El viaje

20 Minutes up the mountains and suddenly all the crazy, lush vegetation is gone and we found ourselves in a barren mountain highlands around 1.200 m above sea level. Los Altos de Jalisco. It really is crazy how quickly the scenery can change in Mexico.

Then the agave fields started to appear.

Then the agave fields were everywhere .

We knew we where close but had to investigate in more detail.

There is many different types of Agave but Tequila is made only from this, the blue agave.

A bit of wiki:

The red volcanic soils in the region of Tequila are well suited for growing the blue agave, and more than 300 million of the plants are harvested there each year. Agave grows differently depending on the region. Blue agaves grown in the highlands Los Altos region are larger and sweeter in aroma and taste. Agaves harvested in the valley region have a more herbaceous fragrance and flavor. Due to its historical and cultural importance, the region near Tequila was declared a Unesco World Heritage side.

Don Cenobio Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and Municipal President of the Village of Tequila from 1884–1885, was the first to export tequila to the United States, and shortened the name from “Tequila Extract” to just “Tequila” for the American markets.

Don Cenobio’s grandson Don Francisco Javier gained international attention for insisting that “there cannot be tequila where there are no agaves!” His efforts led to the practice that real tequila can come only from the State of Jalisco.

In a move to take ownership of the term “tequila”, the Mexican government declared the term its intellectual property in 1974^.

It is a stunningly beautiful little town, filled with magic people.

And we have found the tallest cactus we have ever seen tucked away behind some corner. These suckers grow 1cm a year. So you do the math. Minimum 300+ years.

The crazy thing is that some of the distillerys are in the middle of the town. The smell of fresh fermentation reminded me of my youth in Bernkastel.

And then there is its dark side:

So would we recommend coming here?

To Tequila enthusiasts maybe. And to people who like to see the same Sombreros and plastic china shit they see in ever other town. Please dont get me wrong , its all part of it but it is just the type of tourism that does my head in.

And since we like Mezcal (and Oaxaca) more, we quickly got back in the car and headed towards Guadalajara Guadalajara!

Still, all in all it was quite the sight, hence Tequila got its own post .