Where Tequila Was Born
If you’ve ever had the urge to leap into Seurat’s legendary painting “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” you already know how it feels to stroll the Malecon in Chapala, Mexico, even if you’ve never been there.
Extending alongside azure Lake Chapala, the Malecon is a waterfront promenade graced by stately palm trees, decorative iron benches, pushcart vendors peddling homemade ice creams, and walkways that lead out of the scorching sun into welcoming shade, or to the cooling mists of a playful fountain.
On the water, fishermen ply their trade from their boats as they have for centuries, while pleasure craft chart a course for exploration of the 48-mile lake.
Surveying this scene, few would dispute the inscription on the wrought iron arch along the Malecon that reads, “Chapala: Little Corner of Love.”
Lake Chapala‘s enchanting lakeside towns, so beguiling they’ve become home to the world’s largest U.S. ex-patriot population, are among many delights that await visitors to Guadalajara, Mexico and its fascinating environs in Jalisco state. And right now, there are even more reasons to go, for Guadalajara was nicely freshened prior to hosting the 16th Pan-American Games last October.
Where tequila was born
One of the best reasons to visit Guadalajara is to do what our group did, and travel back in time to a spot synonymous with a genuine Mexican legend.
Rumbling down rutted roads that kicked up dust and tossed us around our van, we crept the final few blocks on our pilgrimage to the city of Tequila. Sited about an hour away from central Guadalajara, this is the place where the nectar of Jalisco State was first concocted, and where 99 percent of tequila brands drunk throughout the world are produced, our guide, “Roy,” told us.
The Jose Cuervo Tequila campus, encircled by cobblestone streets, sprawls across an expansive city footprint, its size helping ensure about 900,000 liters of tequila are produced daily in its giant plants. By contrast, at the distillery to which we’re headed, Cofradia, a mere 25,000 liters are born each day.
Cofradia is a 50-year-old company among 22 factories making 100 tequila brands in Tequila city. The city itself was founded in 1530 by the Spaniards, who a few decades later brought the distillation process to Mexico.
Not long after, they began harvesting the “pineapples” of the blue agave plant, grown in abundance in fields near Tequila, turning them through a multi-step process into the drink for which all Mexico would someday be renowned.
To raise the best agave, an ecosystem about 600 to 2,000 meters above sea level is needed, Roy told us. Tequila city, at 1,300 meters above sea level, is smack dab in the middle of that range, and additionally benefits from rich volcanic soil. Once baby agaves are planted, it takes six to eight years for them to reach maturity. “But they grow fast during the rainy season,” Roy said.
Though daily production is a fraction of that at the Jose Cuervo plant, Cofradia and its tequilas are highly regarded worldwide. Some of Cofradia’s brands are exported to as many as 35 countries. Said Roy: “The quality is based on the fact the pineapples are hand-selected, and certified organic.”
Tequila city is home to 55,000 people, and 70 percent of the town’s breadwinners work in the tequila industry. For a long time, the city lacked adequate infrastructure to support tourism, Roy noted. But growing demand for distillery tours is now nourishing emergence of boutique hotels, much the same way the downpours of summer roust the blue agave plants from the fertile soil.
Among these hotels, which are invariably housed in centuries-old haciendas, the best known is Los Abolengos (“the legacy“), filling an estate where people and horses were once equally well tended. We tour the hotel’s charming quarters and dining rooms, then repair to sip invitingly cool drinks under towering mango trees on the sun-dappled open-air veranda.
Overhead fans whip up a refreshing breeze, and not far away classical statuary, agave plants and bright umbrella-topped tables circle a sparkling pool, whose deep blue waters are kept clear not by chlorine, but by salt, we’re told.
A place on the lake
The next day offers our opportunity to experience Lake Chapala, the largest body of fresh water in the Mexican Republic. So expansive is the lake that it’s less than 30 miles from Guadalajara to Chapala city, but more than double that to Tuxcueca, on the lake‘s opposite shore. Visitors can easily spend a week of blissful days exploring the quaint towns rimming the lake, reveling in a perfect harmony of water, sky, nature and civilization along the shore.
Whether in Chapala, Ajijic, San Juan Cosala or other waterfront hamlets, travelers can tour 400-year-old cathedrals and inviting art museums, taste home-made candies and bread, hop catamarans to historic Mezcala Island, savor the heavenly scent of freshly-grilled seafood wafting from family-run cafes, or simply search out the best vantage points to enjoy sunsets over tranquil Lake Chapala.
Back in the environs of Guadalajara, it turns into old home week, as we are escorted to one centuries-old hacienda after another. These ancient gated estates, set on sprawling grounds, have remained property of the same families for much of a millennium. Only now are they being turned by those venerable families into inns and quaint bed-and-breakfast establishments, allowing an entranced public the opportunity to experience the charming Mexico of old.
If you’ve been to Guadalajara before, you may notice wider, newer streets and modernized infrastructure. The city enjoyed a multi-million-peso upgrading prior to hosting the 2011 Pan-American Games. Often dubbed “the Olympics of the Americas,” the Games and their 42 separate competitions were witnessed by millions of in-person spectators, as well as TV viewers in at least 40 nations.
In the wake of that big event, the Guadalajara area remains as invigorating as ever. Experiencing its magical mix of natural beauty, history and architecture, your group will surely toast the region with raised glasses, each filled to the brim with the lovingly-created nectar of Jalisco State.
