Guadalajara

On our last day in Guadalajara and in Mexico we tried to fit as much in as possible!

We started the day with a visit to the Guadalajara museum. It was a bit smaller than expected, but there were some interesting exhibits and the museum building itself was beautiful. The exhibit that the museum seemed most proud of was the skeleton of a wooly mammoth that was found nearby.

Next we walked to the gothic style church we'd seen on our way out of town on the tequila tour, and which our guide had said was spectacular.

For lunch we went on a walking food tour of central Guadalajara. We tried a number of local dishes including our favourite - the torta ahogada, or drowned sandwich. This is a sandwich made with special hard crusted bread, filled with pork and cheese and then served sitting in a rich tomato broth.

As well as the delicious food we were able to learn more about the city, and went to the roof terrace of a hotel near the Catedral for an excellent view over the entire valley in which the city sits.

In the evening we headed to Tlaquepaque. It's described as a village within the city as the area feels like one of the small towns we'd visited in our travels, with beautiful narrow cobbled pedestrian streets, lovely churches and a central square filled with the sounds of mariachi music. The area also has many interesting shops selling homewares and crafts. We strolled the streets soaking up the atmosphere and browsing the shops.

Tequila

We arrived in Guadalajara much later than planned due to a delay in our flight to Mexico City which caused us to be moved to a later flight, which then also experienced technical difficulties. We checked in to our hotel which is in the Centro Histórico and has strong Spanish influences, being built around a covered central courtyard, then immediately headed out to find somewhere to eat. One of the specialties of the region is birria, which is slow cooked meat in sauce - usually goat or lamb. We found a restaurant and devoured a plate of the goat meat with tortillas, onions, beans and coriander. It was very tasty!

The next day we had prebooked a small group tour for tequila tasting and understanding the production process. When our guide turned up at the hotel we found that we were in a very small group tour - just us.

Tequila differs from mezcál in a number of subtle ways. It can only be produced in the state of Jalisco and parts of a few neighbouring states. It must be made from blue agave, although it can be called tequila with only 51% agave sugars used. It is also generally cooked by steaming the piñas, and production today is much more industrialised than that of the vast majority of mezcál.

We headed out into the countryside and could see fields of blue agave growing as far as the eye can see. Our first stop was a lookout to have an even better look at the fields and to view the Tequila  volcano, which provided the fertile soils of the Jalisco region that makes their tequilas so good.

We stopped at the first distillery - Los Tres Mujeres - and the tequila production process was explained. This is considered an artesanal tequila distillery; however, it was on a much larger scale than any of the mezcál producers we had visited in Oaxaca, and the whole process - excluding the harvest - is closely supported with technology. For example, shredders are used to extract the juice from the cooked piñas. One of the ovens was working so we were able to smell the sweat aroma of the steaming agave.

We then moved on to the tasting where we sampled white tequila, which is straight from being distilled without aging, and then several varieties that had been rested or aged in oak barrels for between 8 months and 5 years.

At the second distillery - Los Tres Toños - the process was even more industrialised, with large pressure cooker style steamers rather than the more traditional brick ovens. There was also a large number of different varieties to try,  including triple distilled tequila and varieties flavoured with local fruits.

We headed to the town of Tequila for lunch at a local market. Once again the goat birria was recommended, so we tried that and a chicken mole dish - both were fantastic.

We were shown through one of the museums in town which is about the prominent local Sauza family whose patriarchs pioneered commercial tequila production staying in the latter decades of the 19th century. There was time to look around the main square, the church and a couple of shops before getting some tequila-flavoured ice cream and heading back to Guadalajara to beat the traffic.

In the evening we wandered around the central area of the city, visiting the Catedral and admiring many of the historic buildings, and the four plazas which surround the Catedral in the shape of a cross.

Huatulco

Our time in Huatulco was spent walking into town for food and coffee and lounging by the pool, looking out at the ocean - a mini break before the last few days of our trip.

We flew directly from Oaxaca to Huatulco on Aerotucán, which flies 13 seater Cessna aircraft on the route once per day. The flight was lots of fun! Ed and I boarded quickly and were able to secure the seats behind the pilots for a fantastic view.

We arrived in Huatulco quite early, so we dropped our bags at the hotel and headed into town for some lunch.

After lunch we looked through the shops and then walked down to the port area. The coast is much more humid than it was in Oaxaca city. We'd been warned that it would be hotter than Oaxaca but the temperature itself wasn't too hot. We adjusted our walking speed a bit as the humidity made walking sticky and when we were back at the hotel we had a relaxing swim in the pool and a walk along the beach.

After walking into town for brunch and delicious iced coffee the next morning we returned to the hotel for a swim and to lounge by the pool. In the afternoon we indulged in some treatments at the spa - a pedicure (Jane) and massage (Ed).

After breakfast the next morning there was time for one last walk along the beach before heading to the airport.

Tlacolula

After some deliberation we decided to visit the weekly market at Tlacolula as it was recommended by both Alvin from the mezcál tour and by our hosts at the bed and breakfast. We're not huge fans of shopping at markets as it can be a stressful experience if bargaining is required, and if stallholders hassle you to look at their wares. Also, travelling to and from the market seemed like it might be complicated.

After our usual delicious breakfast - this morning's hot dish was egg with tortilla and a delicious spicy tomato sauce - we walked about 30 minutes to a specific corner on the main road out of town where both buses and colectivos headed in the direction of Tlacolula stop. A colectivo is basically a shared taxi. In this case it's a regular taxi car that the drivers squeeze up to 5 adult passengers into. In other places it's a larger vehicle like a van - with likely a much higher number of squeezed-in passengers. It was reasonably chaotic with drivers tooting and calling out their destination. We found an empty car and were able to grab the prime back seats so we wouldn't be too squashed. Soon we had 4 passengers and were off. We covered the 30 km to Tlacolula in about 20 minutes, picking up a 5th passenger on the way, and followed the crowds to the market.

While there are some craft stalls the main purpose of the market is for locals to buy and trade their produce and assorted goods. Anything you could think of buying can probably be found at the market, from fruit and vegetables to tools, to insects and sports gear, to live animals, stereos and laptops.

We wandered through the first area and within minutes made our first purchase. A couple of stalls later we made a second. Overall we made five purchases from as many vendors - a record for us! We found the market to be busy but relaxed, and there were lots of interesting stalls to look at.

In the afternoon we headed out again to do some shopping. We had seen embroidered cushion covers earlier in our stay, which we now purchased. We also visited the local artisans' market. While we were looking around the clouds were getting very dark, and at this time of year evening thunderstorms are common. As we felt the first spots of rain we quickly found somewhere to eat. The storm passed through while we were eating - or so we thought. On our way back to our accommodation we stopped to look inside the Templo Santo Domingo. About half way home from there the sky opened and it poured with rain again. We were quickly very wet so sheltered under an archway while we watched the lightning and waited for the thunderstorm to pass.