Alice's Garden Travel Buzz » Mexico

Rancho La Puerta – Stunning Spa Destination

Alice Joyce — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:11:17 +0000

Rancho La Puerta : The setting … simply stunning.

Rancho La Puerta Sunset - Photo: Alice Joyce

It’s true, guests are served divine meals with a Mediterranean flair during a stay at Rancho La Puerta. Certainly the full schedule of classes and presentations offers an opportunity to arrive a peaceful center after enjoying one perfect day after another. Finding balance might begin with an early-morning hike, and breakfast at the Rancho’s cooking school, La Cocina que Canta. That invigorating experience may be followed with a yoga or tai chi session; perhaps an art workshop or an informative lecture about sleep after dinner.

The beauty of the landscape itself can be transformative. Majestic evergreen live oaks offer shade and shelter throughout the Rancho’s gardens, while succulents such as cacti and aloes, native and Mediterranean species, and drought-tolerant flowering perennials and shrubs add beautiful punctuation to the terrain’s natural rock formations.

Fountain, Dining Hall Terrace: Alice Joyce photo

And then, there is bird song….

Dining Hall Rancho La Puerta: Alice Joyce Photo

enlivening every pathway, patio, and passageway during daylight hours.

Art emerges at every turn, from mosaics & metalwork to stained glass embellishments:

An exceptional collection of bronze sculptures appears amid grassy clearings, or as focal points all round the property: Works by Mexican artist, Víctor Hugo Castañeda.

Mount Kuchumaa, Rancho La Puerta Landscape - Alice Joyce photo

rancho la puertaRancho La Puerta Cookbooks on Amazon

The presence of Mount Kuchumaa – “the exalted high place” of the Kumeyaay Indians – has remained with me since returning home, leaving me with a sense of nourishment and fortitude. Whether one is inclined toward spiritual pursuits or not, I would guess that the scenery’s powerful energy is felt by all who have walked the Rancho’s pathways over the course of a week. The stunning setting has that effect on people.

The Kitchen That Sings!

Stonework bench at a 'casita' (Alice Joyce)

La Cocina que Canta Cooking School entryway (Alice Joyce)

Plantings encourage and sustain wildlife at Rancho La Puerta: (Alice Joyce)

Rancho La Puerta Decorative Entry Gate: Alice Joyce photo

Mt Kuchumaa vignette, Rancho La Puerta - Alice Joyce photo

Reflexology Path Rancho La Puerta: Alice Joyce photo

The Kitchen that Sings .. La Cocina Que Canta

Alice Joyce — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:52:40 +0000

La Cocina que Canta!

Cooking School & Culinary Center - Rancho La Puerta

The lush six-acre kitchen gardens of Tres Estrellas are located a bit north of the Rancho’s main landscape.

Encompassing 3,000 acres overall, the Rancho property takes in a 2,000-acre parcel set aside by the Szekely as a permanent nature preserve. Equally impressive: The gardens have been farmed organically since 1940, yielding delectable produce for the Rancho’s Mediterranean-style meals & for ingredients used at the cooking school.

Below: Set within the pavement, a circular design combines pebble paving & wooly thyme, releasing its lovely scent with each footstep.

In the entryway courtyard leading to the kitchen, bougainvillea scrambles up the red brick wall, while the the rich fragrance of Brugmansia ‘Charles Grimaldi’ is most potent at the end of the day.

Edible flowers garnish many dishes to add flavor and color, like the delicious blooms of broccoli rabe – aka Broccoli Raap or Rapini.

Head Gardener Salvador Tinajero cares for the gardens, and assists students in harvesting herbs and vegetables to be added to the school’s mouth-watering recipes.

The gardens thrive in a valley nestled in the foothills of Mount Kuchumaa,

….a sacred site for Native Americans.

rancho la puertaLa Cocina que Canta / Rancho La Puerta Cookbooks

Blooming at Rancho La Puerta

Alice Joyce — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:26:21 +0000

A lush display of Eucalyptus leucoxylon ‘Rosea’ blooms at Rancho La Puerta.

While landscape architect Enrique Ceballos mentioned that they were working to eradicate the White gum tree from the property, this winter-flowering species will remain a stunning focal point in the gardens.