Tequila..... the agave landscape

Tequila

If there is a word that came along with the name of Mexico, this one would be Tequila, so this time we're going to the state of Jalisco, in the region of the valleys we'll find this township, another magical village know for it's tasteful liquor. I decided not to drive for obvious reasons, so I took the night bus and six hours later I arrived to Guadalajara, the capital city of Jalisco, and then I had to take another bus in the old central bus to Tequila, it takes about and hour and a half to arrive, but at 9:00 A.M I was stepping off the bus.

The first thing to do is take the breakfast, so we're going to the local market where you may try the traditional birria, some kind of soup with chilli and goat's meat

Birria

Now we're ready to take a walk around this town, and it's really a very small town, very quiet and peaceful, with a strange tradition to me, I'm not a catholic person, not even religious, but attract my attention the fact that in the afternoon maybe four or five o'clock,  each person on the street, turns the face to the church to receive the blessing from the priest, of course I know that the people from this region of the country it's very puritan or prude, but I didn't expect that!!

Jimadores

The main attraction of this town it's to visit one of the many plantation of agave to know the process of distillation, you may visit Casa Sauza, Jose Cuervo, Herradura or the one that I choose La Cofradia.

Abandoned Factory

But first the roots, this town was known by the Chichimecas and Otomies as Tequillan, that means place of tributes, this place was taken by Cristobal de Oñate in 1530, the Franciscans arrived the same year to evangelize the tribes, but in 1541 was an insurrection, Fray Juan Calero climbed up the hill to tried to convince them, but he was sacrificed by stones and arrows, he was hanged facing the statues of their gods.

Now the first place to visit is the temple of la Purisima a very simple temple in the main square, over this street you may find dozens of stores that offers different kinds of tequila, liquors and creams made of tequila, the stores extends for 3 or 4 blocks and every owner offers you a shot of tequila, so imagine when you reach the end of the street how you'll be.

Beside the temple is a garden honoring Miguel Hidalgo and Benito Juarez, on the corner is the town hall, inside of it, a mural that represents la Mayahuel, the Mexica goddess of the agave, let me tell you her legend, she was a beautiful young lady that lived with her grandmother, a tzintzimitl (a star that tries to hide the sun) one day Quetzalcoatl convinced her to descend to the earth to love her, both converted in the branches of a forked tree, when her grandmother woke up and discovered that she wasn't there, she called the other tzitzimime to search her, when they were getting closer, the tree was divided in two, when her grandmother found her turned into a branch, she destroyed her and leaved her to be devoured, when they were gone, Quetzalcoatl took the pieces of the young lady and buried them, then it sprouted the agave.

Mayahuel

Now we're heading to La Cofradia a ranch and factory that grown and distilled tequila, the liquor acclaimed by many of my favourite artists, like Sammy Hagar in his song "Mas Tequila" or the Eagles with "Tequila Sunrise" or The Champs. This beautiful ranch is surrounded by the agave landscape, declared cultural heritage by the UNESCO. the guide took us to know every step of the process, in the middle of the tour you may eat the core of the agave, very sweet, and at the end of the tour I had the chance to try the tequila that just came out of it's final process, a tequila of 57 degrees!!!, I have to say that the Mexican regulation does not allowed to sell liquor higher than 40 degrees of alcohol, then we visited the wine cellar, a big one, with trees inside of it to keep it cool.

If you are planning to visit Tequila, another option is the Tequila Express, a train that departs from Guadalajara.

Well that's it, I have to return to the city, but I know that I have to return to this town, theres a few things that I missed, like the Tequila Volcano and to visit a waterfall or maybe ride the bicycle through the agave fields.

Thank you!!