Latin America 2021

We set off early this morning to the coach station for our day trip to Jose Cuervo and sunset ride on the Jose Cuervo Expréss! The day started with an hour's coach ride with complimentary Tiquilla before arriving to the vast agave fields for a talk and demonstration on how the agave is harvested which included the opportunity for a volunteer (me) to prove the technique is nowhere near as easy as the butch Mexicano Antonio made it look... Apparently he can trim and replant thousands of agave plants per day!

Afterwards we were off to the museum but due to the amount we needed to fit into the day unfortunately this was slightly rushed. Some of the old cars/wagons and traditional mexican clothes on show were great! After the jog thorough the museum we sat down for a quick Tiquilla tasting, it was the first time either of us had learnt and actually made us both realise how nice it could be when you don't take a burning shot whole! The process involves taking a small sip and leaving it to sit in the front of your mouth, breathing in through your nose (not mouth like I originally thought resulting in coughing and choking) and then swallowing and breathing out through your mouth!

For lunch we chose a local place with a buffet and mariachi band, the food and cocktails were delicious and the whole thing felt like a Sunday lunch with a big mexican family!! Afterwards our guide offered to show us around the grounds of the estate and to the longest bar in Mexico! Unfortunately they had a wedding on so we had to be quick through again but it was great to see!

Afterwards we were sent to an arena for some traditional Mexican music and dancing - by this point the majority of the crowd were very well oiled on the complimentary Tiquilla so the atmosphere was brilliant - seeing people sing, dance and enjoy themselves to songs that I can only assume are classics was brilliant!

Finally we headed out to the train station for the main event of our day which was the express train with Tiquilla tasting! The station itself was very small but the train looked amazing - completely black with gold trimmed Tiquilla branding across the side it was like an alcoholics Hogwarts Express!!

Once on board we were treated to a carriage that looked like something from a film - a first class carriage with a bar, a table seat with revolving seats and a traditional decor that seemed like a New York Speakeasy! The waiter would bring a fresh drink seemingly immediately after your last was finished and the tasting Tiquilla was incredible! The tasting itself was entirely in Spanish, which was of course fine for me but Gem struggled a little...

We spent the rest of the ride speaking with various guys on the train, there was a group of blokes from Costa Rica on holiday who insisted on us getting in touch when we arrive in San Jose and a German/American couple who were lovely!

After a short walk back from the station we made it to the hotel and got an unexpectedly early night in preparation for our 7am flight in the morning!Okumaya devam et