We spent our first week in Mazatlán
exploring the city from Playa Bruja (Witches Beach) in the north to El Faro
(The Lighthouse) in the south, from the Zona Dorada (Golden Zone) to the Centro
Histórico. We fought city traffic (turning on the Garmin when we
got lost) and learned how to ride the buses. We shopped for groceries in the big-box stores (Mega and Walmart) and for
fruit and fish in the Mercado Municipal. We ate lunch under shade trees with
lovers and tourists in the Plazuela Merchado, and dinners at canvas-covered
taco stands with dirt floors and wood barbecues. After a week we needed a break from the intensity of the city. We drove east into the foothills of the Sierra Madre to visit two
villages known for their picturesque settings and handmade products of local artisans.
La Noria
La Noria de San Antonio is a colonial village in the foothills of the Sierra Madre about 40 km northeast of
Mazatlán. It was founded as a mining camp in 1565 and prospered from mining
into the 19th century (link).
 |
| Entrance to La Noria |
Today, La Noria (pop. about 1,300) is known for its cowboy culture, colorful
adobe houses and artisans working in leather, iron and pottery.
 |
| Street in La Noria |
 |
| House in La Noria |
Working in small factories, local
artisans produce a variety of leather goods, including horse saddles, purses, sandals,
masks and belts.
 |
| Leather goods factory in La Noria |
 |
| Machetes |
 |
| Leather masks |
The colonial village contains the
historic Iglesia
de San Antonio.
 |
| Iglesia de San Antonio |
 |
| Interior of Iglesia de San Antonio |
Vinata Los Osuna
About a kilometer outside of the
La Noria we saw fields of blue agaves in neat rows and a dirt road leading into the hills.
Following the road for a couple kilometers through the agave fields, we came to Vinata Los Osuna, a factory hacienda founded in 1876
that produces mezcal from blue agaves (Agave
sp.) (link).
 |
| Field of blue agaves (Agave sp.) at Los Osuna |
On a tour of the distillery, we learned from our guide that tequila is the official name of alcohol made from blue
agaves around the city of Tequila in the state of Jalisco. Los Osuna, in the
state of Sinaloa, cannot legally call their product tequila, so they call it
100% Agave Azul (Blue Agave).
 |
| Huanacaxtle tree (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) at the entrance to Los Osuna |
|
The hacienda is the largest distillery
in Sinaloa and grows all of its blue agaves. The mature in 7-8 years, so the
plantings are staggered to produce a harvest every year (link).
 |
| Los Osuna distillery with underground steaming hornos (ovens) in the foreground |
Most states in Mexico have a tradition
of distilling alcoholic drinks from various species of agaves. Tequila (primarily
from Tequila near Guadalajara) and mezcal (from six Mexican states) are
“designations of origin” and have federal standards for quality. Agave
distillates without a designation of origin may not meet federal quality standards (link, link).
 |
| Agave "piñas" (pineapples) that are steam cooked to produce the agave miel (honey) |
The factory at Los Osuna sat idle for three decades
before the current family restarted it. They use
a yeast isolated from soils in the area and do not add additional sugars, only those found in the ripe piña (pineapple) of the agave,
which is cooked (steamed), crushed (to extract the juice), fermented and distilled
(link). [The addition of non-agave sugars produces mezcal "mixto." Our guide told us that non-agave sugars and flavorings worsen a hangover.]
 |
| Agave Azul aging (resting) in oak barrels at Los Osuna |
There are 166 species in the genus Agave and 125 of them occur in Mexico. Tequila
is produced by the same process as mezcal, but unlike mezcal, tequila can
only be produced from Agave tequilana Weber Blue variety (link). Los Osuna makes three kinds of mezcal –
Blanco (clear, not aged), Maduro (yellow) and Añejo (amber). The color comes
from aging (resting) 3-11 months in oak barrels; loss from evaporation is about 10% per year. The longer blue agave is
aged and the smaller the barrels in which it is aged, the deeper the
color and the more it absorbs the flavor of the wood. And the
more it costs (link).
Our guide taught us the four
characteristics of good mezcals and tequilas – color, viscosity (body or legs), fragrance
and flavor – and how to drink it – inhale, take a drink, swallow and exhale. Some people prefer Blanco because it is the purest Agave Azul. At the end of the tour, we sampled Los Osuna's Agave Azuls at a small outdoor bar under the huanacaxtle.
El Quelite
El Quelite, about 40 km north of Mazatlán, is a farming village (pop. about 1,700) founded
in the 19th century along the Rio Quelite.
 |
| Rio El Quelite looking upstream to El Quelite |
The area is known for its “training camps” for fighting cocks.
 |
| Cock fighting ranch on the road to El Quelite |
 |
| Fighting cock |
El Quelite has
many restored adobes, some of which are now galleries and restaurants.
 |
| House in El Quelite |
 |
| House in El Quelite |
Like La Noria, El Quelite is known for the work of its artisans in wood and leather.
El Quelite is also known as one of the
last towns in Mexico to play ulama, which is descended from an Aztec version of a Mesoamerican
game played with a large rubber ball. Dating back over 3,500 years, it is the first game known to be played with a rubber ball (link; link).
 |
| Statue commemorating ulama in El Quelite |
There are three variants of ulama (hip, arm and paddle). Hip ulama is played
with a 3-4 kg (7-9 lb) rubber ball on a rectangular court by teams of five players who can only use their hips and upper thighs to hit the ball. The object is to keep the ball in bounds and scoring is complex (link; link).
You can see how it is played on YouTube (link).
No comments:
Post a Comment