Touring Tequila – Alan’s World Cup Blog #13

Bright and early we headed to the town of Tequila for a day tour.

Bright and early we did not arrive. An accident trapped us in a traffic jam for the best part of three hours. I thought the day’s program might thus be curtailed or rearranged but as it turned it just ran late into the night.

By this time we are appended to a ‘follow my team’ tour of Colombians who are in Guadalajara for the next match tomorrow. So we were part of a group of 20 with a guide, driver and a bunch of stuff to do in rural Jalisco.

On the way we passed extensive fields of blue agave plants, the only ingredient in tequila which these days is by l-a-w law. The spiky plants mature in four to eight years depending on weather conditions and then have the core ‘pineapple’ chopped out. See the scene in the featured image above.

At a factory the agave is chopped into pieces, steamed for about 40 hours, then pressed to extract the juice. If you’ve ever tried sugar cane juice, it’s something like that.

Agave pressed at crushed at the Jose Cuervo factory.

The juice is then fermented and distilled, and voila, tequila. The liquor is very much the state of Jalisco’s claim to fame, along the mariachi bands. Much Mexico!

The town of Tequila is quite a pretty village although predictably full of tourist-trap shops and food joints. It’s part of Mexico’s ‘Magical Village’ program which tries to protect traditional villages of note by putting limits on development. The scheme also funds infrastructure that supports tourism.

Need a lift? Catch the Tequilamobile.

There are some pleasant streets, a crumbly-looking cathedral and noticeably light traffic all things considered; actually it’s thanks to the aforementioned Magical Villages program which tries to divert trucks, buses and so on-on from historic streets to preserve some of the traditional atmosphere.

Quiet streets and footpaths without holes. Make it everywhere please.

A pedestrian mall, tequila style. Oops Tequila style.

After the tequila factory tour we had some food a restaurant just around the corner. It got a bit boisterous so I was relieved to get out and just spend some more time on the cobblestones and among the facades that really did look like the set from a ‘sleepy Mexican village’ movie complete with wizened old men snoozing under sombreros.

Apart from us there were plenty of other Colombian groups. By the time we stopped at a food and drink plaza on the way home, the entourage of yellow (Colombian) shirts had swelled to about a thousand.

While we were out and about apparently there was a large supporter gathering in Guadalajara that attracted thousands.

We didn’t get back to our hotel until close to midnight but even by then we had yet to come across a single Congo supporter.

I strongly suspect that Colombians will be in the vast majority in the stadium tomorrow, and that should be hella fun for Miguel and Diego. While I am joining in as a Colombian supporter the reality is I just don’t know all the traditional songs and chants so inevitably I’m going to be off the pace. Will do my best!

In they day’s games, none of which we saw much of live, Argentina defeated Austria (not us, the mob with alpenhorns) 2-0 with another bunch of goals from Lionel Messi. That makes him the top all-time scorer of goals at World Cup finals matches. The 37-year-old is also leading the goalscoring at this tournament. Highlights here.

France v Iraq finished 3-0, highlights here. Norway also posted a second win, 3-2 over Senegal. Highlights here. Iraq and Senegal are probably both out, unless either of them can wallop the other in the final group game and they get a lucky break with results elsewhere.

Finally Jordan went down 1-2 to Algeria, mysteriously rendered as Argelia in Spanish, no lysdexic jokes please. Highlights here. From this group Argentina will pass to the round of 32 while Algeria and Austria (not us, the yodellers) could both probably pass with a diplomatic draw.

Tuesday (in the Americas) games are Portugal v Uzbekistan, England v Ghana, Panama v Croatia and finally Colombia v DR Congo here in Guadalajara. We’ll be heading to the stadium about three in the afternoon just to make sure to avoid any traffic jams. Please.

Oh, and at breakfast this morning we finally came across some Congo fans. Hiiiiii!

They’ve probably travelled even further than I have.

Enjoy the football and have fun!

Alan Whykes is a Tasmania-based writer and an ex- too many things to list.

This blog is the start of a new section called Tas At Large which showcases stories of Tasmanian diaspora let loose upon the world. 

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