Today we were up and out early; we had hoped to schedule today's tour tomorrow but needed to make a minimum count for the tour to go. This was a morning-to-mid-afternoon double-bill: a small town featuring skilled leather workers, then a tequila plantation/distillery and lunch.
We were all settled in comfortably (fewer folks than the free tour yesterday) and had stopped to get a bag of ice for the complimentary beverages the driver had brought. Just as we pulled out of the parking lot, his phone rang and we were directed back to the hotel to pick up one more couple. So we had a gentleman from Seattle, we three from Chicago, and the couple from Kentucky; nice variety and everyone was friendly.
The drive up to La Novia was familiar by now ... miles of two-lane road between brown, dusty fields. Occasionally there were bean fields (above), beginning to dry to yellow (the sign that the beans have dried and are ready for harvest), or grain fields which had been reaped and now were waiting for cattle to be pastured there and complete the conversion to fallow land again.
The sport of cockfighting is still popular during some celebrations here, and the birds are raised with great care on large farms. Each cock has his own triangular home, painted white to keep it cool inside, and as you can see these cover acres of land. Only a few breeders are licensed in order to protect the birds as much as possible.
It was notable to cross the Tropic of Cancer, an unexpected milestone.
We did note that virtually every town had constructed a colorful arch over their road where it intersected our main road. No one wanted to be bypassed by accident!
We arrived in La Novia to find, essentially, a ghost town. There were a couple very thin dogs sleeping in the street, a very small amphitheater in the center of town, and a few houses & shops showing few signs of life. We stopped at one door and were ushered into a world of detailed leatherwork. The expected functional items (purses, change purses, belts) were all around, but in addition there were saddle elements, rococo leather masks (full sized and miniature), and an assortment of whips. The local cowboys would not lack for tools of their trade!
After some time there, we visited a second shop specializing more in personalized belts and also "flip-flops;" here, the artisan demonstrated his skill at embossing the belts. Clearly he benefited from many years of practice.
Having plumbed the depth of the offerings here, we climbed back aboard and headed back down the "Tourist Road" toward the agave distillery. This had been in business for many years but went dormant after a good while. Over the last few years, new ownership had re-started the distillery, using blue agave from their own fields and from other farms in the area. The distillery sits behind a unique cactus fence.
As it's not in the correct Mexican state (Jalisco) it can't be called tequila, but trust us, it's a whole lot like the real thing. You can find it under the Los Osuna label, and you won't regret your purchase.
For more details on the distilling process, see the supplementary post.
By now, we were realizing we'd had our complimentary beverage ... BEFORE lunch. We were happy to pile back into the van and head to Quelite. The village welcomes visitors with a sculpture of someone playing ulama, a ball game with roots in Aztec times.
We enjoyed a spectacular meal in an airy, well-decorated restaurant; the only small drawback was that our waitress' command of English was limited to "beef" and "chicken." Eventually the various questions on the menu offerings were resolved or bypassed, and we enjoyed a very fine meal indeed. We were entertained by the house cat and the house sheep at various points. While this rooster was quite convincing, we ultimately decided he had to be mechanical.
We had some time at liberty to visit the local church and the short shopping strip. As advertised, this town actually demonstrated inhabitants. We drove through some of the residential streets, but no one had any room for goodies from the bakery. SIGH!
Regrettably, no one was hungry enough even for guacamole, let alone a full-blown dinner ... but another spectacular sunset helped us to drift off into sweet dreams.
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