Tequila

I’d spent some of my sleepless night on the beach of San Francisco researching where we should go next.   From the start we’d wanted to get to the Monarch Butterfly Preserve outside of Mexico City.  If you work backwards from there to San Francisco, you will see Tequila.  Why not make a stop in Tequila when in Mexico, I ask you!

We arrived in Tequila on Monday afternoon, with the Dia de la Revolution holiday still in full swing.  We found our hotel, Hotel Tequila, a $35-40 USD centrally-located spot with secure parking, checked in, and then got ushered to the “Chalula Restaurant” (yes, the same as the hot sauce), a tourist trap that cost as much as the hotel room for lunch.   It was right across from the town square, and we could see that the party was very much going on in the town square.

There were kiddie rides, a bouncy house, and, for the grown-ups, stands selling “cantaro cups” which were terra cotta jars filled with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, fresh-squeezed lime juice, Squirt, and several shots of high-end tequila.  I’m a fan.

The festival had everyone in a good mood and we met several other families and found Tequila to be incredibly friendly.  Which reminds me that Ted is a giant, yellow, conversation-starter.  We haven’t mentioned this in previous sections but it’s been true from the beginning of the trip.  Almost no one ignores him in Mexico.  An honestly-assessed 80% of people comment on him somehow, either to their companions or directly to us.  And a good 20-30% stop, ask if he bites, and then want to pet him.  One of the conversations he started was between Dmitri and 2 older tequila plant workers sitting outside the Iglesia in the square who were simply awesome.  Dmitri really treasures the chat they had.

The next day we did the requisite distillery tour, choosing the off-the-beaten-path Distilleria Alborada which had great reviews on Trip Advisor.  The tour was alright, but the highlight was that there were several kids and Nina and Ted both made new friends.  When we left, Ted’s new bestie, a ~10 year old Mexican boy, ran after us and demanded to know why Ted had to leave.  He didn’t care if the rest of us left, but Ted…that was another matter.