Tequila, Mexico

Most of the tequila that is on the market today is produced in the town of Tequila, Mexico. Since Tequila was only four hours from Puerto Vallarta, Jay and i decided we had to visit.


(click map to enlarge)

Unfortunately we discovered the Tequila tour was canceled that week for the Easter holiday. This however did not stop us and we decided to rent a car and drive there ourselves. Leaving Puerto Vallarta at 6:00am, the map above shows the exact route we took. We were told to stay on the toll roads which were safe and reliable, rather than the back roads and that is exactly what we did. I'm sure most of you think we're crazy, but it was a great adventure!

Welcome to Tequila! (See even I know a little Spanish.)

Blue agave plants were everywhere which are distilled to make tequila.

The blue agaves were huge with very sharp pointy leaves.

Here's the church in the town square.

I found the largest bottle of tequila in town.

We toured the oldest distillery in the western hemisphere, Jose Cuervo, which makes the most popular tequila in Mexico and in the world. It has been owned by the same family since 1759.

The crow is the Cuervo mascot. His name is Jose.

We had to wear hair nets in the distillery. Don't we look sexy?

To actually make the tequila, the green outer leaves are removed and the agave pinas are processed. We tasted raw and cooked agave during the tour. The raw tasted like a potato and the cooked tasted like sugar cane.

Jay wanted to bring one back to the states with us.

Of course we tasted and purchased all different tequila, some that you can only get in Tequila.

If Life Gives You Limes, Make Margaritas!

And that's exactly what we did! After winning a free time-share week, we enjoyed the sun, surf, and margaritas of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

We stayed at the Playa del Sol Costa Sur resort right on the southern coast of the Bay of Banderas. These are some pictures from our room.

Lots of time was spent lounging by the pool and ocean.

It cost 6 pesos (50 cents) to take the local bus from our resort to downtown. You can't beat that! The beach downtown was beautiful. It was so relaxing that we fell asleep for a few hours only to awake to a painful sunburn.

The Malecon is the mile-long oceanfront boardwalk that runs along the main downtown street.

One of our first nights we took a sunset cruise to Las Caletas, an island only accessible by boat. Entering the island on a torch-lit path, we felt like we were going to tribal council on Survivor. There were candles and pulsating drums everywhere. Here we enjoyed a candlelit dinner on the water's edge and a tribal dance show.

Los Arcos (the Arches) is the name given to these huge rocks off the coast. You can see the arching caves that have been carved out from the rocks over time. This is a picture from the ocean.

Sunset from the boat to Las Caletas.

Las Caletas dinner on the water's edge.

We took the bus south to Mismaloya, a quaint bayside town right below Puerto Vallarta. Here they have a walk up to the top of a mountain known as El Eden. We decided to hike up.

Here's Jay holding Los Arcos in his hand.

An hour later, after getting lost three times, we decided to take horses and a guide up the mountain with us.

In the '80s, the movie Predator was filmed in the jungle of El Eden. This is the actual helicopter that was blown up in the movie.

At the top of El Eden were waterfalls, natural rock slides, and a tarzan rope.

Jay thought he was Tarzan.

Here's the sunset from El Palmar, a resturant on the top of Puerto Vallarta.

Aww!

I love this picture.

One of our favorite meals was in Old Town for breakfast at Le Bistro. It was located alongside the rippling water of the river where the food, presentation, and service were exceptional. We ordered "green juice" which was a combination of fresh fruits and vegetables.

One of the most popular things to do in Puerto Vallarta is go ziplining. We did the Los Veranos Canopy tour which has 14 ziplines (the most of any canopy tour in Puerto Vallarta). The longest zipline measured 1365 feet. What an adventure!

Here's Jay coming in one-handed.

I was a little nervous when I saw the cables were held together by duct tape. We have a video of this adventure that we'll post at a later date.

After ziplining we played with some critters.

Our last night we had dinner downtown on the beach at El Dorado, one of the oldest restaurants in Puerto Vallarta. I ordered red snapper that tasted like it had just been caught in the ocean. Fabulous! We drank the water all week in Mexico and never got sick. We were told by others that they purify it now. We also drank margeritas all week. The tequila standard for margeritas in the States is 1 ounce whereas in Mexico it's 2-3 ounces They were delicious!

Stay tuned for pictures from Tequila, Mexico.