Opulence Without Attitude

The young aspiring princess approached as I was eating an ear of roasted corn rubbed with chile and lime. She was selling one-peso contribution tickets toward her campaign for a late spring pageant. She smiled, and I bought two.

It was late afternoon, and I had gravitated to Plaza del Carmen in the center of San Luis Potosi, a city of 800,000 in the fertile plateau of north-central Mexico. The square was festive with vendors selling fresh fruit, papitas (potato chips), bright plastic toys, balloons. Couples and families strolled, chatted and lined the benches. It wasn’t a special occasion; this was just a typical midweek afternoon in one of the city plazas.

Watching the princess hopeful saunter off to work her regal smile on others, I realized that there was not another tourist in sight, nor had I seen one all day. Or the previous ones. During the three days I spent here in May visiting friends, I could find no explanation for this. In fact, the city’s large, well-preserved historic center full of magnificent Baroque churches and pleasing squares, its rich colonial and revolutionary history, a mild, sunny climate at 6,170 feet above sea level, and excellent food made the tourists even more conspicuous by their absence.

San Luis Potosi is the neglected stop on the wealthy silver route that includes the well-trodden cities of Zacatecas, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Queretaro and Aguascalientes, all fanned out just a few hours to the west and south along a loop from San Luis. In 1592 a Spaniard called Pedro de Anda found silver in Cerro de San Pedro, in the hills a dozen miles to the west. The mine was named “Pueblo de San Luis, Minas del Potosi” after the mother of all mines in Spanish-controlled Nueva Espana, Potosi, in present-day Bolivia.

The silver veins were exhausted by 1620, but the city continued to prosper, thanks to cattle ranching and the opening of new veins. By the 18th century, this was the third most important city in Mexico and the capital of the vast territory that comprised northeastern Nueva Espana, the current northern Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, as well as Texas and Louisiana.

Those first 200 years were a rich time for the city. Wide streets were laid out, grand plazas were built and opulent Baroque churches were erected.

San Luis Potosi is called the ciudad de los siete jardines --city of seven gardens--because each of the seven traditional neighborhoods is centered on a plaza so green and leafy that it seems more like a garden. Each is dominated by a church.

I spent most of my time in the flat, walkable central historic district, where most of the interesting sites are concentrated. The focus here is the four main plazas, and I found plenty to do while strolling and browsing in the streets between them.

Plaza de Fundadores marks the spot where Fray Diego de la Magdalena founded his settlement of Guachichil Indians. But he was a Franciscan; the plaza now is dominated by the Jesuit legacy. The Jesuits constructed the church of El Sagrario and beside it, a few years later in 1700, the exquisitely Baroque Loreto chapel. Though the facade of the latter is simple, it contains one of their few surviving retablos , or carved wooden altarpieces. (Much of the Jesuits’ work was destroyed after the order was expelled from the New World in 1767.) The Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, housed in what was originally a Jesuit college constructed in 1653, sits beside the chapel.

A block east is the city’s principal square, Plaza de Armas (also called Jardin Hidalgo). People gather here to listen to music, played twice a week in the raised red sandstone gazebo, and also to demonstrate. During my visit several protesters were camped out with banners and loudspeakers, demanding more rights for indigenous people. But far more attention was being paid to the shooting of some scenes of a biographical film about Frida Kahlo, starring Salma Hayek and scheduled to be released in spring 2002.

The square is dominated by Catedral Santa Iglesia, constructed as a parish church and consecrated in 1730. It has twin bell towers, sweeping pink sandstone arches and Carrara marble statues of the apostles, replicas of figures in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.

Beside the cathedral is the Palacio Municipal (1830s), outfitted in the republican style that replaced curves with rectangles. Once the bishop’s residence, it now houses several government offices, including the tourist information office (which I found helpful) on the ground floor.

Facing this along the whole west side of the plaza is the Palacio de Gobierno, a neoclassic building constructed at the beginning of the 19th century. During the French intervention of the 1860s, it twice served as provisional capital of Mexico, first when President Benito Juarez was fleeing the occupying French in 1863, and again in 1867, when Juarez returned for the execution of Emperor Maximilian. The tableau of Princess Salm-Salm unsuccessfully pleading for the life of the French emperor has been re-created and can be visited.

Behind the Palacio de Gobierno is the Real Caja, one of the few secular Baroque buildings in the city. This is where the quinto , or the fifth of all mining profits that was owed to the Spanish crown, was held. (Nearby, another secular landmark--and the city’s emblem--is the 1832 Caja del Agua, a rotund neoclassic container for water piped into the city.)

A few blocks east is Plaza del Carmen, the liveliest of the city squares. It is dominated by the building many potosinos consider their most beautiful: Templo del Carmen, distinctive for its single tower and late Baroque style called Churrigueresque. The church, begun in 1749 and consecrated 15 years later by the Carmelites, is rivaled in northern Mexico only by the cathedral in Zacatecas. The style is nicely set off by the neighboring classic Teatro de la Paz (1889-94). One of the most important and acoustically sound in Mexico, the theater is flanked by a gallery that exhibits contemporary art and a popular cafe frequented by university students, an accessible triptych of urban, modern Mexican culture.

Across the square, and built around the same time and in a similar style, is a mansion that houses the interesting Museo Nacional de la Mascara, with hundreds of masks ancient and modern, used for ceremonies, dances and other purposes.

Four blocks to the west is Plaza San Francisco. Long, thin and greener than the others, it has more trees, more shade, more benches. It seemed to me the calmest and coolest square in the city, so I spent lots of time here. Begun as a provincial convent in 1600, Templo de San Francisco is a great red church with a simple Baroque facade and asymmetric towers of pink sandstone. Its sacristy is one of the best surviving examples of interior Baroque architecture in the city.

Down one side wall, indigenous artisans sell silver jewelry and colorful textiles. Across from them is a small, well-stocked cultural bookshop with cafe. Just around the corner is what I think is the city’s most interesting museum, the Museo Regional Potosino, housed in a former Franciscan convent from the 16th century. It is small, and the labels are mainly in Spanish, but it still offers good perspectives on the area’s pre-Hispanic history, especially on the Huastec Indians, who flourished in the area between the 9th and 13th centuries. The highlight for me, though, is the magnificent Churrigueresque Capilla a la Virgen de Aranzazu, a small chapel on the second floor. (Aranzazu is the name of a statue of the Virgin that was found “within the thorns,” translated from Basque. The legend is that a priest discovered the figure among thorns, or zazus .)

Mercado Hidalgo, six blocks north of the cathedral, is a nice contrast to the dark churches and chapels. It is a vibrant covered food market that celebrates not the soul but the stomach. Tourists are rare here, as elsewhere in the city, and I felt like a novelty as I strolled through, chatting with shoppers and shopkeepers and snapping photos of sausage being stuffed and women scraping the spines off nopal cactus paddles. I went more than once, but I saved my appetite for the restaurants.

Hunger is perhaps the most essential element for enjoying San Luis Potosi, a city as well known for its excellent regional cooking as for its delightful squares. Specialties of la cocina potosina include enchiladas potosinas , in which chiles are mixed with masa to form small tortillas that are then folded over queso fresco , and queso de tuna , a sweet made from the simmered-down juice of red prickly pear cactus fruits. Breakfasts tend to be hearty and power you on to the late midday meal (around 4 p.m.), the largest and most important. A lighter 10 p.m. supper follows.

My friends took me to some of the city’s finest places.

We had an excellent meal at the rustic and hip 1913 Restaurant. It offers exotic ancient dishes such as escamoles (ant roe) and gusanos de maguey (maguey worms fried in butter), but I stuck with chipotle chiles stuffed with cheese followed by a tender steak with a green cilantro sauce served over a bed of nopal cactus. I started with a patriotic aperitif: a bandarito , a trio of shots that represent the red, white and green of the Mexican flag in the form of sangrita (orange juice, grenadine, chile and salt), tequila and lime juice.

Another good choice is El Callejon de San Francisco, a large place off Plaza San Francisco with rooftop dining and great views over the glazed dome of Templo de San Francisco. The sopa azteca, a tortilla soup with avocados and dark pasilla chiles and cheese, made an excellent light dinner.

After both meals, I strolled to the Plaza de Armas for a cappuccino at Casa de la Virreina, a popular cafe and restaurant. The building, constructed in 1736, was once home to Dona Francisca de la Gandara, Mexico’s only virreina , the female equivalent of viceroy. (This cafe shouldn’t be confused with elegant La Virreina. Though I didn’t get a chance to try it, many people recommended it.)

The best meal I had was north of the city, just past the Westin hotel, San Luis Potosi’s most exclusive place to stay. (You’ll also find a host of hotels in the historic center, where the prices and location are better.) Real Pueblo Bonito is a ranch-style restaurant specializing in meat, and though the roasted baby goat was delicious, I will remember the place more for the salsas. They are individually blended in a large stone mortar from a tableside cart bearing a dozen ingredients.

When Mexico gained independence in 1824, San Luis Potosi lost its far northern reaching power and was reduced to the capital of its eponymous state. It has since been eclipsed by Monterrey and Nuevo Leon in terms of wealth and importance in the northern part of the country. But it, too, has grown and has a prosperous air. It has remained peaceful and safe and lacks the crime problems of many other large Mexican cities.

I never sensed any pretense in San Luis. It’s not trying to be anything more than it is. I left feeling as though I had gotten a more candid view of a Mexican city than I have anywhere else in a dozen trips around the country in the past 15 years.

Like that young would-be princess’, San Luis Potosi’s smile is still authentic. And surely one of Mexico’s most beautiful.

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Guidebook: Seeing San Luis

* Getting there: From LAX, there is no nonstop service to San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Continental, Aeromexico, Aero California and Mexicana offer connecting service. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $578.

* Where to stay: In the historic center, Hotel Filher, Ave. Universidad 375, San Luis Potosi 78000, telephone 011-52-48-12-15-62, fax 011-52-48-12-15-64, offers rooms starting at $40. Built in 1890 and refurbished in 1961, it’s in a good location. Ask for one of the remodeled rustica rooms.

Also in the center is Hotel Panorama, Ave. Venustiano Carranza 315, San Luis Potosi 78000, tel. 011-52-48-12-17-77, fax 011-52-48-12-45-91, with doubles for $60.

The nicest place to stay is outside the center at the Westin hotel, Real de Lomas 1000, San Luis Potosi 78210; tel. (888) 625-5144 or 011-52-48-25-01-25, fax 011-52-48-25-02-00, Internet https://www.westin.com, with all amenities expected of the luxury chain. Standard rooms are $137 on weekends, $142 weekdays.

* Where to eat: The salsas alone are worth a taxi ride to the Real Pueblo Bonito, 2015 Carretera Mexico 57 (corner of Calle Libano), local tel. 816-34-44. Entrees $9 to $15.

In the historic center, try the 1913 Restaurant Bar Cafe, Galeana 205; tel. 812-83-52. Entrees $5 to $9.

El Callejon de San Francisco, Callejon de Lozada 1, tel. 812-45-08, offers similar prices but has rooftop dining.

Try La Posada del Virrey, Jardin Hidalgo 3, tel. 812-32-80, for breakfast, coffee or a light snack.

For elegance, try La Virreina, Venustiano Carranza 830, tel. 812-37-50. Its prices are similar to those at Real Pueblo Bonito.

* For more information: Mexican Government Tourism Office, Mexican Consulate, 2401 W. 6th St., 5th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90057; tel. (213) 351-2069, fax (213) 351-2074, https://www.visitmexico.com.

-- Jeff Koehler