El Diezmo in San Jose Iturbide
I contacted my friend, Enrique, to let him know that I was in San Miguel and to see if we could get together while I was in the area. Enrique manages a hotel in nearby San Jose Iturbide. Enrique, along with his father, Francisco, are the ones who introduced me to tunas and atun ice cream mentioned in the last entry. Enrique invited me to lunch at the hotel he manages, El Diezmo.
El Diezmo means one tenth. It is named that as it was formerly the site where members of the Catholic Church in the area brought their 1/10th tithe to the church. It originally had an office, a granary, stables, and storehouses for the tithed goods brought in by the church members. When it was no longer needed by the church, Enrique's grandfather purchased the property and made it into his home.
The hotel property has a beautiful new swimming pool since the last time I visited. Too bad I did not have time to try it out! Enrique's assistant gave us a tour of the older parts of El Diezmo that are not open to the public. Foo loved the kitchen and the dining areas. The original art from the days when it belonged to the church are still on display there -- an amazing look back into history.
We had a great lunch at the restaurant at El Diezmo and I got to see Enrique, his wife and their two children. As our lunch was about to wrap up, Enrique's parents came for lunch as well. I introduced them to Foo, and we were then invited to have dinner with them the next night at their home. Foo insisted that she be able to bring the food and prepare a Thai dinner for them, which Enrique's parents enthusiastically accepted!
