Riviera Concierge Services

Silver and Cantera

Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit, Ixtlán del Río, Tequila, Guadalajara, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Lagos de Moreno, Tlaquepaque

Ixtlán del Río

The name of Ixtlán is of “náhuatl” origin, composed of the words “Itz-ittztell” meaning obsidian, and “Tlán”, meaning place where it is found. So the name means "place where obsidian is found", or “place of the obsidian knife”. The land is mainly mountainous with some flat lands near the small rivers where the agricultural lands and settlements are located. The important Río Santiago crosses the eastern edge of the municipality. South of the town lies Los Toriles, one of the most important archaeological site in northwestern Mexico. Here is found the temple of Quetzalcoaltl, from the Toltec culture. The ceramic and gold jewelry extracted here can be seen in the Regional Museum of Ixtlán.

Tequila

The area had been long settled – by Chichimeca, Otomi, Toltec, and Nahua Native Americans – when conquistador Cristóbal de Oñate arrived in 1530. A group of Franciscans founded the town of Santiago de Tequila on 15 April 1530. A large area, stretching between the foothills of the Tequila Volcano and the deep valley of the Rio Grande, is inscribed on the World Heritage List as "part of an expansive landscape of blue agave, shaped by the culture of the plant which has been used since the 16th century to produce tequila spirit and over at least 2,000 years to make fermented drinks and cloth. Within the landscape are working distilleries reflecting the growth in the international consumption of tequila which bears this town’s name.

Guadalajara

Mexico’s second largest city is an excellent introduction to this country, with its vibrant historic center, the art and craft markets, its folkloric ballet and mariachi orchestras. The town of Guadalajara was founded in 1531 by Spanish explorer Cristóbal de Oñate. Then between 1531 and 1542 after few relocations, today’s city of Guadalajara was founded at its current site by Crístobal de Oñate on February 14, 1542, by Royal decree of King Charles V. Guadalajara, it is considered the city that most epitomizes the external concept of Mexico propagated by the international mass media (characterized by charros, tequila, sombreros, and mariachis). Some of the main landmarks in Guadalajara historic center are:

• Guadalajara Cathedral with an eclectic mix of gothic, neoclassical and palladian architecture.
• Plaza of the Crosses. Four Plazas shaped like a cross with the Cathedral at the center.
• Plaza de Armas offers one of the best views of the cathedral and the Governor’s Office. It features a French Ironwork from 1885 and four States on the corners of the place symbolizing the Four Seasons.
• Plaza de la Liberación features two large cup-shaped fountains and a gigantic sculpture of Miguel Hidalgo, the man who signed the Mexican Declaration of Independency on the current Governor’s Office. It also serves as an atrium for the oldest surviving theatre in the city "Teatro Degollado", also it is an usual spot for massive free concerts.
• Rotonda de los Jalicienses Ilustres serves as a mausoleum for important men and women born in Jalisco, the park around contrasts with the serious aspect of the Mausoleum itself.
• Palacio de Gobierno is the historical center of the government of the State of Jalisco. Today it is mostly visited for the murals painted there by José Clemente Orozco. The most famous of these is a huge portrait of Miguel Hidalgo in the vault of the old chambers of the state council.
• Instituto Cultutal Cabañas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, is a cultural and art center where fresco paintings of Jose Clemente Orozco are exhibited.

Tlaquepaque

San Pedro Tlaquepaque, also known as Tlaquepaque. During the 20th century it was absorbed by the outward spread of the state capital and is now a neighbourhood of the Guadalajara conurbation. The name Tlaquepaque derives from Nahuatl and means "place above clay land". The area is famous for its pottery and blown glass.

Tlaquepaque features El Parián, a large plaza flanked by columned arcades and surrounded by restaurants and bars. The main square in the city centre is known as El Jardín ("The Garden"), the main features are the two important churches, El Santuario de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Solitude) and San Pedro (Saint Peter), and the Benito Juárez market.

Aguascalientes

The city of Aguascalientes is the capital of the state of Aguascalientes and it stands on the banks of the Río Aguascalientes, 1888 meters above sea level. The city was founded on 22 October 1575 by Juan de Montoro as a postal service rest stop between the city of Zacatecas and Mexico City. Although its founders did not envision it becoming a major city, it became the capital of the newly formed state of the same name when its territory was split off from the adjacent state of Zacatecas in 1835. When the state separated from Zacatecas, Aguascalientes raced ahead in its development, while the state of Zacatecas remained behind in comparison.

The name originates from the Spanish words, "aguas calientes" meaning "hot waters," part of the original name of "Villa de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de las Aguas Calientes" (Village of our Lady of Ascension of the Hot Waters). When the city was first settled by Juan de Montoro and 12 families, it was given this name for its abundance of hot springs.

These thermal features are still in demand in the city’s numerous spas and even exploited for domestic use. People from Aguascalientes are known by the whimsical Spanish demonym hidrocálidos or "hydrothermal" people.

Aguascalientes was born out of four original neighborhoods. Guadalupe was where most travelers stayed on their way to Mexico City, and has some of the most beautiful cemeteries in Mexico. Triana, named after a neighborhood in Seville, has the most Spanish influence in its architecture, and is the oldest neighborhood in the city. It is home to the Jose Guadalupe Posada museum and the magnificent Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. La Salud was intended to be a great conventual complex, but it was never completed; only the church, cemetery and square remain lined in colonial style stone streets. The San Marcos neighborhood is where the fabled San Marcos Fair has been celebrated for hundreds of years, and is notable for its neoclassical garden and baroque church.

The prominent Baroque Cathedral, begun in 1575, is the oldest major building in the city. The Church of our Lady of Guadalupe possesses an extraordinarly exuberant Baroque facade designed by José de Alcibar, a renowned architect of the period considered to be one of the most famous artists in Mexico in the 1770s.

The Camarin of the Immaculate in the church of San Diego is considered by historians to be the last Baroque building in the world; it links the Baroque and Neoclassical styles; it is the largest of the fewer than ten of these type of structures built in the whole continent. The Baroque Government Palace, dating from 1664 and constructed out of red volcanic stone, it is known for its hundred arches.

The historic center is home to several outstanding museums including the Aguascalientes Museum, the city’s art museum, housed in a Classical-style building designed by the beloved self-trained architect Refugio Reyes. The Guadalupe Posada Museum, located in the historic nationhood of Triana, exhibits the life and work of José Guadalupe Posada; and the State History Museum, which is housed in an elegant Art Nouveau mansion typical of the Porfirian period with and ornate patio and dining room with vegetable motifs in a Mediterranean style, with a French Academism facade, and interior columns and an arcade of pink stone characteristic of Porfirian Eclecticism. Other designs by Refugio Reyes include the Paris Hotel, the Francia Hotel, and his masterpiece, the superb Church of San Antonio, considered to be one of the most beautiful churches in Mexico.

Aguascalientes is also home to some of the country’s leading provincial theaters, like the historical Morelos Theater, important for its role during the Mexican Revolution as a convention site; architecturaly, the building is notable for its facade and interior, which houses a small museum. The Teatro Aguascalientes is the city’s premier theatre and opera house and is equipped with the latest technology. In addition, in the modern section of the city, the Museo Descubre astonishes as an interactive museum of science and technology and the Museum of Contemporary Art is the city’s premier art museum.

The tall column in the center of the main square dates from colonial times; it held a statue of a Spain’s viceroy, which was toppled when the country gained independence; the current sculpture on its summit commemorates Mexican independence

Aguascalientes organizes the largest festival held in Mexico, the San Marcos Fair, which takes place from the middle of April to the beginning of May. The celebration was held originally in the San Marcos church, neighborhood, and its magnificent neoclassical garden; since then, it has greatly expanded to cover a huge area of exposition spaces, bullrings, nightclubs, theaters, performance stages, theme park, hotels, convention centers, and other attractions. It attracts almost 7 million visitors to Aguascalientes every year.

Los Arquitos cultural center used to be one of the first bathhouses in the city, declared a historic monument in 1990. The Ojocaliente is also an original bathhouse still in use today, and fed with thermal springs. La Estación Historic Area contains the Old Train Station and Railway Museum historic complex, which at some point in 1884 formed the largest rail hub and warehouses in all Latin America. The complex is adorned with dancing fountains, a railway plaza and original locomotives and monuments. It was in this complex that the first locomotive completely manufactured in Mexico was made.

Aguascalientes today identifies itself as at the confluence of tradition and industry. Its preserved colonial center testifies to its rich architectural heritage and cultural vision. On the other hand, the planned peripheral expressways, as well as its first class avenues and lanes, are surrounded with industrial parks that employ thousands of people. Aguascalientes City is one of the 15 largest metropolitan area by population in the country, with approximately one million inhabitants in the year 2005. It is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico. The largest Nissan plant outside Japan is located in the city. Due to this the city has a significant Japanese population. There are also several companies dedicated to integrated circuitry, automobile, electronics and robotics industry.

Zacatecas

Zacatecas is the capital of the state of Zacatecas which is the Nahuatl name for the indigenous people who inhabited the area before the arrival of the Spanish. The name ultimately derives from the Nahuatl word for a type of grass common in the region, zacatl. The region where this grass grew was originally called Zacatlan, and its inhabitants, Zacatecas.

Zacatecas fascinating colonial downtown offers plenty of sightseeing options and excellent examples of colonial architecture.
Zacatecas was founded in 1546 and built over a rich vein of silver discovered by Juan de Tolosa in the same year. This and other mines in the vicinity attracted a large population, and it soon became one of the chief mining centres of Mexico, later it was officially-recognized as a city in 1584. In 1588 Philip II, King of Spain, gave Zacatecas its own coat of arms. The Franciscans built a college in 1616.

Silver from Zacatecas and from Potosí in Bolivia was coined as pieces of eight and transported around the world by the Spanish treasure fleets and the Manila galleons, this is the silver that helped pay for the growth of the Spanish Empire.

The Cathedral is one of the most beautiful examples of churrigueresque archi tecture in Mexico. It is an elaborately carved red-stone (cantera) structure that was built between 1730 and 1760. It is flanked by two towers with an exuberant ornamentation and has a notable facade that was richly sculpted but its once decorated interior was looted during the civil wars of the 19th and 20th centuries. Its cupola was reconstructed in 1836 and imitates that one of the church of Nuestra Señora de Loreto in Mexico City.

Zacatecas is built in a deep, narrow ravine, 2496 m (8050 ft) above sea level, with narrow, crooked streets (callejones in Spanish) climbing the steep hillsides, and white, flat-roofed houses. The colonial center is a UNESCO World Heritage site and features elaborately decorated buildings, old palaces, residences and mansions; cobblestoned streets, colonial fountains and wrought-iron lanterns. The city is centered on the Plaza de Armas, a small open square bordered by the cathedral and old 16th to 18th century mansions and palaces including the governor’s palace. Other small plazas and parks (jardines) dot the city, among them the Jardín de la Independencia and the tiny (19 m²) Jardín de Juárez where the municipal palace is installed. Churches abound, and many have recently been converted into art galleries or museums.

Near the cathedral, on a corner of the Plaza de Armas lies Veyna Alley leading to the Church of Santo Domingo, built by the Jesuits between 1746 and 1749, has a beautiful baroque façade, splendid gold wood-carved altarpieces, all of them churrigueresque, as well as Francisco Antonio Vallejo paintings (XVIII) that represent scenes of The Passion. The College of La Compañía de Jesus shows a richly sculpted façade, its cloister is surrounded by halls whose vaults are decorated with cherubim. Nearby the Church of San Agustin has a plateresque facade decorated with a bas-relief.

The Parish of La Virgen del Patrocinio, built in 1728, lies at the summit of a hill, Cerro de la Bufa. Overlooking the city from an elevation of 150 m (500 ft) is the Cerro de la Bufa, a rocky outcropping crowned by a chapel and which is a popular spot for hiking and taking in the view of the city below. The city is also famous for its "Teleférico", an aerial tramway built by an Swiss company in 1978. The tramway starts at the Cerro del Grillo and "flies" over downtown Zacatecas giving passengers a breathtaking view of the city. The tramway then climbs up to the Cerro de la Bufa where passengers can either visit a museum or enjoy the view of the city.

Del Cubo aqueduct: It runs through the city. It was constructed more than 250 years ago.

In 1914, during the Mexican Revolution, Zacatecas witnessed a major combat of the Mexican Revolution, in a battle known as the Toma de Zacatecas (Taking of Zacatecas) between the Federal armies of Victoriano Huerta and the Constititutionalist troops of General Francisco Villa. Villa’s victory led to the end of the Huerta regime. A monument to the battle and General Villa is at the summit of the Cerro de la Bufa overlooking the city.
Mining is now no longer as important a part of the local economy, and in fact the primary mine (the Mina El Edén) has been converted into a tourist attraction, including an underground disco in a large hollowed out cave. Indeed, the city of Zacatecas is a popular tourist destination for Mexicans, and many of the local businesses cater to them. Its population as of the 2005 census was 122,889. Zacatecas is home to the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ).

San Luis Potosí

A Franciscan mission was established in the city in 1583, nine years before the city’s founding in 1592. San Luis grew rapidly thanks to the region’s rich gold and silver mines, a source of the Mexican treasures that filled the Manila galleons.

The city is named after Louis IX of France (also known in Mexico as San Luis Rey de Francia, Saint Louis, King of France), its patron saint. The Potosí was added in reference to the fabulously rich mines of Potosí, Bolivia, discovered some forty years before the city was founded.

The city is known for its European influenced architecture. Architecturally, downtown San Luis is very similar to cities in Spain.

The "Plaza de Armas" is home to a cathedral and governor’s palace, and chatting couples and families enjoying popsicles can be seen around the city at times. The nearby "Templo de Nuestra Señora del Carmen," with its colorful tiled domes and famous altars, is considered among Mexico’s finest churches.

San Luis Potosí, also called SLP or simply San Luis, is the capital of and most populous city in the state of San Luis Potosí. At an elevation of 1850 meters (6,070 feet), the city is 300 m higher than the U.S. city of Denver, Colorado.

In the last census the metropolitan area of San Luis Potosí, had an approximately population of 957,753.

The historic center and adjacent sites are currently candidates to become World Heritage Site by Unesco, some of its historic sites are:

• Catedral de San Luis Potosí
• Templo del Carmen
• Teatro de la Paz
• Teatro Alameda
• Palacio Municipal
• Palacio de Gobierno
• Casa Martí
• Museo de la Máscara
• Edificio Ipiña
• Edificio Central de la UASLP
• Templo de San Francisco
• Templo de San Agustín
• Casa de Moneda
• Casa de la Virreina
• Antigua Casa de la Cultura
• Museo Francisco Cossío Lagarte
• Museo Federico Silva
• Capilla de Aranzazú
• Monumento a la Bandera
• Plaza de Toros Fermín Rivera

The Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP) is in the city, based on a Jesuit College founded in 1624 and is recognized as one of Latin America’s best universities.

For a time in 1863 during the French invasion of gross, San Luis Potosí served as the capital of the republican government under President Benito Juárez.

The Plan of San Luis Potosí, issued November 20, 1910, was the opening shot of Mexico’s revolution against the dictator Porfirio Díaz. The Mexican presidential election of 1910 was stolen when Díaz had his opponent Francisco I. Madero arrested and imprisoned. Madero fled and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosí, declaring the election void and calling upon Mexicans to take up arms against the government.

Some of the major sites outside the historic center are: Sierra de Álvarez y Valle de los Fantasmas, Parque Tangamanga I, being the second largest urban park in México only after Mexico City Chapultepec Park, Parque Tangamanga II, Camino a la Presa de San José, Manantiales y Balneario de Gogorrón, Pueblo de Santa María del Río, famous for its silk rebozos y Cañada del Lobo

San Luis Potosí is considered the tenth largest metropolitan area in Mexico, with a population of approximately one million inhabitants. The city is a major commercial and industrial center worldwide. It lies in an economically advantageous area at the heart of the "triangle" formed by the three largest cities in Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.

In recent years, the city has attracted the attention of European and American investors due to political, social and economic stability. This has led to the opening of large multinational companies that have aided in the city’s economic development. Recently San Luis Potosi and its metropolitan area was named the third best city in which to live in Mexico.

Lagos de Moreno

Lagos de Moreno is located in the extreme northeastern part of the state of Jalisco, Mexico. The old pre-Hispanic name of the city was Pechichitlán or Teziziatlan and was the Great Capital city of the Chichimecatlalli Empire founded by Ahnuvic-VII nearly 1028 B.C. The current town was founded on March-31st., 1563 by Captain General and Grand Major of the Teocaltiche Valley, Hernando de Martell a.k.a. Hernán Gallegos, and named Villa de Santa Maria de los Lagos.

Gallegos founded the village in the Spanish style in the remains of Chichimecas and Caxcans cultures with 63 Sephardie families that went from Spain after King Ferdinand proclaimed the Alhambra Decree (March 31, 1492) which ordered every Jew in Iberia to convert to the Catholic religion or be expelled from the country. Some of the Spanish (Sephardic) Jews went to America and founded towns or cities in the New World. The town was renamed as Lagos de Moreno in memory of insurgent General Pedro Moreno (1775-1817), who led the struggle for independence from Spain.

Lagos de Moreno is called the "Athens of Jalisco" because of the numerous writers and poets who were born there. Important industries include food processing, milk and dairy products, vegetable oils, and meats, manufacture of footwear and agricultural machinery. It celebrates the "Fiestas de Agosto" at the end of July and beginnings of August, with several events in sports, art, culture and folklore. At the 2005 census the town had a population of 92,716 inhabitants.

This quaint town has charming colonial buildings along streets that lead to many small parks and plazas. Hacienda Sepulveda, located less than 5 kms from the city center, is the perfect location to discover this destination, offering historical insight, Mexican flavor and fresh air.