Tequila is about an hour's drive from Guadalajara, much of it through large agave fields. More photos of Tequila below.
This church was near our apartment in the historic center of Guadalajara. Look at the tree!
Click on any photo to see a larger image.
The head with the tree on one of the main streets of Guadalajara, near the cathedral ... by day ...
In the governor's palace, of the state of Jalisco, next to Guadalajara's cathedral, Jose Clemente Orozco painted murals of Hidalgo, father of the Mexican independence. Nobody actually knows what Hidalgo looked like, because the Spanish, who executed him in 1811, destroyed all records of him. But maybe he looked like this.
After our long historical walking tour of Guadalajara, we visited Museo Cabanas, which was until 40 years ago an orphanage and where Orozco painted the dome, the ceilings, the walls, with dozens more murals depicting Mexico's history. Orozco painted with only one hand, he lost the other as a young man.
A couple of friends recommended "La Docena", a seafood restaurant in an upscale shopping complex. We followed their advice.
Although "La Docena" really means " a dozen" in Spanish, Lorraine had 20 oysters, 4 each of 5 different places around the Mexican coast.
We made a small side trip to Tlaquepaque, a colorful part of Guadalajara with restaurants, art shops, mariachis and this copy of a Diego Rivera painting in the main street.
In Tequila, we visited the Jose Cuervo tequila distillery, about a block from the main square. "Cuervo" means "crow" and here we are with it.
I was amazed. Although right in the center of the small town of Tequila, it is a busy working distillery, not just a show. Behind Lorraine, the workers are splitting the agave, from which tequila is made. It is then burnt in the ovens next to the workmen and eventually distilled.
A mountain of agave, about to be split up and burnt in the ovens right behind.
At the end of the tour, we had a tequila tasting. Not my favorite drink, but interesting, ranging from the "Reposado", the cheapest, which goes from distilling straight into the bottle, to different "Anejos", which are stored for different periods of time in barrels in the warehouse on site. I think I will stick to coffee (see our YETI cups of coffee among the tequilas) and wine.
