Tequila!

 A few days ago, we all decided to head out of town, avoiding the crowds (which are still here out of all expectations) and the mediocre waves, and experience a new side of Mexico. So we went to Tequila! Yes, it’s an actual town, about four hours inland from here, pretty close to Guadalajara. Most of the drive was on narrow, windy, steep, two-lane roads through the jungle, which made passing the gas trucks (cuidado, materials peligrosas) pretty exciting, but eventually we got onto a toll road which felt more like a real highway, and cruised through the high plains. We got into town just before dusk, driving by giant tequila-bottle-shaped billboards and acres of blue agave. It really is blue, kind of an amazing color, especially compared to the general dryness of the landscape. Tequila is a bigger town than I thought, almost 53,000 people, and it was bustling! We found a place to stash the car on a side street, then walked around looking for a hotel. We ended up at La Posada del Agave, a cute little place with only twelve rooms and an interior un-roofed courtyard. Dinner was kind of an adventure -- we got roped into eating at the place that handed Dad a margarita while we were standing in the street reading the menu! It wasn’t great food, but it was certainly an experience. No one in town seems to speak much English, and there are very few Americans, or even Mexican tourists. To us, this is kind of amazing for a town that produces 75% of the world’s tequila supply! We were sure it would be jammed with drunk frat boys, or the equivalent. Instead, it seems like a real town full of real people doing their business, which just happens to be making and selling tequila.

In the morning we had breakfast at a little café on the main square, right by the old stone church. Coffee, huevos rancheros, the whole deal. I just had oj and toast, not being a huge fan of eggs with chile, beans, and tortillas at seven in the morning. The main distilleries (Cuervo and Sauza) didn’t open for tours until eleven, so we had some time to kill. Willow stopped at a bank to get some cash, but the ATM machine ate her card -- she had to do some fancy talking to get the bank manager to give it back to her, especially since she was without any ID! Then we met a woman who offered to give us a tour around the town for 40 pesos (about $4) each. She was the first English speaker we’d met, and we figured, why not? She bustled us all into this trolley sort of thing, and we set off. Along with showing us some of the sights, she told hilarious stories about the history of Tequila, and especially about the main tequila families. Apparently the Sauza family had given a lot of money to the town, building schools, roads, and giving scholarships, etc, while the Jose Cuervo people were “excuse me, motherfuckers”. She pointed out an all-white wall and house (Sauza’s color) surrounded by gold (Cuervo) on either side – this building, called Quinta Sauza, was won years ago in a poker match between the two heads of the families!

At the end of the tour, we stopped at a small distillery where we got to see the process in action – how the agave plants are trimmed of all their leaves until they look like pineapples, then baked in big ovens, mashed, and drained of their liquid, which is then distilled and either bottled right away (white/blanco or silver/plata) or aged in wooden barrels for various amounts of time (rested/resposado or aged/anejo). Of course we got to taste some, but it was only about eleven am, so we didn’t drink too much! We did end up buying a bottle – it was pretty good stuff.

We spent some time in the Tequila Museum, then, realizing that a tours of neither Sauza nor Cuervo fit into our schedule, we headed out of town. On the way home we stopped in the opal mining town of Magdalena, where we had an absolutely amazing and completely Mexican lunch – every tortilla handmade on a press before being cooked on a grill over an open fire, huge pots of beans, chile, what have you simmering on an enormous stove, long tables with plastic tablecloths, flies, the whole shebang. We found the place, Lupita’s, on the recommendation of some old guy trying to sell my dad loose opals in the plaza. The food was so good.

Another hour or so into the drive, we took a side trip through Ixtlan del Rio, stopping outside the town to walk around a large archeological site – something like sixteen ruins dating back to the early Toltec period (700 to 900 BC). Aside from being in the middle of a dry field, they were very reminiscent of my mental images of Mayan temples (square, pyramidal, with steps on all four sides). Interesting.

The rest of the trip home was uneventful, aside from the previously mentioned panic whenever trying to pass large trucks on narrow roads. Maybe the best part of leaving town is how nice it feels to come home! It makes us realize how some things about Sayulita are really great – so many good restaurants, for one thing, and more comfortable beds. Our friends Mike and Kerry are staying with us for a few nights while their house is being rented, and it was fun to see them and catch up about our trip. Apparently the waves were non-existent while we were gone, and today they picked up sharply – perfect timing.