colonial past
The origin of this farm extends for almost half a century, and well represents part of the history of the region. In 1524, Malinalli –name in Nahuatl for Marina, the interpreter of Hernán Cortés who would later be known as La Malinche– arrived with her husband, the Spanish captain Don Juan Jaramillo, after being handed over by Cortés, who promoted the marriage after arrival. of his wife from Spain, Catalina Pizarro y Altamirano.
By indications of Hernán Cortés, Don Juan Jaramillo built a hacienda for Doña Marina, name of the Nahua translator after being baptized by the same conqueror. The property was built near the new town of San Juan del Río, and over time it became known as El Mayorazgo de La Llave, according to the historian José Luis Prudencio Bilbao.
The Key changed hands multiple times, first staying with the family. From the hands of La Malinche, it became the property of Don Juan Jaramillo when the interpreter died, and later of Doña Beatriz de Andrade Cervantes, widow of Don Juan Jaramillo’s second marriage. By 1582, Don Pedro de Quezada – La Malinche’s grandson – took control of the farm, and acquired the name of Hacienda Galindo.
From livestock center to museum and hotel
Throughout its long history, Hacienda Galindo has had several facets, and some vestige of all of them remains today if you explore the hotel in depth, something that the hosts themselves encourage you to do.
From the time of 1645, a chapel remains intact where conventions, weddings and other celebrations are currently held, making use of several rooms with capacities from 40 to 1,000 people. To one side of the chapel there is a spa, for those who prefer other types of religious experiences.
The hotel also lives up to its past as a cattle stronghold, mainly developed between 1700 and 1800, with a small zoo that guests can now visit, ranging from rabbits to peacocks and even horses, where you can take a brief walk to the edge of the farm.
From its role as one of the largest providers of fighting bulls –used for bullfighting shows–, which had its greatest boom in 1910, there remains an area that today is a heliport, while its time as a history museum –which remained between 1939 and the end of the 1950s – can still be vividly felt in each corridor of the hotel, where New Spain Baroque paintings hang alongside some pieces of contemporary Mexican art.
Today, Hacienda Galindo remains a hotel complex, a vocation that began in 1975, when it was acquired by La Mansión Hotels, and later became the property of Grupo Posadas, which since 1997 has operated under the Fiesta Americana brand. In 2017, the hotel chain agreed to sell the complex with FibraHotel for 130 million pesos, a sale process that was closed in March 2021 for an updated amount of 156 million pesos, under a contract in which Posadas will maintain the operation. for 10 more years.