On the Road Again with Mrs. V: Mexico = Tequila (+ a WHOLE LOT more!)

It's ALL ABOUT TEQUILA (at least for today and perhaps the rest of our lives...LOL!)

On Friday morning we were up bright and early...honest! For the first time since we've been in Mexico we left the casa just before 7 AM! The motivation for getting up and out so early was our excursion to the town of Tequila. (Bet you can tell without any assistance what the town of Tequila is famous for...ha!) It was a 4-hour drive to get there, and a 4-hour return drive, too, but definitely worth the trip! (Bob, Sandy, and I all thank Ladd for his incredible driving skills! We never could have and never would have done it without you, Ladd!)

In Tequila there are two major companies that grow the agave plants and produce/distill the tequila: Sauza and Jose Cuervo. So upon arrival we located those to find out the times of the tours. Then we set off to explore the town until tour time.

The town is larger than we expected and as with all Mexican towns it expands out from the "Centro". In "Centro" there is a beautiful, very old cathedral that we visited.

There was a large crowd of Mexicans gathering in "Centro", and they appeared to be "in line" for some reason. So, of course, the interested (nosy?) Americanos had to try to figure out what was going on. From the banners that said "65 +" and from our observations, it seems the Mexicans were signing up for the equivalent of our "Medicare" health benefits.

We had not eaten anything before we left, so we roamed around to check out the MANY, MANY places to eat. Inside one open-air building we located the "food court". It is NOT like the "food court" in our malls, but all individual Mexican "eateries". We decided not to make a hasty decision and walked on. Boy, were we glad we did walk on! We ended up having our "desayunos" at a cafe called "Unni K'fee" looking out at "Centro". It seems this is a cafe for the university students and locals. Our young waitress spoke both excellent English and excellent Spanish. The four of us had delicious brunch meals that included omelets, beans, quesadillas, pancakes, bacon, sauces, hot chocolate and coffee!

Now fortified, we continued our walking to explore the town. We went up and down many interesting streets looking at the businesses, the shops, and the people. When we spotted a local "FAX" business, I decided to go in and see if they had a phone to call my mother. (I've been calling my parents each day from the casa with the Magic Jack on the computer, but would not be able to do that from Tequila.) Well, they DID offer that service, so I told the lady in the shop I wanted to call "mi mama". She did not speak English, so I was trying to tell her my parents' phone number en Espanol. I would have made a good segment for a comedy show as I was thinking their phone number in English in my brain, trying to be sure I said each number in Spanish correctly, then trying to remember what numbers I had already said and what number was next! Ay, carumba! Talk about funny. It was a miracle that it was my mother's voice I heard when the call went through! Ha! My mother said, "It sounds like you are right next door", so it was a great connection and worth being a comedy act.

Back in "Centro" we cruised the street vendors, visited the beautiful Municipal building, interacted with quite a few of the natives, and totally enjoyed our "people watching".

Then it was time to head to the "Jose Cuervo" distillery for our tour. We were guided through all parts of the factory so we could actually see the tequila-making process in action from start to finish. The only disadvantage to this up-close-and-personal tour was that we all had to wear hair nets for parts of the tour. We all looked like "Lunch Ladies from The Black Lagoon"...LOL!

We saw the process, learned the history, saw the "pinas" being cut, tasted the sweet "meat" from the "pinas", learned about the wooden casks and aging, saw how they use misting to keep the environment correct for the casks, etc. Our tour guide taught the group the correct way to sip tequila shots without feeling "the burn" and so we would "survive" the sampling of tequila at various stages of development. We can tell you from experience that his technique DOES work!

We also visited the incredibly beautiful, stone "cellar" which holds many antique glass bottles, casks, etc. of Jose Cuervo tequila. One special case held one of the famous bottles of tequila that Jose Cuervo produced years ago for their 250th anniversary. It was, of course, a limited edition with only about 400 bottles produced. The guide told us that only 2 bottles were left there at the Jose Cuervo factory/gift shops. We were honestly surprised that any were still available, so I asked how much they would sell for. We had no idea what one might cost, but were thinking one would cost $50,000-$100,000. We were again surprised when he told us $2,000. So we decided to buy the last two bottles...JUST KIDDING!

For the ending of our tour we headed upstairs to a table in a beautiful courtyard. The table was set up with special tequila glasses and accompaniments needed to learn about the colors, aromas, tastes of different tequilas. We learned how to hold the tequila glasses properly, what to look for on the glass when you swirl the tequila, how to tilt the glass and move the glass from nose to mouth to get the aroma, etc.

We were "testing" and sampling three different tequilas: Blanco, Reposado, and Anejo. When testing for aroma, we held limon pieces under our noses for the Blanco, "pina" sweet-meat pieces for the Reposado, and cinnamon pieces for the Anejo. Then we did taste testing to determine our favorite. All four of us liked the darkest, longest-aged Anejo the best. Of course, the one we liked the best is the most expensive...ha!

We walked to the Sauza distillery for what we thought would be our second tour, but the information that we got when we checked earlier was not correct. The only tour left for the day was in Spanish, not English. Although we have learned some Spanish during our trip, not quite enough to do a tour completely in Spanish. We weren't really too disappointed, as we felt the tour would be very similar to the one at Jose Cuervo. Plus, we were still able to walk around and look at the beautiful Sauza buildings and grounds.

Just before leaving we visited the Sauza gift shop. You'll be surprised to hear that neither Sandy nor I bought anything! But, do not panic: Ladd and Bob bought several bottles of tequila to bring home!

It was a long, long, long day, but such fun, fun, fun, fun! (Please notice there are more "funs" than "longs"-ha!) We made more great memories today!