PV - Tuesday, 19 Feb 2013

Eduardo, owner of Don Lalin Tequilla Distillery, in front of the oven that bakes the Agave plant.

Cobbleston road repairs. The old fellow could hardly lift the axe.

Another police vehicle to add to my collection of travel photos.

Coffee beans drying in the sun.

The weather continues to be picture perfect and I'm just about at the point where more tan that what I have now won't be attractive! The past few days I've been content to sit the better part of the day in shade, reading and snoozing. I've never been one to lie for hours in the hot sun...usually can't do it...but that cool breeze off the ocean makes it so much easier--hence the amount of tan that I have.

We've been out for dinner a few times...went back to Blake's on Sunday for their t-bone steak special. It was 1 1/2 lbs each of steak with all the fixins' and I brought half of mine home. We reserved a spot there for Thursday (Xmas dinner) and that will be our farewell dinner with G2 as they leave for home on Friday afternoon.

We had a very special day today. After weeks of sitting most of the time (me), we decided to take a new tour to the small town of San Sebastian. It's about an hour's drive west of PV in the mountains and we took a small van tour with only six of us in the van which was so much nicer than a bus full of people.

San Sebastian was originally established by the Spanish in 1530 where silver and gold were mined. It's like something out of a movie: narrow cobblestone streets, old adobe brick houses and buildings, and bouganvilla bushs in vibrant colours. After the Mexican Revolution, the mines were closed and together with the fact that there was no real road (other than a large donkey path), San Sebastian became a ghost town. Seven years ago a road was put through after a couple of the mines were re-opened and families moved back. The government decided to give a huge grant to the town to restore many of the buildings and it has become most reliant on tourist dollars. The largest haciendas have been turned into hotels and restaurants with the emphasis on keeping everything as historically correct as possible. It was totally charming and we had a terrific lunch as well as lots of time to wander around. Our tour guide, Pedro, was extremely informative and we learned lots about local Mexican history.

We made two stops: one to a small tequilla distillery (yes, we got to sample and I loved it) and the second was to a small coffee plantation. Both operations are small, family owned and operated and we were lucky to have owners of both show and explain the process of each to us. The tequilla process is pretty straight forward...they make it moonshine style and the flavouring is done in oak barrels. The coffee process was most interesting for me as the coffee plants are grown in a relatively small grove interspersed with grapefruit, mango, orange, and sweet lime trees. Everything from picking the beans to spreading and drying is done by hand. The only mechanics involved is the machine to separate the coating from the bean, and grinding (after baking in a huge brick oven).

Pedro picked us up at Los Tulas as 10 am and dropped us off at 6 pm so it was a full day but each of us agreed it was well worth the $75 each we paid for the tour, which included lunch. The other couple with us, from Iowa, said they have taken a few tours with Pedro and he's the best...which we all agreed was true. It was a quick dinner at our little restaurant and then Wayne went off to challenge Gail to a game of cribbage.

Wayne and I are still catching up on Downton Abbey...I think we are nearly finished Season 2 and because we have all of Season 3 downloaded to watch, we'll know how it ends before the rest of you!!

That's what's been happening in our little world. Skyped with our little Ottawa girls..miss them so much.  Hope all is well at home and until next time, love and hugs to all. xx