The "Colonial Pearl"

David, Mom and I made another road trip to a neighboring village. This time we chose El Quelite (founded in 1564) about 40 minutes north of Mazatlan on highway 15. It is a pueblita consisiting of brightly colored houses, rolling cobblestone streets and flowers so vibrant it almost hurt to look at them. There is a famous song called “Que bonito es El Quelite” (How beautiful is El Quelite), this song is very well known in all of Latin American. Anyways, for a small place there seems to be alot of activity; the largest game cock farm in Northern Mexico, charrerias and ulama games are held often, there are 17th century paintings in the church, cheese factory, a very good bakery, couple of inns, etc. We had a good lunch at El Meson de Los Laurenos. This place is a resturant and hotel and is owned and run by Dr. Marcos Osuna Tirado. He is a talkative fellow, and will happily sit with you and answer any questions you may have. He was born and raised in what is now the hotel, and he only left long enough to attend medical school. He has made making El Quelite a tourist destination, while keeping it a traditional colonial village, his lifes work. For his efforts, it was named one of the 10 most beautiful colonial villages of Mexico.