Tequila at Sunrise.

  Tequila at Sunrise. 20/11.10

  The early start to escape the greedy campsite owner was worth the effort. We rolled into Tequila by midday. Here there are several distilleries that manufacture the world famous spirit.

Tequila City Limit

  The red volcanic soil in the surrounding region is particularly well suited to the growing of the blue Agave, and more than 300 million of the plants are harvested there each year. Agave tequila grows differently depending on the region. Blue agaves grown in the highlands region are larger in size and sweeter in aroma and taste. Agaves harvested in the lowlands, on the other hand, have a more herbaceous fragrance and flavour. The town thrives on the distillery tours as we found out after the event; we spied the Casa Maestri Distillery and had a personal guided tour of the factory.

 The work is hard and long, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Very little automation here, the bottles are hand filled from a hopper, the labels are applied by hand.

The root of the Agave Cactus. They are cooked in the ovens

When cooked, the roots are mashed to extract the sugary liquid.

You can also mash your fingers too, in this open gear train.

Or put your head in the drive belt.

Fermentation vessel.

The Distillery.

Manual bottle filling.

Manual slapping of labels.

 Camping is the name of the game so we head for Lake Chapala in a south easterly direction. The northerly east/west route around the lake was a tourist hot spot and one to be avoided, unless of course crazy golf and dominoes rings your bell. A favourite winter holiday location for the Canadian and American coffin dodgers. No campsites available we followed the major highway to the eastern end of the lake, as once past the holiday resort end of the lake the single track concrete and dirt road was fairly rough. At the small town of Jamay while looking at a roadside sign for camping a man directed us through some rusty iron gates to the rear of a restaurant. From the conversation we worked it out that if we had dinner in the restaurant then we could camp for free on the lake side. A so we did, deprived of our fish supper yesterday, today was the day we were going to make up. As the only customers and with much grappling with the menu, the result could be risky; hopefully the waiter understands the order. We thankfully received what was expected, my fish overhung the edges of the plate by 3 inches each side, the waiter gleefully grinning as he delivered the dish. Now there were several questions that were bothering me now: How hot is the chilli sauce? Was it caught last month? Did it come from this lake? The water looks like soup. Not sure of the kind of fish it was, the bones were big enough to feed the dog with but it tasted good, and with a drink each a dinner for 2 was less than £10.00.I am pleased to tell you that all was good, I survived!

  We were locked in that night by the restaurant owner; the steel gates had a large chain and padlock to keep them closed. This was not a surprise to us, as the owner had explained previously. We could have helped ourselves to the bar, as all was left open. How trusting. We were unsure as to what time the gates would be opened in the morning, but Mexico starts early and we did not expect a problem, all was ok. On the road for Morelia at 08.30, Lonely Planet informs us that the town is coolest place that you have never been, A hostel in the historic town centre is found, and it’s that good we stay 4 nights and celebrate the Mexican Revolution with the town.

The Cathedral Bell Tower

Morelia Centro

Magnificent Cathedral

Fire work display every Saturday night. (free!!)

Carnival Time

Grand finale, after 2.5 hours.