Una Alemana en Mexico

 From New York we hopped on a plane down south. After a short layover in Houston we arrived in Guadalajara. From the very start this was the part of our world tour I was most looking forward to. Because, although I had never been to Mexico before I have always loved the culture and, of course, I am head over heels in love with the local food. Which is one of the few disadvantages of living in Europe: good Mexican restaurants are exceedingly rare.

We landed pretty late Saturday night and just had a quick Welcome Margarita before hitting the hay. Sleep was much needed as the next day held one of the best and most exciting adventures I ever was invited on: we were whisked away to Tequila.

I’ll be the first to admit that I had no idea Tequila was anything else but a drink (that can quite drastically alter an evening - both for better or worth).

At the risk of spoiling the grand surprise, we would of course eventually tour a tequila distillery. But before that we had some time to explore the town. And it was just as colourful and lively as I could have hoped.

We starte with the statue of tequila harvesters in front of Parroquia Santiago Apóstol. And of course the church itself. 

We ultimately made our way back to Fábrica La Rojeña where we would get a crash-course on how Jose Cuervo tequila is made from plant to glass. 

Chronologically, of course you need to start out at one of the many agave fields that surround Tequila and are one of the most important economic outputs of the entire region of Jalisco. The green-blue plants look perfectly scenic on the red soil backdrop.

Our guide proceeded to demonstrate how these agaves are harvested - which is truly hard labour, especially in the July midday heat.

The leaves are cut off and may be used for side-products like baskets. What you really need for agave syrup or tequila is the core, which is somewhat wooden in nature. You can already chew on it while still raw, although the typical sweet taste will only be developed when the core is smoked and burnt later during the process. 

This was also the point of the tour where I got to pretend that I was anywhere near strong enough to actually harvest an agave plant. Coincidentally it was also when ever last one of my colleagues left back in Germany stopped believing I was actually working on these trips (understandable although untrue).

As you would expect, after the agave plants are harvested they are being transported back to the factory.

Here they are then cut open and fed to the oven where the extraction and distillation processes occur. This part of the factory is highly secretive and they are very keenly asking you not to take pictures. Of course we happily complied and only started snapping again when we made it to the storage halls.

And of course no factory tour can be complete without a tasting session. Unfortunately, ours took place deep in the cellars which was perfect for atmosphere but horrible for pictures.

It follows logically that after spending half the day on odour feet and having tasted our way through no less than five tequila versions, we needed food. Lots of it. And our gracious hosts had found the perfect spot: vibrant in colour, heavenly in taste and perfect in ambient.

After one final margarita we strolled around town a bit more before driving back to Guadalajara (with a few bottles of tequila as souvenirs in our bags).

Come Monday, we were back to spending most of our time in the office. But waking up alone was an experience every day with this view curtesy of the fantastic Casa Habita.

Fortunately, we did manage to cut out around lunch time on our final day. We made our way to Tlaquepaque, a most charming and unique town south to Guadalajara. 

Here me had one final lunch, already bemoaning having to leave behind Mexican food after having the most delicious meals all week. I can’t prove it through scientific means, but everything just tastes so much more flavourful here. And they really know how to set a scene.

In short, this was maybe one of my favourite trips ever - business and personal travel combined. And I‘m so looking forward to be back.