LA PURIFICADORA

We're in the most amazing hotel in Puebla, Mexico. It's called La Purificadora - it's a former 19th century water purifying center. It's beautiful and full of history on the outside, but the interior is so chic and modern. I suspect the room we're staying in is the honeymoon suite (there's an enormous private terrace with a jacuzzi), but I would Love a little studio apartment modeled exactly after it. The hotel is really reasonably priced for how luxe it is (though it may just be that this is the slower season here) and the food in the restaurant and room service is so so good. I haven't had a single thing I didn't enjoy -- and the coffee is really good! {Huge deal}

Puebla itself is gorgeous. The hotel is only a few blocks from the zócalo, the city center, and the "must visit" Capilla del Rosario, or the Rosary Chapel, which is covered in 24k gold. And the city takes Christmas really seriously: I've never seen so many Christmas lights. They're literally everywhere. There have been nonstop celebrations since we've gotten here - yesterday was some sort of children's day and today it appears is a police/military appreciation day. Our first night, I enjoyed a huge fireworks show while taking a dip in the jacuzzi and watching the movie 21 on Netflix. Hello living.

Here are some pictures of La Purificadora from the Design Hotels website: 

The garden courtyard next to the hotel restaurant where we like to have breakfast & dunch.

The open air sitting area next to the lobby.

The checkin area. Across is the library, or biblioteca.

The room we're staying in -- the terrace wraps around the entire length of the room and overlooks the garden on one side and the chapels of churches on the other.

The rooftop pool that we will definitely check out before we leave.

Will post our itinerary when we know it & my own pictures when I have a chance. The weather, service, and more importantly, the sights are perfect here. We just added two more nights to our stay because we love it so much!

We may travel up to Guanajuato to meet up with one of my old friends from Seattle closer to Christmas… it's becoming more and more exciting to take things one day at a time.

Update {22 Dec '13}

I'm not the only one that thinks the restaurant at La Purificadora is amazing! It was written up by the New York Times in the piece 36 Hours in Puebla, Mexico as the #2 thing to do once you've arrived. They say:

The new Purificadora hotel blends the city's historic past — an 18th-century ice factory — with a thoroughly contemporary design by the Mexican pioneering architect Ricardo Legorreta. The colorful hotel is not only drawing stylish guests, but also hungry hipsters eager to try the nuevo-Mexicano restaurant (Callejón de la 10 Norte 802; 52-222-309-1920; www.lapurificadora.com). Overseen by the Mexico City chef Enrique Olvera, the restaurant fuses the European with the Mexican: corn risotto spiked with poblano peppers; chipotle peppers stuffed with cheese in a black bean broth; corn cakes with lime and cream cheese gelato. Dinner for two is about 900 pesos, about $82 at 10.99 pesos to the dollar. 

I just finished breakfast and again, amazing. I would recommend the parfait (which I just inhaled), the breakfast potatoes with a mini egg quesadilla, and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Yum. Plus, we recently discovered if you don't have room service deliver it, Everything is Free! [in the dining room] … but it might be another perk of suite we're in -- so get the "Top Suite." The perks are worth it regardless. We've actually hardly ventured to the local joints because we love this place so much.

We're moving on to Cholula next… if we can find a hotel! We .. well, forgot it's Christmas and everyone's on vacation. Oops.