Historic Haciendas of Zapopan Part 2: Santa Lucia

Hacienda Santa Lucia was once one of the Guadalajara area's great estates. The casa grande (main house) is the rust colored building with the row of arches. The capilla (chapel) looms above it. Both are still in excellent condition. Between the mid-17th Century and the early 20th, the families that owned this hacienda wielded great economic and political power in the Guadalajara area. Hacienda Santa Lucia is located in Tesistán, a small city within the Municipalidad de Zapopan, northwest of Guadalajara. When the Spanish arrived in 1545, Santa Lucia was an indigenous pueblo called Nochistanejo. The pueblo was renamed for Santa Lucia, a Catholic saint, in 1570. By that time Spanish settlers had begun claiming estancias (livestock pasture) and caballerías (crop land), but these were still scattered and fairly limited in scale.  Hacienda Santa Lucia was not established as a large estate until the middle of the 17th Century, and did not become a real powerhouse until the middle of the 18th. The hacienda lies about 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Hacienda La Venta del Astillero (see in Part 1 of this series).

Gate to the complex of buildings that forms the nerve center of a hacienda, known as the casco.  Notice the campanario, or belfry, over the gate. The bell which once hung there summoned workers at the beginning and end of the work day. It also warned of the approach of visitors, sometimes friendly, sometimes otherwise. Within the casco's walls are the casa grande, the capilla, the caballeriza (horse stable), and the taberna (factory where tequila was produced and sold in bulk). Today, many of the structures within the old casco are private homes, like those seen above on the right. Other parts are used for special events and weddings. In the earliest years of settlement, Spanish Viceroys found it difficult to persuade people to move to this area because of incessant Chichimeca attacks. The general term "Chichimeca" refers to various tribes of fierce nomadic people from northern Mexico. These warriors had plagued Mesoamerican civilizations for fifteen hundred years before the Spanish arrived. What is now the Mexican state of Jalisco had long been the frontier between the Chichimecs and the civilized societies to the south. In 1540, shortly after the Spanish arrived in western Mexico, the Mixtón rebellion erupted. The situation became so desperate that Viceroy Antonio Mendoza came from Mexico City to take personal command. He finally defeated that particular group of indigenous rebels, but the Chichimeca tribes continued to pose a threat for another 150 years. Guadalajara was founded in this area in 1542, the year the uprising ended.

The zaguán (entrance hall) of the casa grande contains this 17th Century retablo. Often elaborately carved and painted, retablos are display cases with niches for statues of saints or the various incarnations of the Virgin Mary. A retablo usually stands behind an altar in a church or chapel, so this is probably not its original location. Below the first and third niches are small white faces framed with wings. These angelitos (little angels) are very common features in 17th Century Baroque decorations. After crushing the Mixtón revolt, Viceroy Mendoza realized he needed a buffer zone to protect central Mexico against future uprisings. He began liberally granting estancias and caballerías, and authorized the founding of Spanish towns such as the one at Nochistanejo. Then, in 1546, the conquistador Juan de Tolosa discovered a vast silver lode in Zacatecas, 246 km (153 mi) north of Guadalajara. The natural route for supplies to the miners ran through the Zapopan area to Guadalajara. Merchants began to use the newly formed new city as the supply point for the mines. It also became the center of civil and religious administration in western Mexico. The settlers in Santa Lucia soon responded to the growing markets of Guadalajara and Zacatecas by stocking their newly-granted estancias with cattle and sheep and planting maiz (corn) on their caballerías.

The zaguán also contains this small wooden table, decorated with a Pegasus on each corner. When the Spanish arrived in Mexico (or Nueva España, as it was called in colonial times) cattle didn't exist in the New World. They had few natural predators and--particularly in lightly-populated western Mexico--vast open lands upon which to graze. Great feral herds soon developed from mostrencos (unbranded strays). The cattle were so numerous that one author compared them to the 19th Century bison of the western US. The result was a mad scramble to acquire estancias on which to collect and fatten the cattle before herding them to markets in Guadalajara, Zacatecas, or even Mexico City. Cattle estancias each measured 10.9 sq km (6.7 sq mi) in size, while sheep estancias were smaller, measuring 4.8 sq km (3 sq mi). While some settlers acquired their estancias legally through grants from the Viceroy, other Spaniards obtained theirs using shady subterfuges. Sometimes, settlers simply occupied lands illegally that belonged to indigenous villages or to the Crown. However they were acquired, over time individual estancias were sold, or transferred through the bankruptcy, inheritance, or dowry processes. Gradually, they obtained a kind of defacto legality. More and more, these properties came into the hands of men intent on assembling large feudal estates on the European model. It was in this context that Hacienda Santa Lucia was founded in 1630. I have no information on the original founder but, in 1662, Agustin Gamboa became the hacienda's owner. By 1697, he had built the property up to 3 cattle estancias (13,167 acres), 3 sheep estancias (5784 acres), 15 caballerías (at 105 acres each), 11 suertes de huerta (vegetable and fruit plots) and 2 mill sites. The Gamboa family continued to own and expand the hacienda until 1736.

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The zaguán, viewed from inside the patio looking out. Just inside the beautiful wrought-iron screen is the Pegasus table. In the foreground is a silver-trimmed saddle. From the time the Gamboa family took ownership to the middle of the next century, cattle were the main economic focus of haciendas throughout western Mexico. Although Hacienda Santa Lucia was raising maiz on some of its 15 caballerías in 1697, not all of the land was planted and agriculture was not yet the central focus of the hacienda. There were several good reasons for this. For one, the indigenous villages around Guadalajara still possessed sufficient land to produce a substantial maiz surplus and thus could compete with Spanish growers in the Guadalajara market. For another, unlike cattle herding, crop cultivation is labor intensive. The indigenous people were not inclined to work on Spanish farms, particularly if they had land of their own. Forced labor was available, of course, at least in the first century or so after the Conquest. However, protests by some religious orders against Spanish abuses caused the restriction and gradual elimination of the Spanish right to free labor. Thirdly, even as the practice of forced labor was gradually restricted, the actual supply of labor was dramatically decreasing. A variety of European diseases decimated the indigenous people beginning early in the 16th Century. In some areas, the native population plummeted by 90% or more. It was not until the mid-18th Century that the population recovered and labor again became plentiful.

This silver-trimmed saddle was a working tool and not just for decoration. Notice the machete in its scabbard, ready for slashing back thorny acacia or other brush that might block the horseman in the rough back-country. This area is the heart of Mexican "cowboy country". The famous Charro Tradition of horsemanship and roping skills began here in Jalisco State. Two hundred years before the first US cowboy strapped on his spurs, the Mexicans were already experts in the entire cowboy technology. In the 17th and 18th Centuries, cattle were plentiful, pasture land was cheap and easy to obtain, and cattle could be driven to market by a relative handful of seasonal workers. In 1781, Hacienda Santa Lucia was producing 7% of all the beef sold in Guadalajara. Between 1803-1807, the hacienda held the government beef monopoly for the entire city. The seasonal vaqueros (cowboys) drifted from one cattle drive to another, sometimes returning to their villages to tend their maiz crop. Hacendados who were good employers gained the loyalty of these men. In times of Chichimec threat or civil unrest, some hacienda owners could mobilize hundreds of these expert horsemen to form irregular cavalry units. Often, a grateful Viceroy would reward the hacendado with the military rank of captain, as well as additional estancia and caballería grants.

An exquisite statue of the Virgin of the Rosary stands in one of the niches in the patio. The 16th and 17th Centuries were a time of religious fervor. This was especially the case with hacendados and their families. Nearly every casco contained a capilla, always located in close proximity to the casa grande. If they could afford it, hacendados kept a resident vicar on the payroll to conduct mass in the chapel and to otherwise tend to the religious life of the hacienda. It was not uncommon for a son or daughter to become a priest or nun. To support them, the hacendado would establish a capellanía, or benefice, charged against the income of the hacienda. The owner often tried to secure his place in heaven by including money in his will, again charged against the hacienda, to pay for regular prayers for his soul. If a son or daughter inherited a hacienda and chose to take holy orders, he or she might donate part of the hacienda's income--or even the entire estate--to a convent or school. As a result, various Catholic religious organizations became wealthy and, by the end of the 18th Century, the Church owned or controlled as much as 1/2 of the arable land in Mexico. Many haciendas, however, staggered under the load of these religious financial encumbrances.

Yet another version of the Virgin Mary. The niche in which she stands is beautifully carved and contains one of the small white-faced angelitos at the bottom. The relationship between hacienda owners and the Church extended well beyond religion. The lack of a banking system in Nueva España left the hacendados constantly scrambling for ways to finance their operations. Cattle driving was risky, due to Chichimec raids, bandits, storms, river crossings, and stampedes. Crops failed from drought, floods, or were trampled by feral cattle. Grain prices for maiz and trigo (wheat) could fluctuate wildly. To secure operating and investment capital, hacendados tapped the growing wealth of the Church organizations. This further encumbered estates already paying for vicar's salaries, capellanías, prayers for deceased owners, dowries, and lavish homes and lifestyles in Guadalajara. Bankruptcy auctions, as well as sales for other reasons, occurred with surprising regularity. For example, Hacienda Copala, not far from Santa Lucia, was sold 10 times between 1697 and 1791. Nearby Hacienda La Magdalena turned over 6 times between 1727 and 1808. In contrast, Hacienda Santa Lucia remained within just two families for over 150 years, although there were at least a couple sales between family members during that time. The first sale was in 1722, apparently by one member of the Gamboa family to another. Then, in the 1730s, the Gamboas became linked through marriage to a family of Guadalajara merchants named Leñero. When the Gamboa owner of Santa Lucia died, her nephew, a Leñero, bought the hacienda from her estate. Several generations of the Leñeros then owned the hacienda for over a century. Among the family were men who used their shrewd business acumen to make Santa Lucia prosper even when other hacendados around them failed.

The ziguán leads into the patio of the casa grande, complete with bubbling fountain. Hacienda Santa Lucia is quite large and complex and includes several courtyards and gardens. In 1736, the hacienda was owned by Angela de Amesqua y Gamboa, who had inherited it from her father. She married a rising young Guadalajara merchant named Gabriel Sánchez Leñero, an emigrant from Toledo, Spain. His business interests included supplying mines and haciendas. While Gabriel got a boost up the social ladder through marrying Angela, a member of the land-owning elite, the Gamboa-Leñero alliance also contributed greatly to the economic stability of the hacienda. The weakness of the hacienda system had always been its limited access to capital. Raising livestock and crops both carried numerous risks, and profits could vary drastically from year to year. The construction of dams, irrigation projects, large storage buildings, and long walls to protect crops from livestock required large-scale, long-term investments. Capital for such investments had to come from sources other than the uncertain profits of the haciendas themselves. As already noted, some hacendados sought capital from church loans, and the mortgages which encumbered their properties often forced foreclosures and auction sales. Gabriel and other members of the Leñero family used the profits from their commercial operations to support needed investments at Santa Lucia and, conversely, used their business contacts to market the hacienda's various products. The deft balancing of these interests enabled the hacienda to become one of the most important estates in the Guadalajara area.

A iron-bound wooden door stands behind the arched portales facing a cobblestone courtyard. This is now the entrance to of one of several private homes within Santa Lucia's casco. Starting in the late 17th, and continuing through the middle of the 18th Centuries, a great shift occurred in the economic focus of many haciendas.  This involved a switch from cattle to raising grain crops, particularly wheat. These changes required major capital investments. There were three reasons for this. First, the over-harvesting of the feral cattle had resulted in a significant decline in the great herds. Second, by the middle of the 18th Century, the indigenous population had developed some immunity to European diseases and had largely recovered from the precipitous drop of the previous century. In addition, the growing mestizo population (mixed Spanish and indigenous) was also resistant to those diseases. As the labor supply increased, the ability to conduct large-scale agriculture increased with it. At last there was someone to put behind that plow! Third, Guadalajara's growing population created a corresponding demand for grain, particularly wheat. When it was founded in 1542, the city contained about 200 people, including 63 Spaniards. By the beginning of the War of Independence in 1810, the population had reached about 35,000. As the size and wealth of the city grew, so did its taste for bread made from flour. Wheat prices rapidly increased, spurring production. However, wheat requires considerably more water than corn, hence the demand for capital to build dams and irrigation projects. This resulted in bumper crops, which tended to depress prices. Investment in large stone storage buildings enabled haciendas to hold their grain off the market until prices improved. By contrast, small farmers and the indigenous villagers lacked these facilities and had to sell at harvest time, regardless of price. The mercantile capital the Leñeros could access gave them a significant advantage not only over small farmers, but over many of their fellow hacendados.

Another part of the casa grande, now also functioning as a private home. Gabriel Sánchez Leñero's family were not of the land-owning elite, but they were prominent in colonial society nonetheless. His father had been Alcalde Mayor (District Magistrate) of Aguascalientes at the beginning of the 18th Century. His cousin was a wealthy merchant in Mexico City. Gabriel himself served as Alcalde Ordinario (Municipal Magistrate) of Guadalajara, and financial administrator of the Convent of Santa Maria de Gracia and the Guadalajara Cathedral. In the mid-18th Century, Juan Alfonso Sánchez Leñero, Gabriel's nephew, came to Nueva España from Toledo. He took a job as a cajero (clerk) in his Uncle Gabriel's business. This was a time-honored way for an ambitious young man to get his start in the New World. He worked for Gabriel for several years and invested in a small store of his own, in partnership with his Aunt Angela. Gabriel died in 1760, and Angela a few years later. Upon her death, Juan Alphonso purchased Hacienda Santa Lucia from her estate for 37,000 pesos. He enjoyed a thirty-year career as both a merchant and an hacendado, amassing a huge fortune through silver-banking, livestock trading, and trade in general merchandise, as well as the profits from his hacienda's production. Upon his death in 1793, the estate of Juan Alfonso Sánchez Leñero--including Santa Lucia--was worth 500,000 pesos. Hacienda Santa Lucia alone was valued at 100,000 pesos, three times what Juan Alfonso paid for it!

Some of my sources of information for this posting:

Hacienda and Market in 18th Century Mexico, the Rural Economy of the Guadalajara Region, 1675-1820,  Eric Van Young, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2nd Ed. 2006

Land and Society in Colonial Mexico, the Great Hacienda, Francois Chevalier, University of California Press, 1970

Haciendas and Economic Development, Guadalajara, Mexico at Independence, Richard B. Lindley, University of Texas Press, 1983

This completes Part 2 of my Historic Haciendas of Zapopan series. In the next installment, we will look at Santa Lucia's 17th Century capilla, the remains of its tequila-making taberna, and continue with the story of this beautiful old estate and its place in Guadalajara's history. I hope you liked this posting. If so, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the Comments section below, or email me directly.

If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

Historic Haciendas of Zapopan Part 1: La Venta del Astillero & La Primavera

Entrance to the casa grande of the historic Hacienda La Venta del Astillero.  Several years ago, I began recruiting a group of fellow expats to help me search for old haciendas. We go out into the state of Jalisco's back country once a month and spend a full day locating these historic old sites. Generally we can find three or four sites during one of these jaunts. After a while, Carole began calling us the "Hacienda Hunters" and it stuck. Recently we created an embroidered logo to sew on our shirts, hats, or backpacks. We haven't yet invented a secret handshake, but who knows? Our hard-core group is 4-6 people, with another half a dozen or so who come and go according to the season. I do all the background research on the sites, and attempt to pin down their exact locations in advance of the adventure. This is not an easy task and, in the process, I have assembled a considerable library about Mexican haciendas. Even with all that information, it can still be challenging, because few sources specify precise locations. Many of the old ruins can only be found at the end of some remote, nameless, dirt road. As my father used to say, places like this are "out beyond where God buried his bicycle." Some sites I will show in this series will be close to the bicycle. However, the two I will show in this posting are not quite that remote. They can be found very close to the Bosque de la Primavera, one of my favorite hiking sites located just west of Guadalajara.


Hacienda La Venta de Astillero 

This arched gate is one of the oldest portions of the hacienda. The casa grande (main house) is the long building on the left. Hacienda La Venta del Astillero is located in the pueblo of the same name about 7 km (4.3 mi) west of Guadalajara along Federal Highway 15. The area around the hacienda used to be completely agricultural, but has now been swallowed up by light industrial sprawl. The casa grande used to stretch along the whole block, but part of it is now used as a tequila factory. The remaining historical parts are owned by a company that rents the site out for events such as weddings.  Getting hitched in an old hacienda is apparently very popular in Mexico, because we have found quite a number of sites devoted to this purpose. For those wishing to find Hacienda La Venta, follow Highway 15 to the town of La Venta del Astillero. Near the east end of town, turn right just past the Pemex gas station and go two blocks before turning left. Then drive five blocks until you come to the arched gate. When we visited, no one was available to let us in, but we were able to photograph many interesting features of the exterior. Maybe you will be luckier and gain entrance.

A carved stone monolith shaped like a crown sits on top of the center of the arched gate. This is one of the most interesting aspects of the whole site because of the words "Carlos V," inscribed on the surface. Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (1500-1558) was also the King of Spain during the conquest and early settlement of Nueva España (Mexico). During his rule, Cristóbal de Oñate founded the nearby City of Guadalajara in 1542. The monolith indicates that this hacienda was one of the earliest established in the area to support Guadalajara.

A view through the gate's wall to the front of the casa grande. When searching for these old sites, there are a number of clues which help us. The nature of the construction is one. Rough stone walls, like the one in the foreground, indicate an origin in at least the 18th Century, and possibly as early as the late 16th. The early construction of this one is betrayed by the irregular chunks of stone, which are fitted together using pebbles to fill the spaces between the large rocks. The arched portales, seen beyond the stone wall, are typical of old haciendas, although they are still a very popular architectural feature in Mexico. Often the buildings will be equipped with cylindrical bastions slotted for guns, an indication of the perilous isolation of the typical hacienda. Out-buildings, and the interior walls of older casas grandes, will often be made with bricks of dried mud held together with straw, called adobe, sometimes covered with layers of plaster. This is a very ancient method of construction. Sometimes the plaster covering falls away, picturesquely revealing the old adobe underneath.

The campanario over the entrance contains two spires. The bells of a hacienda's campanario (bell tower) served several functions. They summoned the residents to religious services, often twice a day in the morning and evening. In addition, the bells were rung to signal the beginning of the work day and the time for the mid-day meal. They could also be used to alert everyone to the approach of strangers, particularly bandits or rebel armies.

The front wall over the entrance contains a niche with a small statue of San Miguel de Belén.  In the late 18th Century, the hacienda was owned by Fray Antonio Alcalde, Bishop of Guadalajara. In 1788, he founded Hospital San Miguel de Belén, which was to be operated by the Orden de los Hermanos de Nuestra Señora de Bethlehem, also known as the Betlemitas. The Betlemitas, founded in Guatemala in 1656, were the first Catholic religious order created in the New World. They dedicated themselves to providing assistance to the poor. The Bishop donated Hacienda La Venta del Astillero as a means of funding the hospital, hence the statue in the niche. In his words "the health of the people is the supreme law." It was common during colonial times for convents, religious orders, and even individual priests and friars to own haciendas, despite their vows of poverty and Spanish laws forbidding such ownership. The Betlemitas owned the hacienda for 100 years, until 1888, and during this time it was known as Hacienda Belén. Although no longer associated with the hacienda, or the Betlemitas, the hospital is still in operation and is now known as the Hospital Civil de Guadalajara.

The entrances to both the casa grande and the capilla are on the left end of the row of portales. The arched door of the casa grande is on the right, while the capilla's door is on the left. This close association between the hacienda's main house and a chapel is quite typical. Hacendados (hacienda owners) were intensely religious, even when the property was not associated with a religious order like the Betlemites. The hacendado expected everyone to attend religious services, including his family, peons living on the property, and even the slaves he might own. A hacendado who could afford his own resident vicar possessed high status. Others had to settle for periodic visits by a circuit priest. In 1901, a visiting parish priest noted that the capilla was in a good state of repair, with decorations and sacred vases that allowed the proper celebration of mass. That same year, the little chapel was dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

An unidentified piece of farm equipment stands near the casa grande's entrance.  In 1888, the Betlemites sold the hacienda to Ricardo Lancaster-Jones (1831-1922), a British-Mexican banker and entrepreneur who later became Mayor of Guadalajara and Treasurer of the State of Jalisco. The Lancaster-Jones family were some of the most prominent hacendados during the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. When he purchased the property, the hacienda was completely inventoried, giving us a snapshot of a La Venta del Astillero at that moment. It possessed 39,036 acres of pasture land for cattle and horses, as well as "good lands for the cultivation of corn, beans, barley, wheat, and maguey." There was also a small factory for distilling the maguey into tequila. Nearby were "springs of thermal water for relief of sick persons." In 1897, the City of Zapopan set up a police station at the hacienda, an indication of its political importance. At that point in time, the hacienda had 447 inhabitants, making it quite a sizable operation. In 1910, Mexican Revolution erupted, leading to the exile of Porfirio Diaz. Over the years that followed, the hacienda was broken up into parcels which were distributed to landless peons.

*A Vision of the Haciendas of Zapopan, Municipal Archives, Zapopan, Jalisco, 2003


Hacienda La Primavera

A high adobe wall, with stout buttresses and a rough stone foundation, surrounds the old casco. Ironically, I had passed by this wall a number of times on my way to hike in Bosque de la Primavera. It was only when I read that Hacienda La Primvera was situated in this area that I remembered this structure. We stopped at a local tienda (small family-run store) and, sure enough, they pointed to a gate in a wall across the street. This turned out to be the entrance to the casco. The Spanish word "casco" means helmet or shell.  In the context of a hacienda, the casco is the nerve center of the operation, typically including the casa grande, capilla, the stables for the hacendado's personal mounts, a garden/orchard to provide food for the owner's table, and the administrative offices of the operation. Surrounding it all will be a high wall like the one above. Such walls are sometimes crenelated like a fortress, with gun slits and defensive bastions at the corners.

Entrance to the capilla, still strung with decorations from a previous fiesta. The capilla entrance is located just inside the main gate. Hanging above the capilla's door is an old, hand-carved wooden plow, with no metal parts. While the arches on either side of the capilla door are brick, probably dating from the 19th Century, the area around the door itself is adobe. This indicates that it is part of a much older structure. Unfortunately, the capilla door was locked, so we couldn't get a look inside. The property's caretaker is woman who works for the U.S. owners. She let us look around the courtyard a bit, but she was very reluctant to allow any other access. Since it is her job to protect the owner's property, we respected her position. We weren't too disappointed, because the rest of the complex looked to be of modern construction. We decided to move on to the ruins of the hacienda's old fabrica (factory). The fabrica property has different owners than the casa grande and is located a couple of hundred meters down the road leading to the Bosque de la Primavera.

Chuck and Efren pass through an old arched doorway to the interior of the fabrica. Efren rents the property and farms the area immediately around the ruins. He was happy to show us around and tell us what he knew about the place. Efren is one of those "salt of the earth" folk we run into so often in our back-country explorations. He was hospitable and generous with his time. I suspect that we provided him with some free entertainment and that he later regaled his neighbors with tales of our visit.

The long rectangular building is divided lengthwise by this set of supporting arches. Chuck can be seen in the distance wearing a yellow shirt. He is a good photographer and one of our core group of Hacienda Hunters. The quality of his photography is such that I sometimes use his shots in my blogs. My information about the history of Hacienda La Primavera is limited. I do know that during the last part of the 19th Century, it was owned by a man named Pantaleón Orozco Camarena, who willed it to his son, Pantaleón Orozco. In 1917, it passed into the hands of Ricardo Lancaster-Jones, the British-Mexican owner of nearby Hacienda La Venta del Astillero. It is not at all unusual for a family, or even a single individual, to own several haciendas. Land in Mexico, prior to the Revolution, was highly concentrated into a few hands.

These old buildings are massively built, with thick walls and supporting buttresses. One of the buttresses can be seen on the left. The corner of the building (foreground) was supported by a four-sided tower made of brick covered with a thick layer of plaster. Other parts are constructed with adobe. The casco of the hacienda, which would have included both the casa grande and this fabrica, encompassed an area of 135 hectares (333.45 acres). The overall property was composed of three sitios de ganado mayor (land for large livestock) spread over 13,000 acres, and 238 fanegas (2116 acres) of cropland devoted to maiz, wheat, and maguey.

A narrow window cuts through thick  walls. The narrowness of the window indicates that it may have been a defensive position for riflemen. Raiding bandits or plundering armies were threats through most of Mexico's history. The real wealth of a hacienda was its grain and casks of tequila stored in a building like this. In addition, horses, cattle, pigs and sheep could be brought inside in times of danger. Hungry raiders were often as much or more interested in these than the money or silverware hidden by the hacendado in his casa grande. 

Allan photographs the interior of the fabrica while Efren's grandson looks on. Allan and his wife Catherine are newcomers to Mexico, but they have taken to hacienda hunting like ducks to water. The little boy tagged along with us, fascinated by all these strange foreigners. The ruined walls are draped with vines and trees grow up in rooms once bustling with activity. The impact of the Revolution can be seen in official government population figures. In 1910, the year the Revolution started, Hacienda La Primavera's population was 652. By 1920, this had dropped to 290, and ten years later it had further declined to 202. By 1940 there were only 173 people in residence in and around the old property. However, over the following 60 years, the population recovered and in 2000 there were 1,745 people living in the pueblo of La Primavera that grew up around the ruins of the old hacienda.

The long rooms separated by the row of portales once had arched ceilings. Covering both rooms was a peaked roof. A nopal cactus now grows at the peak of one end of the roof, symbolic of the ultimate triumph of nature over man's boastful creations. The hacienda passed into the hands of Óscar Casillas Cabrini in 1937, but by that time land reform had reduced it to a fragment of its old size. Many of the buildings had already begun to deteriorate and without the land, there was little money to repair them. Some of the structures were no doubt cannibalized by local people for materials to build their own homes or stores. 

Jim B. and his wife Brenda chuckle about a remark by Efren, in the background. Jim and Brenda are two of the most stalwart of the Hacienda Hunters. Jim speaks passable Spanish and is always willing to drive his high clearance vehicle, making him a key figure in these adventures. He and Brenda have become true aficionados of hacienda exploration.

As we prepared to leave the area, we encountered this lone horseman. I snapped a quick shot and only later noticed the interesting juxtaposition of the rider, the car, and the advertisement for high-tech bicycles. These three different forms of Mexican transportation, all in one photo, range from the most ancient to the modern.

This concludes Part 1 of my series on the haciendas of Zapopan. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, that you will leave your thoughts in the Comments section or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

Panamá Part 9: The Gamboa Rainforest Resort and its Orchid Nursery and Butterfly Sanctuary

Orchids at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort Orchid Nursery. The flower above is called Ascocenda Brighton Fuchsia. It likes warm climates and blooms in summer and fall. Gamboa Rainforest resort was one of the high points during our trip to Panamá. While there we stayed at a luxury hotel situated in central Panama's Gamboa rainforest. In this, the last of my Panamá series, we'll take a look at the 5-star hotel, the surrounding rainforest, and the resort's Orchid Nursery and Butterfly Sanctuary. For a Google map of this area, click here.

The Gamboa Rainforest Resort Hotel

The hotel sits on a hillside above the Rio Chagres near its confluence with the Panamá Canal. The 164 rooms have balconies to provide a panoramic view of the rainforest and the river flowing through it. We stayed in one of the upper rooms seen on the right side of the photo. The rainforest is part of the Soberania Nation Forest and the resort is the only one of its kind in the area.

Our balcony was equipped with a comfy hammock to help enjoy the serenity of the scene. Through the trees, you can glimpse the Rio Chagres. The Chagres, although short, is one of the most important rivers in the world because of its essential relationship to the Panamá Canal. It is also the only river in the world that empties into two oceans. The hotel grounds include 340 lush acres of lawns, pastures, and forest. The Rainforest Resort is located almost exactly in the middle of the narrowest section of the Panamanian isthmus. From here you are less than an hour's drive from either Panamá City on the Pacific or Colón on the Caribbean. The roads are excellent, so this would be an ideal base for exploring the country.

A terrace containing a swimming pool, jacuzzi, and massage tables lies below the hotel. In addition to the many tours available, one can just hang out here and enjoy the amenities of the hotel itself. If I were to return to Panamá, I would seriously consider staying here for the full visit. This place is truly a paradise.

Rental canoes are available at a dock on the river. The thick jungle grows right down to the banks of the river. The rainforest canopy is filled with birds, monkeys, and other wildlife. Among the other creatures inhabiting the river are large crocodiles. It is always good to remember that you are a visitor in a true wilderness. You don't want to become someone else's lunch. Even paradise has its dangers.

Much of the jungle is almost impenetrable. In the early 16th Century, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa struggled through jungle just like this on his way to "discover" the Pacific Ocean. Aside from crocodiles and deadly snakes, Europeans (and later American '49ers) encountered ferocious insects and deadly diseases like Chagres fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Thousands who attempted the crossing died in the effort. Many thousands more perished while building the cross-isthmus railroad in the 1850's and working on the abortive French canal project and the successful American one.

An agouti explores the hotel lawns in search of edible seeds. The agouti is a rodent about the size of a large house cat or a small dog. There were several that roamed the grounds and they seemed unfazed by hotel guests taking their photos.


The Orchid Nursery

Schombergkia lueddemannii is a rather startling member of the orchid family. It grows in tropical forests located from sea level to about 600 m (1,960 ft). It is named after a 19th Century German botanist who explored British Guiana. I don't recall seeing anyone at my high school prom wearing one of these. The Schombergkia was the only orchid I photographed with an identifying sign. I have tried to be as accurate as possible in naming the plants shown below, but I am sure to have mistaken some. If you are an authority on orchids, please feel free to correct any errors.

Phalaenopsis. This is also called Golden Leopard Orchid. Orchids are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. There are between 21,950 and 26,049 accepted species in the orchid family found within 880 genera. The number of orchid species nearly equals that of bony fishes, is double that of birds, and four times that of mammals. Between 6-11% of all seeding plants are orchids.

In the 19th Century, horticulturist began to cultivate wild orchid species. Since then more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars have been created. Orchis is the genus and the name comes from the ancient Greek word for testicle. It refers to the shape of some orchid tubers. As to the orchid shown above, I have been unable to identify it. If anyone can supply the name, I would appreciate it.

White Dendrobium. Orchids have often been associated with virility. The Aztecs drank a mixture of vanilla orchids and chocolate to give them strength. On the other hand, the Chinese used orchids to cure coughs and lung problems.

Cosmos sulphureus, also known as the Sulpher Cosmos. In addition to orchids, the nursery contains a number of other flowers, such as this Cosmos. The Sulpher Cosmos is native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. The plant can grow as tall as 2.13 m (7 ft) and is considered an invasive exotic pest in the Southeastern US.

Some Bromeliads are epiphytes. This means that although they may grow on other plants, or on the trunks or branches of trees, but they are not parasitic. The roots serve only to anchor them to their host. They gather food and moisture from rain and mist. Epiphytic bromeliads are very common in tropical forests.

Epidendrum nocturnum are autogamous, or self-pollinating. Nocturnal Epidendrums are members of the Orchid Family range from Florida in the US to the Bahamas, West Indies, and northern Brazil and the Guianas.

Purple Dendrobium. Purple orchids, because of their royal color, are often called the "true queen of the flower kingdom." The Chinese consider orchids to be a symbol of refinement and childlike innocence.


The Butterfly Sanctuary

The Rainforest Resort employs nature guides like the young woman above. Our guide, whose name is Marta, gently grasped a Giant Owl Butterfly (Caligo eurilochus) to display its remarkable wing features. She was very knowledgable and seemed to enjoy showing us around. There are a very large number of butterflies in the sanctuary, many of which I couldn't photograph because of technical difficulties. Of the ones I did shoot, I could include only a small number here.

Larva of the Giant Owl Butterfly. This guy is about 7.6 cm (3 in) long and has spines sticking out of his back. The face is striped vertically and has a fringe on either side. Because he appears to have feelers on either end, at first I couldn't tell the tail from the head.

The Giant Owl Butterfly gets its name from the large "eyes" on the lower part of each wing. When the wings are opened, they bear a striking resemblance to the face of an owl, hence the name. The eye spots may be a defense mechanism to fool predators into thinking the butterfly is another predator. The creatures can grow as large as 20 cm (7.9 in).

Marta also showed us a Morpho helenor achilleana with brilliant blue wings. This one appears to have gotten chomped once or twice on the lower part of its wings. This species has a very wide range in the tropical areas of Central and South America.

Cypriote stelenese biplagiata, with its wings fully spread. This is also known as the Malachite Butterfly because of its coloring. It is the most common butterfly species in Central and Southern America.

Morpho helenor helenor is related to the Morpho helenor achilliana. There is some disagreement among butterfly specialists about Morpho helenor. Currently these butterflies are classified into a number of subspecies, but some of these may be entirely separate species. Certainly this one and the one with the beautiful blue wings seem very different. The Butterfly Sanctuary is a part of the Rainforest Resort that is definitely worth a visit.

This concludes Part 9 of my Panamá series, and also concludes the series itself. Panamá is wonderful and we encourage anyone interested to visit if you can. I hope you enjoyed this posting. If you did, I encourage you to put any thoughts in the Comments section below, or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim