After we got back from Chicago we spent a few more days in Mexico City waiting for my new credit card which never arrived (thanks for losing it Australia Post), then we decided to bugger off and explore more of this massive country. Next stop was Guadalajara and Tequila.
Guadalajara isn't much to write home about, but it was on the way to the coast so we figured we might as well stop there. It was also the best place to visit Tequila from. We only spent 4 days in this city, two of which were day trips to other places. Needless to say we didn't see much. Basically we just walked around a bit and saw the usual churches and buildings and whatnot. The best thing about it was the day we chose to walk into town was the day they close off a road for everyone to cycle, skate, walk and run without fear of being run over. We've been to a few cities now that do this and we think it's a brilliant idea. But yeah, as you can see we weren't overly impressed by the city and really had no desire to see or do anything else, so we made a quick escape.
Not before our day trip to the nearby town of Tequila though. And no, it's not a coincidence - this is indeed the birthplace of the drink that people love or hate (or both, depending on what stage of the night you're at). It's only about 1.5 or 2 hours from Guadalajara, so it was a nice easy day trip. When we arrived we walked around the town a bit to get an idea of how many distilleries there were and which ones we wanted to visit. It's only small (about 30,000 people) but it's actually quite a nice little town with some attractive buildings and a good vibe. Maybe that had a bit to do with what people were drinking. We went into the Mundo Cuervo distillery (producers of Jose Cuervo) but the next tour in English wasn't for another couple of hours, so we decided to roam around a bit more and see what other tours we could find. We ended up going on one that lasted for a couple of hours and visited an agave field and two distilleries. The most unique thing about it though was the tour vehicle - not your typical mini van or bus but a massive bloody brewing barrel. No shit. We were actually the only two in it with our tour guide for the first part, when we drove around town past some of the distilleries and stopped at one of the oldest that's still in operation. They had some massive old copper stills that they were replacing with stainless steel ones, but you could tell just how old the whole place was. Then it was time for a tasting or two. I actually can't stand tequila as it makes me want to vomit immediately, but they had something even I could handle - piña colada flavoured tequila. I know, I know, it's not real tequila, but I didn't want to miss out completely! And it was actually quite nice. After a couple of those you even start to get a nice little buzz on. After picking up the rest of the group in the barrel-mobile, we headed out to a blue agave plantation. It was a cool sight, row after row of these spiky blue plants in red soil. The most unexpected thing is that the 'heart' of the plant is actually a pineapple looking thing, and it's the sap from this that is fermented and distilled. See, we did actually learn something - I bet you all thought we only went there to get shitfaced. Our final stop was another distillery, where we actually had a proper tour of the production plant, seeing all the different stages of the distilling process. And of course at the end there were more samples to be had. All in all it was a good day, and we didn't even get hammered.
The other day trip we took was out to Lake Chapala, the drawcard being that it's Mexico's largest freshwater lake. It's a pretty little place, but again, not much to do there apart from look at the lake. It seemed like the kind of place retired Americans would go, so we didn't stay long. We did, however, see a quinceañera celebration, which is a big deal in Mexico marking the transition into womanhood on a girl's 15th birthday. Think My Sweet Sixteen, but old school. The girls wear the works - full on ball gowns, tiaras and are plastered with makeup, and they have elaborate photos taken outside churches and other public areas. They usually have an army of make-up, hair and dress poofing assistants hovering on the periphery, ready to swoop in and fuss away between photos. It's actually quite a strange sight, as it looks like she's ready for a big dance or night out, but it was only about midday. So, after a couple of hours by the lake we were done. In fact, we were done with Guadalajara too, so we were ready to make our way to the coast.
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