Wayne Bernardson, the Argentina guidebook writer who runs the Southern Cone Travel blog, tipped us off last week that actor Robert Duvall and his wife have sold the House of Jasmines ranch hotel in Salta, Argentina. We had trouble confirming the news, but it appears to be a done deal: there was a report in the L.A. Times and it looks from the website like the new owners are the same ones running the El Colibri estancia in Cordoba (which we’ll have a review of soon).

It’s kind of hard to imagine this inn without its old owner, since there was a giant movie photo of him over the mantle in the main lounge and mementos of his were all over the house, like whips and cowboy hats. I can’t imagine that he needed the money, but maybe the chance to sell the 300 acres and hotel at at 400% profit (or more, we would guess) was too much to pass up. Or perhaps he just got tired of the hassle of maintaining three pieces of real estate. If you want to clear this up Mr. Duvall, please have your people call our people and let’s do lunch.

We’ve been posting a lot of new hotel reviews lately so I’ve been highlighting those, but time to catch up on some notable travel-related news from Latin America.

It looks like the Yellowstone Club World ownership club is crashing down and splitting up. We’re not sure yet what’s happening to the Tamarindo resort we’ve reviewed on the west coast of Mexico, but if anything it will be more open to outsiders and not less. Personally, it seems safer to own a smaller house outright than own a share in a vacation club with palatial resorts, but it doesn’t seem like the buyers are down to their last dollar anyway…

Are we ready for an environmentally conscious wine? Are we ready to give up the traditional bottle? The company putting out this green Malbec from Argentina hopes so. (Green as in eco-friendly, not Vinho Verde!) I’m skeptical that people will drink wine from a glorified milk carton, but you do have to admit it cuts down a lot of wasteful shipping weight.

When Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning was ready for a wedding and honeymoon, he didn’t go to Disneyland. He got married at One & Only Palmilla in Los Cabos.

Speaking of celebrities and green travel, Leonardo DiCaprio looks to be moving forward with development of the private island he bought in Belize.

International Living reports that 16 new marinas are in the works for Costa Rica. The skeptic in us says half will never get built, but three are already slated to open in 2009. Some will not open without a fight, however, as not everyone is thrilled about the pace of new development, especially for Puerto Viejo in the Limón province of the Caribbean. Plus it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the yacht business if the recession and fuel cost rises continue…

A few posts back I mentioned one of the two luxury hotels we’re featuring in Guanajuato, Mexico. The other is Hotel Quinta Las Acacias.

You can’t go wrong with either one, and the two hotels are a few blocks from each other on the premier street in town (in status terms anyway). But while all of its competitor’s rooms are decorated in roughly the same style, you have to be more proactive here.

This small luxury hotel is now like two hotels in one. The original building is a charmingly creaky mansion from the 1800s, with rooms decorated in a frilly European classic style. The newer annex building is more Mexican, with brighter colors, dramatic gardens, and more contemporary furnishings. 

In other words, pick the half that fits your style or you might be wondering a) how you woke up at Grandma’s house or b) who put all those weird Mexican tiles and stamped metal mirrors in your room.

We’re busy getting up new luxury hotel reviews for Mexico, including one we’ve had our eye on since it opened: Rosewood Mayakoba, in the the Riviera Maya area of Mexico, near Playa del Carmen.

This is part of a big development that will, in the end, house six hotels, two golf courses, and vacation villas. As our reviewer notes, “Fairmont Mayakoba was the first property to open here, in mid–2006, and Rosewood Mayakoba, opened in the last days of 2007, sets the bar a bit higher in terms of intimacy, luxury and creative architecture.”

The hotel has already been a hit with elite travelers and celebrities, making a few appearances in the tabloids.

Our reviewer says the landscaping needs some time to mature and the setup of taking a boat to the beach isn’t ideal, but the facilities and service are impressive. Rosewood also operates the fine Las Ventanas al Paraiso in Los Cabos, so they don’t have much of a learning curve in serving demanding travelers looking for a secluded and special experience. It’s a far cry from Cancun—just be prepared to slather on some bug repellent at sunset.

Last week I had the pleasure of spending a few days at the impressive Casa de Sierra Nevada hotel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. While there are a lot of great small inns in this popular tourist and expatriate town (I’ll highlight one of them in the next post), there’s only one sizable one that can offer all the perks of a full-blown upscale hotel.

Casa de Sierra Nevada has long been the best hotel in San Miguel, with a collection of separate converted grand homes taking up much of one block, but things have gotten even better since Orient Express acquired it two years ago. The company has been busy sprucing, upgrading, and adding on, with more to come. I stayed in the revamped Casa Limon section which has a beautiful swimming pool surrounded by a lawn and gardens. Several of the suites have their own whirlpool on a terrace as well and two have fantastic full-on views of the church in the main place. The building next to this is about to become part of the hotel, adding six new suites.

The main Andaza restaurant and bar across the street have been revamped as well, but not without retaining the air of elegance in what was originally the home of the local archbishop. (The bar was his bedroom.) A separate restaurant is about a five-minute walk away, on the other side of a leafy park. Two blocks away is the hotel’s own Sazon cooking school, with special handmade pottery to buy for your own kitchen on the way out.

Casa de Sierra Nevada is larger than most local hotels, but don’t expect boxy standardization. Rooms vary greatly in size and layout. All are filled with delightful touches and attention to detail, with the kind of quality amenities and materials you would expect from Orient-Express. We’ll be posting a full review with photos soon, but here is a video tour of Colonial Suite 444 in the Casa Limon building.