About an hour outside of Guadalajara is the archaeological site of Guachimontones, of the Teuchitlan tradition, which features the only circular pyramids in Mesoamerica. The society that existed here began perhaps as far back as 300 B.C. It makes for a perfect day trip, especially when one is looking to keep the kids occupied. It is a fairly small site, nothing like the other Mayan ruins in Mexico, but it makes for a nice break from the city.
May was peak season for mangoes and there was a tasting at the Consul General’s residence of several of the tasty varieties. I missed this last year, so I was glad to make it by this go around.
Back in mid-May, a group from the consulate was invited to tour Hacienda Patrón. Never being one to miss out a trip to a tequila distillery, I signed up as soon as I received the invitation from the CLO. The Patrón facility is located about two hours east of Guadalajara, whereas most distillers are located around the town of Tequila, one hour west of Guadalajara. The location was selected based on the availability of the natural spring water supply they wanted to use in the production process.
I had not noticed Patrón tequilas in stores around town. It turns out only 1% of what they make is sold in Mexico, with 80% of their production going to the U.S. We had a great tour, complete with lots of insight into their production process, lots of tastings and a delicious lunch and more sampling options in a beautiful bar and dining room. Tours of Patrón are by invitation only, so I was very glad I was able to make the outing.
One way that Patrón varies in their production is by using open fermentation tanks.
They also use their own patented yeast, which they produce in their own lab on-site.
This is a compost area the size of four football fields. Much of the compost is sold to farmers in the area, as well as to their blue agave providers.
The “Black Magic Woman” cocktail, prepared in this glass container that is filled with smoke prior to serving.
Recently, we finally decided to get on the Global Entry train. We were able to apply and handle the in-person portion here in Guadalajara, thanks to the American Chamber of Commerce providing some space. We had to go to an office building in the Providencia section of town and we were able to enjoy some nice views from the 17th floor.
A few belated pics from Easter morning.
After the rainy start to our trip, the weather turned back to normal and we were able to wrap up our time with lots of digging on the beach and shell collecting.
Over the Presidents’ Day weekend, we traveled with two other families to La Paz, on the Baja peninsula, about two hours north of Cabo. Cheap flights on Volaris make this a great alternative as La Paz is the less touristy and less expensive option to Cabo.
We weren’t all able to stay in same place, so we were in a development just outside of the city that had it’s own beach/country club as well as a marina. The other families were in a development across the harbor. Our first full day the weather turned strangely wet and windy for that time of year, but we were able to get in a little beach time before we had to head inside.
After our time around the Zocalo, we headed to see Chapultepec Castle to wrap up our day of sightseeing. We arrived with 30 minutes to spare, which meant we got in for free, but didn’t have a lot of time to take in all the sights.
The Palacio National is home to the offices of the president of Mexico and the National Treasury. It is best known as home to the nine Diego Rivera murals that depict the history Mexican civilization.
When we found out that DiploMom’s third tour was also going to be in Guadalajara, we decided that we needed to buy another car, so the days of being a one-car household would come to an end. We arranged to buy a car from an Australian diplomat that was departing Mexico City, so at the end of January, we flew over to pick up the car to drive back to Guadalajara.
We had one night in Mexico City, so after arriving on a Saturday morning, we crammed in a full day of sightseeing, starting in the historic center of the city, known as the Zocalo, home to the Metropolitan Cathedral, the National Palace and the Aztec ruins of the Templo Mayor.
DiploDad 