The wildflower season is one of the most beautiful times of the year to visit Tepoztlan (and you won’t miss an incredible Thanksgiving Feast!). Red, orange, and white flowers spring up everywhere and color the pastures and prairies.
October and November are the harvest months!
HARVEST AND WILDFLOWER
THANKSGIVING ITINERARY
Nov. 24-Dec. 1, 2024 BOOKED!!!
IMPORTANT: This schedule is posted to give the guest a general idea of our TRUE FOODIE 7-night package schedule on a normal week. Please check your package details for included elements. The schedule and lineup of dishes may change to take advantage of seasonal dishes, ingredients or the interests of our guests. LVB reserves the right to modify this schedule and the dishes contained therein.
Sunday – Make yourself at home!
Chef Ana prides herself on her Thanksgiving turkey. You will not miss out on one of the BEST!
Guests arrive at MEX (Benito Juarez Mexico City International) with airport pickup included. The trip takes 1.5 hours from Mexico City to La Villa Bonita and guests will be greeted upon arrival with a delicious homemade cocktail such as Chef Ana’s famous Margarita made with her own Calamondine Orange liquor as well as snacks such as guacamole, cheeses, home-made salsa, and tortilla chips.
Later that afternoon/evening guests will enjoy Chef Ana’s 4-course chef’s table gourmet dinner made from primarily local ingredients grown in the garden or from local providers. Dinner is served within our ample open-air kitchen with view of the valley below or above our kitchen in the elevated dining area with a 360-degree view of the mountains. Chef Ana will explain her dishes to the guests and also discuss how the week will unfold.
Monday – Let’s start out right with Chicken Mixiote
The day starts with Chef Ana’s famous big breakfast with fresh fruit, biscuits, homemade jams and jellies along with a new traditional Mexican main dish each morning. Guest will go to the local Tepoztlán market to select the best ingredients from Chef Ana’s local providers and bring them back for your first cooking session in the open-air kitchen.
Today guests will learn how to do a Chicken Mixote as the main dish of the day. This is a banana leaf, maguey leaf or parchment paper pouch that is filled with vegetables and sauce that creates the most tender and flavorful chicken as well as other meats. This mixiote comes from the Aztecs who learned that the thin outer skin of the maguey plant was both resistant against weight and heat so it worked well as a pouch. Starters and side dishes may include pico de gallo, white rice, and vegetable soup with chickpeas, carrots, and the Mixiote chicken broth. Dessert will be fried plantains with cream. The “agua fresca” will be celery with lime and the cocktail of the day will be an Ancho Reyes Pineapple.
Today Chef Ana will teach us about the “nixtamalization” process as well as testing out our tortilla-making technique using red, white or blue masa made from ancestral corn varieties produced locally and make your own tortillas and place them on the comal with Mari your “ama de llaves” or mayordomo during your stay at La Villa Bonita.
Tuesday: Learn about Tepozteco Cuisine
Tepoztlan is a town full of culinary history that is preserved in the family. Today is a day to learn the local Tepozteco dishes. Guests can have breakfast and take an optional yoga class ($15 USD) and cook up a storm — dishes such as a Tepozteco Guasmole with pork, red rice with refried beans, tortillas, green avocado salsa, and huitlacoche soup. The dessert of the day is the famous capirotada. The Agua Fresca of the Day is watermelon and the delicious cocktail of the day the michelada (beer with lime and salt or salsas).
Guests enjoy lunch of dishes prepared with drink service in the open-air kitchen or the elevated terrace. After late lunch, guests will have an opportunity to take a walk into the downtown, relax around the pool with a good book or take a great nap! You are on vacation, it is up to you!
The Walking Locavore Wednesday
Today guests will join Chef Ana on a walking/eating tour of the Tepoztlan market, visit the Ex-Convent and museum as well as try a wide variety of local delicacies in the market. Walk, learn and eat like a native, delicacies such as itacates, pancita, cecina, and traditional Morelos quesadillas. This is the farmer’s market day in Tepoztlan with an opportunity to see the wide variety of ingredients and dishes that Tepoztlan has to offer.
Meet Chef Ana’s personal pottery maker and learn her traditional techniques
Later in the day, guests will witness a demonstration of how to make traditional lead-free artisan pottery from an artisanal producer in Tlayacapan by the name of Doña Chayo. Her family has produced pottery in the traditional way for generations. Almost all of Chef Ana’s earthenware in the house Doña Chayo. Learn how these noble vessels are made! Guests will have an opportunity to purchase his traditional rice and bean pots, flatware, cazuelas among many other great items.
Thursday – the Chile Relleno and Fideo Seco!
After a hearty breakfast, guests will have the option of a leisurely morning or optional yoga class ($15 USD). Our honored foodie guests will dedicate the day to the Ancho Chile creating Chiles Rellenos stuffed with beans and an orange sauce with fideo seco as a side with a roasted corn and poblano salad. The agua fresca of the day is guanabana water and our signature cocktail of the day is a strawberry and jalapeno margarita. Learn how to properly prepare a dried ancho to make the useful vessel for so many dishes in Mexican cuisine.
Friday – A White Mole!
We start with a fabulous breakfast as usual (with departure to the airport for 5-night guests) and begin our preparations to enjoy one of Chef Ana’s delicious creations – the elusive White Mole. This delicious creation is made from peanuts, sesame seeds, almonds and is topped with crispy chicken. Guests will learn mole technique as well as tortilla practice, quesadillas with Jamaica flower stuffing, as well as a nopal paddle stuffed with goat cheese and salsa martajada, a black bean and roasted tomato soup and Lime Carlotta for dessert. Ummmmm! The cocktail of the day is “sal y humo” or salt and smoke with cucumber and mezcal and our agua del dia is lime with the peel. Today we will also visit the tortilla mill to grind our nixtamal into masa.
Saturday – Thanksgiving Celebration
After your delicious breakfast, you have a day to enjoy on your own. Take a hike, enjoy the weekend artisan market, go out for lunch or just relax. Today is a day to do whatever your heart desires . . . and you can also enjoy a Thanksgiving feast and actually participate with Chef Ana if you would like to do so. Even though Saturday is not really Thanksgiving, we have it on Saturday so that other family members can join us. We know it is not a Mexican holiday but since Chef Ana’s husband is from the US she has created a tradition of celebrating the day with an incredible feast. Chef Ana’s turkey pictured above is the BEST!
Sunday – Time to Say “Goodbye.”
After breakfast, we will organize our return to the Mexico City airport and count the days until we see each other again for a new culinary adventure.
Tepoztlan, a “Pueblo Magico” (magic village) and one of Mexico’s most unique destinations is located about 5280 ft. above sea level and roughly 1 hour 15 minutes south of Mexico City making transportation easy (we pick you up in the Mexico City airport and bring you back). Because of its incredible “eternal spring” climate, Tepoztlan is a year-round destination where our award-winning packages take place.
La Villa Bonita is located on the upslope of the Tepozteco mountains with a privileged perch above the town and an incredible view of the ex-convent below. We are a 15-minute walk to the central downtown circuit so there is not an excessive amount of traffic in front of La Villa Bonita but we are just minutes away from the centro and zocalo.
The zocalo is the heart of the town square as well as the site of local events. It is great to get a snack and people watch.
Due to its year-round average daily temperature of 83 F/28 C, Tepoztlan has become an off-the-beaten-path destination for those who want a wonderful climate with a picturesque, authentic, and traditional Mexican backdrop. Tepoztlan’s temperate climate with prevailing sunshine, its wonderful adobe facades, incredible local festivals, and ancient cobblestone streets attract Mexicans and foreign tourists from all over the world who seek a traditional, small-town environment.
Tepoztlan is one of the most unique, authentic, and safest places you can visit and has a lower crime rate than most cities and towns in the US. You will get this understanding in the first 15 minutes after setting foot in the village. It is a place that time seems to have forgotten with time-honored culinary traditions, wonderful local produce, and a very enjoyable pace of life focused on family and friends.
Tepoztlan is made up of stubborn townspeople and subsistence farmers who vigilantly guard their traditions from change, which makes it an ideal destination for the “foodie” and the traveler seeks to experience a wonderful culture. “Tepoztecos,” as they are known here, appreciate the foreign tourist because you appreciate their culture. You can walk anywhere day or night and people will say “hello” to you, be cordial, but not overburdening.
Take a hike up to the Tepozteco pyramid for the incredible views of the town below.
Tepoztlan is known as the “Sedona of Mexico” and consists of a very small, tight-knit community where people are very content with their lifestyle — a full social calendar that consists of constant cultural events, celebrations, and festivals during both the week and weekend. Tepoztlan is a piece of art without comparison – exquisite but not commercial. In Tepoztlan, you will hear the enveloping sounds of the community, the church bells, the rooster crowing, the occasional firecracker and the music wafting through the valley. So, enjoy your stay and when you go home, please tell everyone about your experience in the “hidden culinary jewel of Mexico.”
November 24-December 1, 2024 BOOKED!!
4
HANDS-ON COOKING SESSIONS WITH TRIPS TO THE DAILY MARKET, FARMER'S MARKET, AND TORTILLA MILL
7
NIGHTS STAY AT LA VILLA BONITA
$ 1,899.00 USD plus tax
PER PERSON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
+ $399 USD plus tax
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT
5% DISCOUNT FOR PAYMENT IN FULL OR HALF NOW AND HALF ON FIRST DAY OF MONTH PRIOR TO ARRIVAL
2
HANDS-ON COOKING SESSIONS WITH TRIPS TO THE DAILY MARKET AND FARMER'S MARKET,
5
NIGHTS STAY AT LA VILLA BONITA
$ 1,599.00 USD plus tax
PER PERSON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
+ $399 USD plus tax
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT
5% DISCOUNT FOR PAYMENT IN FULL OR HALF NOW AND HALF ON FIRST DAY OF MONTH PRIOR TO ARRIVAL
1
HANDS-ON COOKING SESSION WITH TRIP TO THE DAILY MARKET
5
NIGHTS STAY AT LA VILLA BONITA
$ 1,299.00 USD plus tax
PER PERSON DOUBLE OCCUPANCY
+ $399 USD plus tax
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT
5% DISCOUNT FOR PAYMENT IN FULL OR HALF NOW AND HALF ON FIRST DAY OF MONTH PRIOR TO ARRIVAL
La Villa Bonita No-Change-Fee Guarantee!
We want you to enjoy your vacation at La Villa Bonita and we know that things may come up that preclude you from joining us. While we do not accept cancelations or refund payments, if you need to change your reservation for any reason you can do so once without penalty and subject to availability. You will receive a credit towards the same experience that you can apply to a different date or different experience. If you choose a more expensive experience you will need to pay the difference. Please contact us for further details.
Payment Options and Sales Tax
You can receive an additional 5% discount by paying in full upon making your reservation or you can pay full price paying half to reserve and half due on the first day of the month prior to arrival. The 5% discount is not valid with any other discount, sale or promotion. We will send you an invoice by email that you can pay online or you can call us and we will receive your payment information. Prices do not include 16% sales tax which will be added to the final price of your package. Tips for the staff are not included.
Welcome to Chef Ana´s mountain home that was specially designed for her culinary program. The property consists of 6 guests rooms all with private baths. Each room has a different design and are very comfortable. All rooms have a king bed and some rooms have the possibility of 2 twin beds or 1 king. All rooms have french doors that open up to a common courtyard with incredible views of the surrounding mountains and steps from the open-air kitchen.
La Villa Bonita is built in a citrus orchard on a hectare of terraced land, complete with an herb and vegetable garden. The specially-designed open-air kitchen is complete with a living area, three sinks, lots of cooking and prep space as well as a 360-degree view of the majestic mountains. Above the kitchen sits our 16-person-capacity glass table with an incredible panoramic view of the Tepozteco mountains, the ex-convent, and the town below. La Villa Bonita is located in a very quiet residential area of town away from the downtown hum.
Airport Departure. For departure, we have more flexibility. If you would like to use our shuttle, your departure time should be after 12 noon. You may leave earlier for an additional fee. We have an Uber driver on call who charges $1900 pesos per trip (currently about 95 USD).-
Included
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Not Included
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La Villa Bonita offers Chef Ana Garcias’ award-winning culinary and cultural vacation experiences in our specially-designed resort in the foothills of the Tepoztlan valley.
Contact Info
Start your Mexican culinary adventure now! Dates available year-round. Contact us for the most up-to-date availability.
+1 (631) 994-3436 // US
email: [email protected]
