A group from the Thirsty Thursday club took a trip to Tequila, Mexico. We hired a 15-passenger van with a driver, should make the trip easy. Here's a pic of the old, old church next to the city square in Tequila.

The original plans were to tour the Jose Cuervo plant, but they were having some kind of a closed party so the place was pretty well blocked off. Of course, their gift shop was open. Here's a big crow statue just inside their gates.

There were banners hung across the street that borders the distillery. Here it is from both ends. You can see a guy on horseback in the first one.

Also on that street is the Jose Cuervo Margarita Club. Also closed for the private party.

And the entrance to an Artisan's Mall.

I love the downtown areas in Mexico. From the sidewalk it looks like nothing but doors and windows on a long stone building, but once you get inside, there's courtyards, shops, restaurants, etc. Fortress style dating from the Spanish invasion times I guess.

When I took this picture of an old truck turned into a rolling barrel tourist bus, I didn't know this would be what took us to the tequila factory. I say factory because once you get past the little museum and the courtyard area, that's pretty much what it is.

The pretty parts of the distillery:

Then you turn around and see the business end.

Here's where they unload the agave plants that have been harvested. They stuff them into giant cookers where they sit for hours until the sugar is coming out.

From there it's cooked and cooked, strained and cooked some more, transferred from one distilling tank to another until it finally comes out as really strong stuff.

That small stainless tank holds the final product. Strong, you bet. Then it's put in barrels to age. The tour guide told us they buy the barrels from Jack Daniels. Says that's one of the reasons for the color of the tequila, plus some of the taste. I don't know, but it tasted fine.

Here's some agave plants in the yard outside the little museum. I didn't take any pictures inside the museum, there were "no fotos" signs and you know me, obey the rules. Driving through the state of Jalisco you see these plants in the fields as far as you can see.

Here's a shot of the little hotel we stayed in. Right on the town square, all remodeled inside, nice and clean and $25 a night. Perfect little restaurant by the sidewalk.

That night we went up on the roof for snacks and drinks. There was a festival starting that night that was to last a week. Too bad all the tents hide the town square, it was perfect. It really reminded me of a Steven Spielberg movie set in the 50's. "Back to the Future" like. Just a perfect small town. I tried to take pics after dark but my flash wouldn't reach from the roof and the street lights were on.

I won't go into the next day, we were supposed to go to Magdelena where they mine Opels. Could have been an interesting trip, but it seemed like our driver was in a hurry to get home. No matter what we told him he took off toward Manzanillo. Good thing the Tequila part of the trip was so good.