are about four miles away. Daily specie-sighting counts can reach as high as 170. The area is famous for the bumblebee hummingbird, and has at least nine (some say as many as 13 ) other types of hummers on a year-round and/or seasonal basis. Warblers, wrens, songbirds, and other feathered friends abound....various types of Orioles, the two types of Ani's, kingfishers of three different types, and hundreds of other birds, both common and rare can be encountered. Visitors are frequently delighted to hear and see flights of as many as four different types of parrots during early-morning and late-afternoon fly-overs.
Although we are not the sophisticated type of birdwatchers......
who come through our area at times, we are given to understand that we have 5 sub-species of oriole that frequent the Quinta. Their long, drawn-out, complicated songs are frequently heard during the morning and then again the late afternoon. We can have as many as twenty different individuals in the gardens simultaneously. Recently green jays decided to call the Quinta home. These birds, along with the giant kiskadee flycatcher, the tropical kiskadee, two types of mockingbirds, and a few adventurous hens can be seen contesting for the blisteringly hot chili piquins that grow wild around the edge of the Quinta's grounds. Chili piquin is a very small pepper, about half the size of a pencil eraser. It is also considered to be among the top five hottest peppers known.
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We provide.....
.....a nice breakfast or brunch usually between 07:00 - 09:00, as the client wishes.This can be a combination of Mexican, American, and Continental fare, which will follow early morning wake-up service of coffee and juice. Breakfast (or brunch) is quite ample and is included in your room charge. We also can provide nice light meals for later in the day ...deli-sandwiches, home-made soups and the like for mid-day, and suppers that can approximate gourmet quality. Lunches and suppers carry an additional charge, albeit quite moderate. It is requested that you advise us before arrival of your intention to take additional meals on premises. We will have selections available from which you can choose for your additional meals, and we can recommend other
alternatives, both nearby and in Ciudad Victoria.
Also. at times, folks like to have an old - fashioned, Texan - Mexican parrillada (mesquite & charcoal grilling) and this can be arranged as well. When asked to describe such a thing, we are a bit hard-pressed. It is rather-much a controlled disorder, perhaps a man's thing, beginning around mid-afternoon with the lighting of the charcoal, mixed with orange and mesquite wood that has been placed in the parrilla (an outdoor grill). Background music from somewhere (not too loud), our dogs lurking ever around the edges sizing up food-lackeys, the cooking of beef cuts, chicken, even fish and shrimp, potatoes, beans, onions, chili peppers, carrots, broccoli, continual chilling of beer and soda pops, deploying of citronella anti-mosquito candle buckets...serving and being served .....and just generally having a good time without a script, while buying ice and and tending the fire......is all part of the parrillada In the summer it is ideal in the late afternoon on into the night, while in the winter everything will start outside and retire indoors for a bit of dessert away from the even's chill.
We do earnestly request, urge, and ask that you give us at least two weeks of anticipation before your arrival, so that we can do the kind of shopping for native goods and products that will make your stay special. Mexican supplies and qualities are really quite good, and with your ample notice we can then keep up with what is available, and make our purchases in an effective way so as to ensure an excellent dining experience with us. We grow a considerable amount of our own vegetables and herbs. There is no micro-wave at the Quinta, and we make almost everything up from scratch. We generally have very cold beer, usually Corona and/or Bohemia, and we can usually make a limited selection of mixed-drinks...ie martinis, cuba libres, margaritas, tropical smoothies (a house specialty)...... and there is normally a bit of wine for mealtime. All alcoholic beverages are sold at a very reasonable charge.
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Your room has its own
private entrance and private bath. We have a bit of air-conditioning, but it is rarely used at night because of the cool temperatures we enjoy during the wee hours and early morning. With our complete adobe construction, the rooms generally remain relatively cool even during summer afternoons, thereby making your fans almost all that is needed for pleasant cooling,. day or night. The adobe works its same magic during those rare periods in the winter when we have a bit of chill, but we also have quiet little heaters.....just in case. There is a standard reception television and a VCR player with a selection of old movies and programs in the guest room, as well as an AM-FM-CD player radio, and an eclectic selection of reading material and games. There is a large south facing colonial-style window allows for a truly wondrous view of the Rio Corona and our preserve at river's edge. The beds are very rustic....something akin to the common folk in the area....and our clients frequently say that they slept uncommonly well....or better than they had for a long while.
We provide hot water around the clock, and have a comfortable, large bath which can easily serve as a make-up & dressing room.big fluffy towels, and different kinds of bath soaps, shampoos, and conditioners are also at your fingertips. If at any time there is need for anything left behind, we almost always have fresh replacements for your convenience. One need only search us out, which is easily done because we are just a few steps away, and you are more than welcome to use the rest of the house as your own. The parlour doubles....or actually triples as the television/reading room and the place for dining in a somewhat rustic, somewhat elegant setting. On cold winter's even', we will normally have a nice fire to take the chill off, and the guest should feel more than at home if he/she would like to take advantage of the "salon grande", pictured below. All in all, we thin.k that we have the ideal combination of rustic, authentic construction, comfortable settings and accommodation, and dependable basic necessities to allow our guests a truly rural Mexican experience. Whether your visit has an objective, such as finding that elusive "lifer" bird or butterfly, taking that perfect-setting photograph, learning an educated, somewhat colloquial and antique form of Spanish, or just "getting away from it all", you are at home at the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre.
Remember to give us a clic at our e-mail connection at the top of the page if you have any question or need booking information. OR.....if you just want to talk. It is very difficult to impose or offend, so if you have any doubts, reservations about security, water, language, or your thoughts are starting to turn to retirement or semi-retirement.....we are here to advise.We do not have condos to sell or lease, no "program" to push, or any other representation to make to you. Our experience is yours for the asking.
QUESTIONSPREGUNTASANSWERSRESPUESTAS
How's the weather?
To be sure, the area is hot during the summer, although the mornings and late afternoons, and the nights are blessedly pleasant to even cool. In our years of being there, and receiving guests, we have only had the clients use the air-conditioner on five nights. An honest observation is that we have to run the air-conditioners once a month just to keep them operational.
Winter nights can be quite bracing, due to our position away from the coast and adjacent to very high mountains.
Temperatures in the 40's F are not rare in December and January during early morning hours. But, even in the depths of winter the daytime highs will range from the upper 60's to the lower 80's. We might have three or four cold fronts of any significance during any given Winter that might drive the daytime highs into the 50's for a couple of days.
During the period from late April through June and then again during the tropical episode of the Autumn, say from September through mid-November, we have fairly predictable periods of heavy rains. Nighttime thunderstorms against the nearby mountains are very common during the Summer, and provide very attractive, if a bit humbling, lightning shows.
What is an "ejido"?
An ejido (eh HEE thoe) is a Mexican peculiarity. It is a rural community surrounded, normally, by lands that were expropriated from large landholdings of very wealthy Mexican hacendados (rancher/plantation owners) whose holdings generally ranged from 10,000 to 20,000,000 acres in the period before the 1930's. These expropriated lands were distributed to landless rural people, but in such a way that production values plummeted and rural progress stagnated for three generations. During the mid-1990's these small tracts were finally made into fully private holdings that could be used for collateral, bought, sold, willed to descendants, and generally treated as what they should have been from the beginning of the program....private property.
Your Mexican hideaway rests upon one of these properties; a rocky piece of river-front land that could not be farmed in any reasonable way....neither by ox-team nor small tractor...but that could be sold by the previous owners for a great financial gain for their family.
Medicines, film, regular lap-top and other computer devices, etc.?
There are supplies for your laptop fairly readily available in the area. More certainly there are always place in Cd. Victoria where a person can obtain necessary supplies for most computer situations. It is best to make sure that you have a good supply of any necessary back-ups and/or expendables in hand before arrival.
Charging batteries is no real problem because our electricity is the same voltage and cyclage as American.
Old-fashioned film and digital camera loads are pretty much the same story. You will want to arrive with a good supply in-hand but Cd. Victoria will almost always have what is needed if we cannot find it in the locale.
Water, food, diseases, shots, UFO abductions....etc.?
While we might style this topic with a bit of humour, there is reason to ask and to be answered. Water, for instance, is always an issue for people travelling outside the United States, especially for the first time. Water issues in Mexico were always a much more complicated issue than generally assumed.....It was "here, yes but there, no" . In some nowhere place like Matehuala, or Santa Engracia, one could drink the water from the taps without concern....Real de Catorce also, plus any number of other places, like the Monterrey metropolitan area, Reynosa, etc. BUT! For instance, Mexico City, Guadalajara, most coastal areas...almost always "NO!" Public water supplies continue to improve throughout the country, but you are still well advised to carry bottled water and inquire locally to a reasonable respondent about your supply at the tap where you are. YOUR PLACE HAS VERY HIGH QUALITY TAP WATER, which I use (for me) straight from the tap. We also filter (three times) what we place in your room as well as providing bottled water. Our granddaughters as infants used the straight stuff and it seemed to do them good. In Cd. Victoria the tap water and any water served to you in any reasonable looking place is 100% potable.
We also have the same report for food in general. When eating out, one should apply his same standards as he might in Dallas or Tulsa. In the Victoria area, food is not terribly exotic although dried beef, yucca blossoms, nopal cactus, various types of sausages, and such things are more common. But, the general diet of the folks, depending upon their class origin, is remarkably similar to what Americans seem willing to chow down on. Processed goods, milk, cheese, canned goods, pastas, are eqivalent (sometimes tastier) to American. We find good buys in better cuts of meat, chicken is not quite up to our expectations but still good, fish and seafood is abundant in terms of quality and selection at the gringo-style grocery stores.....Gran-D, Soriana, WalMart, etc. Fresh produce ranges from high-mediocre to excellent (shop on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Gran-D, for instance), and like Yogi would say, the selection is exactly the same except for what is completely different.
The biggest disease concern we have is the Dengue Fever, a half-brother to malaria, and which becomes rarer as the years go by.
Last year there were 1,500 cases within a Statewide population of 3,000,000. Most were in the far southern part of the State, around the Tampico area, and resulted from laxity on the part of people in neighbourhoods who failed to police their grounds for standing water, which provides the breeding ground for the mosquito. Our area, and the State of Tamaulipas in general, has done and continues to do a very good job in the control and elemination of this problem....one which affected my daughter who was infected 20 years ago in Texas, and my father who was infected in the late 1930's in Texas. My eldest brother and I were both hit with the malaria which still bothered folks in Coastal and Southern Texas into the 1950's. During the past several years we have not had either rabies or dengue reported in the county, so perhaps we are on the way to putting those problems into the dust-bin along with polio and diptheria and the other childhood diseases which used to affect this and most other areas of Mexico.
There are no need for any shots, and certainly not for the "preventative use of antibiotics" for warding off digestive problems. The latter will almost always seem to cause more problems that solutions. Shots, innoculations, vaccinations are all unnecessary either for entering Mexico or returning to the United States.
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There are touring options:
We frequently joke that we guarantee "absolute boredom"......which only means that ours is a place of "soledad y tranquilidad" . Many of our clients want nothing more than to have a chance to read their Agatha Christi....drink beer and/or margaritas....and siesta on the corridor. Like the lady told me one summer, "It beats the heck out of paying a therapist".
Other folks put on the trappings of combat birdwatchers and trek two, three, or even five miles roundtrip while making scores of species sightings during a four hour jaunt (the record for a late afternoon to sundown sortie is 170 species). Then they come back have some refreshment....eat well....and then sleep without moving for 7 hours.
We have had folks with tripods, easles, ghost monitoring & sensing equipment, night nature photography gear, and even reporters. All seem to agree that there is something restorative about being at the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre. But, when and if you want to do a bit of moving around, there are things to do and places to see that are neither distant nor difficult.
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TOUR I
EL CHORRITO and the APPARITION of the HOLY VIRGIN
This is a morning trip, leaving around 09:00 from the Quinta and going back to the main road and then to the north a little ways....to Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, (our county seat) and then west, up to the mountainside of the Sierra Madres, where one can see the Gulf of Mexico almost 120 miles to the east. A basilica sits upon the site of a cave where Saint Mary, Mother of Jesus is said to have appeared, concurrently with the Apparition of Fatima and before. The place is clean, calm, and dignified.....we go only on days without pilgrimages. We'll also visit the colonial-era aquaduct of the Hacienda La Meza, and the Waterfall of El Chorrito. There is a pleasant place for lunch. This is a 92 mile roundtrip, and can be accomplished in an unhurried 4.5 to 5 hours.
Price for one to two persons: $50.00 which includes transportation and lunch and certain gratuities
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TOUR II
THE SPRINGS OF EL TIGRE
Also a morning-type trip, best to leave around 09:00. This is a very close-by jaunt, and takes the client through some of the very final settlement and to the very innards of the Sierra Madre, where the watersource for our river, the Rio Corona, originates and some 200,000 acres of farming and citrus draw their irrigation. Ancient canals, rustic but somewhat progressive villages, stunning geographical backdrops can all be taken in during this brief excursion to our west. This, among scores of other nearby places, is an ideal site for birding, photo layouts, and artwork in general. This place is very close by, and we can go and come in less than three hours easily. Various brief stops for photos....homes, businesses, and other things of interest will be made.
Price for one or two persons: $20.00 which includes transportation, refreshments, and certain gratuities for home and business visits.
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TOUR III
A DAY IN CIUDAD VICTORIA
On days that we are scheduled or are required to go into Cd. Victoria for supplies or other business, it might be possible to accompany us into town, especially if it is going to be just a matter of a very short period for us to attend to our affairs. This will give you the chance to see an environment that is very foreign, yet very familiar and therefore typically Mexican, from the point of view of a resident. You will notice a certain "benign neglect" that is afforded to Gringo residentes. This town visit might include a stop at the supermarket, drop off some paperwork with the attorney or bank, and/or a stop at the typical market area to buy a couple of new serapes for use as bedspreads for the Quinta. A couple of sightseeing stops and a light lunch at some popular place ....there are scores from which to choose.... and we can pretty much call it a day and go back to the Quinta.
Price for one or two persons: $45.00 which includes transportation and lunch at a pleasant place
Check in with this excellent, British-based directory of similar bed-and-brealfast facilities.
Just touring through this site is better than taking most get-aways and holidays
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Observations on life from the Ejid0
A fairly dull set of day to day observations, published every now and then has now been moved to the following address..... http://privatouring.blogspot.com Please feel free to connect with us there at any time....it is a place that is your home and which provides you with the opportunity to disagree, agree, inquire and enquire, and generally participate with the Old Gringo.
Nearby places of interest
The area around the Quinta has scores of lesser and greater attractions. Whether it be something as simple as a walk through the gravel streets, admiring the luxuriant flowers, bushes, and trees that the people care for, almost reverentially, or visiting other places....some quite magnificent....some quite humble.....the area provides considerable opportunity for memory building, photography, and general learning about the human condition in rural Mexico.
The Hacienda de Santa Engracia
This fabled place has endured in this area since the first quarter of the 1700's, mid-way into the Spanish Colonial Period. Although not the largest of Mexico's haciendas, it was originally nearly one-half million acres....say roughly the size of half of an average Texas county. The braiding of genealogy brings us to the present fact that there are still descendants of the original Spanish grantee involved in the o wnership of the remnant properties pertaining to this place....which was essentially a duchy located in the wilderness that would be roughly equivilant to a present-day outpost on the Moon.
To-day, however, that ownership is not one solitary Spanish Don lording over a thousand peons, overseeing essentially a completely self-contained, self-supporting, self-defending enterprise. It is a complex of individuals and corporations, including Cementos Mexicanos, S.A., and it is operated as a guest lodge....open to the public. The Hacienda is thouroughly modernized, 5-star facility with rooms both recently constructed and quite antique, nice grounds, swimming pool, bar and elegant dining facilities, tennis courts, traditional sauna, and other amenities one would associate with such an installation.
It is worth a visit, and the staff is normally very tolerant of folks just dropping in to enjoy the grounds and even see a couple of the rooms in the colonial section. The owner of the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre at one time owned an excursion company and was the first to bring groups to the Hacienda after its rehabilitation in the late 1970's.
During the time of operation of the excursion company we probably introduced four or five thousand different folks to the Hacienda.
The first group came in during late January for a couple of nights' stay, and was surprized on the second night with quite a sleet and snow episode. It was all very pleasant....most of the 29 adventurers were from the Mid-West and were not overly concerned with a couple of inches of snow....and the fireplaces kept everyone cozy.
In any regard, this legendary facility is full of lore, legends, ghosts, and history....and it would behoove the visitor to invest a morning or a day or a meal or a couple of beers there. We have clients who come and stay at the Quinta for three or four nights and then stay at the Hacienda for three or four nights on the same trip.....and on a somewhat regular basis: seems strange perhaps, but it makes sense, especially for our clients who do it.
The Hacienda de la Vega
Only a few hundred feet from the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre, one can enter into another place which connects Mexico's past and present effortlessly. This entrance-way leads to The Hacienda de la Vega, aka Huerta La Vega passing by Valencia orange trees that are over 80 years old. It is owned by a family that is essentially "on the register" in Cd. Victoria. They would be embarrassed to read this, but they are well-placed, well-educated, involved socially, politically, and professionally in the life of their community. They are a fusion of upper-middle class and "poor-rich", titled colonial people who always seem to come out on top of any adversity or opportunity. They are typically civilized, generous, and even-handed folks who have been better than good neighbours to the Quinta, its ownership, and its guests.
The Hacienda de la Vega is not as old as the Hacienda de Santa Engracia, but it has its own tales of war & peace, conflict & resolution, dating back into the most troubled period of the Agrarian Reform....following the Mexican Revolution of 1910 - 1917. The 1920's and early 1930's were especially difficult in the area around the Hacienda de Santa Engracia, and the story behind this property has much to do with the resolution of the contentious issues of the period. The picture above has a bit of the the original "manor house" built in the mid-1930's and behind it the original barn and service building. The barn has been rehabilitated and formed into a nice apartment for visitors and extra family.
The Hacienda de la Vega is only a few hundred feet from your home at the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre, so you will have easy opportunity to visit. There is also an access to a different part of the Rio Corona which is particularly picturesque and relatively inaccessible save for passge through the La Vega. Nearby, and here pictured below is the old, original country home of the Salazar family....where they retreat from the city and modernity at every opportunity.
This final picture shows the main front yard and the present-day residence, which is decidedly more modern and comfortable, but not as interesting, perhaps. It is a pleasant home, with an architectural style that I refer to as Mexico City earthquake proof, or bomb-proof modern. But, it serves its purpose well, and provides a "country elegant" setting for entertaining as well as relaxation for the Salazar family.
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND INTEREST. CHECK IN WITH US FOR UP-DATES AND E-MAIL US FOR INFORMATION OR RESERVATIONS.
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