Rhonda and Deb’s Tequila Adventures-March 14- March 19, 2023

Well the drive was going great until this happened!

The truck lost power just before the Tequila exit. We called her insurance and did our best with our limited Spanish. Finally they found an English speaking gal that had us running up and down the busy toll road looking for a kilometer marker to give our location to the tow truck driver. Literally, Deb was running! 🏃‍♀️

This awesome guy took us into town and tried to find a repair shop. We had absolutely no luck, so he unloaded the truck and we were on our own again. The truck seemed to do ok if we drove slow. We were able to find our Airbnb and a parking spot close.

Nothing we could do at the end of this day so we walked to the center of town for food.

The heart of agave.

We had Cantaritos. https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/3074/cantaritos

We had a yummy dinner at El Meson del Mezcal.

https://m.facebook.com/100054672030330/

I saw this trinket and thought of my son Cameron the sax player.

Parroquia Santiago Apostol

I needed a little sample of the fine Tequila here!

Luckily they had plenty of bottles to fill it when it was empty.

The next day’s exciting adventure was driving and praying our way into Guadalajara to the Ford Dealership. All that praying worked but they kept the truck.

We took a cab to the bus station and got round trip tickets. $420 pesos for two tickets which is about $24 US dollars. Not too bad plus we got an 1 1/2 Mexican bus ride!!

We were happy to be able to crack the windows….no air conditioning and the bus was hot.

Home In Tequila again

We love walking around seeing all the sights.

We found this beautiful truck outside a tequila shop were we stopped for a pre dinner drink.

Beautiful signs are everywhere …. things are gonna be alright.

I had to be in a picture!! See the rainbow in the background? 🌈

The horse was ready for the garage.

Deb is so easy to hang out with. She takes everything in stride.

Photo Credit: Deb English

I love to do these things.

I saddled up to the bar for my second drink.

We found the oldest bar In Tequila and had their famous La batanga! drink.

https://tequila.guide/things-to-do/la-capilla-oldest-bar-in-tequila/

It was tasty!

The bar had a super casual and comfortable feel filled with locals.

Not sure about this friendly guy….. he might have been the owner but he made sure we were having a good time!

The cigarette is a prop….. I don’t smoke!

We did more walking around town the next morning and headed to Jose Cuervo to see if we could do a tour.

Deb was being serenaded again by a handsome man.

Jose Cuervo Fabricaca La Rojena

It was quite a beautiful place. They only offered two basic tour because it wasn’t the weekend so we decided to go see what Sauza had to offer.

This is how they get tourist around.

We spent some time in the museum. It only cost 20 pesos. About $1.25

Awesome bat picture.

They had some wonderful paintings.

These pictures are made from pencils.

This picture was entirely of eraser heads!

Some of my favorites.

A collection of antique tequila bottles.

This was painted like Lego pieces

We decided to take the Sauza tequila tour.

They took us to the botanical gardens to tell about how they grow and harvest the agave.

This is where we could plant our own baby agave.

It’s a very beautiful area.

Blue agave is harvested by jimadores , who use a tool called a coa to cut the leaves away from the core of the plant, known as the piña.

The Sauza bus

Next we went to the fabrica.

Most Tequilas come from the state of Jalisco, where the actual town of Tequila, Mexico resides. For starters, in order for a spirit to be called “Tequila” it MUST come from one of five authorized states in Mexico: Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, or Tamaulipas.

A load of pinas.

We had to wear these glamorous hard hats inside and pictures weren’t allowed.

We are now educated tequila drinkers!

A lifetime supply of tequila

The main plaza where we spent a lot of time each evening.

See the dog?

Photo credit: Deb English

I always enjoy these performances.

This is Deb! Small but mighty. 😊 I gave her an indigenous name, “Angel with tiny feet”. She has been such an amazing friend through thick and thin. I thank God each day that she’s in my life!🙏💕

We took a good long walk in some neighborhoods that you wouldn’t necessarily see on a tour. We were greeted with smiles and “Hola, Buenos tardes”.

Only good vibes in Mexico

Not sure if the we’re advertising semi automatic riffles for women here or not. What do you think?

We got up early before the sun to hike to some waterfalls.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g775272-Activities-c57-t95-Tequila.html

The scenery was spectacular on the way to the trail.

At the beginning of the decent to the falls. It’s hard to capture the beauty of this area.

This was the easy part of the trail.

Tiny waterfall…… about 4 feet. ha ha ha

We crossed the water on rocks because the trail seemed to be on the other side. We did some technical climbing only to find out there was no trail. We practically slid down the hill on our butts…. But we had no injuries so that’s a win!

We finally found the real waterfall. Yay!

It was an awesome hike and Deb is so brave!

The view on our walk back.

We found this great place for salads and sandwiches. I had a salad from here two nights in a row. You know I need my veggies!

We stumbled onto a parade on our walk into the center of town.

They had floats from all the elementary schools in town. The kids were adorable and each float had music and dancing.

Lots of vendors selling food on the sidewalks.

These two were my favorites!! Mr Pineapple and Miss Strawberry!

We had Tequila sunrises in the plaza our last evening. We enjoyed watching the people as it was so busy with happy families and friends.

Bus ride from Tequila to Guadalajara. I had the seat next to me filled with luggage…. It was a bit of a challenge but we did it!

Cab ride to get a rental car at the guadalajara airport.

On our drive back to Lo De Marco, we stopped for lunch along the way. Interesting place, Los Camellos Agave.

https://loscamellosagaves.negocio.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral

I liked seeing the monkey but it was sad that he was caged up.

Same with the beautiful Toucan. I like seeing them in the wild better.

They did have camels!

Friendly but they wouldn’t stand up.

Photo credit: Deb English

All the art is painted so reacts to the black lights at night. It was a cool place

Heading home from Tequila. We took the tequila route for a more scenic drive.

Back in Lo de Marcos on Sunday, We had a lovely brunch together near the square.

This is an amazing story! When my friends Amelia and a Trini heard I was leaving México early, they hopped on a bus for 8 hours to come say goodbye. I’m so fortunate to have them in my life. They are generous, kind and smart. They promised that I will always have to stay when I’m in Mexico.💕