Making Mucho Mescal.

We left South America early. We had originally planned to go to Chile after Ecuador, but because it is winter there, we wouldn't be able to visit the far south. So we decided that instead of making two trips to Chile (one to the north and one to the south), we would combine them into one future trip and instead head to Mexico.

There were several advantages to this plan besides saving on airfare: it would shorten our flight home, we would get to visit one of our favorite cities--Mexico City--, and we would get to eat better food.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty good food in Peru and Ecuador, but after a few weeks it gets repetitive. Speaking for myself, I can only eat so much guinea pig, and the greens are few and far between.

Mexico, on the other hand...well, it's Mexico, an earthly paradise for foodies, with world-class street food, bright colors, and a vibe that makes us happy to be alive.

So we ate and drank our way through Mexico City, Puebla, and Oaxaca, three of the top destinations for the best of Mexican cuisine and culture. Oaxaca especially brims with art, great food, and of course mescal.

We had discovered mescal on our first trip to Oaxaca twenty years ago, but until fairly recently it has been hard to find in the States. These days,especially in California, mescal is trending, so it's easier to find good bottles, but a lot of the really good stuff never makes it out of the villages in the Oaxaca area.

We arranged a mescal tasting tour with Alvin Starkman, a Canadian who has been living in Oaxaca for about 11 years and has become quite an expert on mescal. He picked us up from our hotel along with another couple who we had met at a cooking class a few days before.

Alvin explained to us that there are about eight different species of agave used to make mescal, with each of those species having about fifteen different subspecies. Each of these gives a different flavor to the mescal. The flavor is also influenced by where the agave is grown, what method is used to distill it, and what other crops are planted nearby, to name just a few factors. This variability means that no two mescals, even those from the same producer, ever taste exactly alike. Tequila has much less diversity since it is by law made from a single type of agave.

The villages around Oaxaca are teeming with small mescal producers all frantically trying to meet the burgeoning demand. Some producers have adopted the industrial production techniques used to make most tequila--stainless steel fermenting tanks and computer-controlled baking ovens. But others continue making mescal by hand using family recipes dating back hundreds of years. These mescals are never exported. In fact most are consumed exclusively in the villages where they are produced. These are the mescals Alvin introduced us to.

Two year old agaves, just about ready to be transplanted in a larger field with other crops. Agaves take an average of eight years to mature, with some species taking as long as eighteen years. So mescal production is a long-term project.

Farmers bring the harvested piñas to the producer for processing. The leaves are first removed and used as kindling. Nothing in the process is wasted.

First a fire is built in a large pit. rocks are heated in the fire, then covered with a mat of agave fiber. the agave piñas are then stacked on top. You can see piñas from several different agave species here.

The piñas are then draped with more agave fiber (or a plastic tarp) and covered with dirt. They are then baked for a couple days.

When they are done, they look like this. If you chew a piece, it tastes like a very sweet, caramelized fruit. This is what agave syrup comes from.

The piñas are then hacked apart with a machete and crushed either by hand or horse-powered mill.

Next the mash is fermented in large wooden barrels.

 Distilling is done over a wood fire with either a clay

 

Or a copper pot still.

Flavors can be introduced by adding fruit to the still or, in the case of pechuga, suspending a chicken breast in the steam chamber.

After distillation is complete, the remaining fiber is removed and used to insulate future baking sessions.

Alvin takes a liter of the mescal we bought from this producer home in an empty soda bottle. He delivers to us a sealed, labeled 750ml bottle that is export-legal. He keeps the rest of the liter as his compensation for the service. Most mescal from these producers is never bottled, but is simple consumed directly from these large plastic jerricans.

We returned to our hotel that evening filled with excellent mescal and a far greater appreciation of the art of making this remarkable liquor.

P.

Quito.

Out of 26 volcanoes in Ecuador, at least a dozen are within 50 miles of Quito. Quito is the closest capital city to the equator, the highest at 9,300 feet, and is the only one menaced by an active volcano, Pichincha, which looms over the western side of the city.

31 miles south of the city is the spectacular stratovolcano, Cotopaxi. At 19,347 feet, it is the second tallest volcano in Ecuador. As of July, 2015, Cotopaxi is experiencing a lot of new activity has been recorded and as of the 25th of June, 2015 is under active watch by volcanologists.

Quito has a population of about 2.5 million. The old colonial part of the city, seen in the foreground was, along with Krakow, Poland, one of the first two world heritage sites. The highrises in background are part of the rapidly-growing new Quito.

Quito is a very religious city with many churches, including the largest neo-Gothic cathedral in South America. Designed in the 1880s, the Basilica remains technically unfinished. Local legend has it that if the cathedral is ever completed it will mean the end of the world.

The city's most ornate church is the baroque Church of the Society of Jesus. Started in 1605, it took 160 years to complete.

Towering over the city is the hill named El Panecillo (little loaf of bread), topped by the statue of a winged Madonna, representing the woman of the apocalypse treading on a giant serpent.

Erected in 1976, the statue is made of over 7,000 pieces of aluminum.

This figure is not a colorful Klansman. Penitents that march in Quito's many religious processions wear these conical hoods known as capirotes. You can buy these little religious figurines at just about any shop in Quito.

Racial sensitivity is not really high in Ecuador, as you can see by this sign for this popular chain of restaurants. Ecuador has an African-descended population of about 1.1 million out of a total population of about 16 million. Most Afro-Ecuadorians are the descendants of enslaved Africans who originally arrived in Ecuador in 1533, when a slave ship heading to Peru was stranded off the Ecuadorian coast. The enslaved Africans escaped and established maroon settlements in Esmeraldas, on the northwest coast, which became a safe haven as many Africans fleeing slavery. Unfortunately, the racism deeply ingrained in Spanish colonial society is still found today; Afro-Ecuadorians are strongly discriminated against by the mestizo and criollo populations.

Our hotel in old town Quito was converted from a colonial era convent. The current owners have lavished a lot of money and effort making the hotel a lovely place, abounding in local artwork, including this beautiful skylight.

Outside the bounds of old town, the vibrant new town features exciting contemporary architecture.

P.

Saraguro Market.

We love visiting local markets, so when we heard that the little hill town of Saraguro had an especially large and interesting one, we got on a local bus and made the 0ne-and-a-half-hour journey without hesitation.

It was a lovely trip through green, rolling hills.

The market was large and bustling. The produce was incredible.

There was a wide variety of delicious-looking foods.

 Most the customers were dressed in their traditional clothing.

Short pants for the men.

Even some people without shoes.

 But of course everyone had a cell phone.

We were especially taken by this mobile ice cream parlor.

In all, it was an interesting glimpse into the daily lives of traditional Ecuadoreans.

P.

A Walk Through The Jungle And A Cruise On Cuyabeno Lagoon.

Walking through the jungle is hard work. It's hot and humid, the paths are narrow and twisting, and the mud is deep and slippery.

We struggled through mud that sometimes reached almost to the tops of our rubber boots. The suction was so strong that we almost lost our boots several times.

But there's so much cool stuff to see.

Huge trees and brilliant flowers.

The ceibo or kapok tree is the biggest tree in the Amazon jungle, reaching as much as 150 feet tall.

With huge roots that snake across and under the jungle floor for up to half a mile.

The roots of the palms grow out of the trunk, reaching for the ground to stabilize the tree as it grows taller.

 This iridescent dung beetle is expert at dealing with shit.

 We saw huge liana vines with trunks as thick as trees.

 Hundreds of ant and termite nests.

 A congregation of caterpillars.

And some tiny mushrooms.

 Some of the trees had bright red roots.

After the jungle walk, we went for a cruise on Cuyabeno Lagoon. This is part of of the flooded forest, a unique ecosystem. The trees that grow out of the water provide a home for whatever seeds happen to land on them: bromeliads, cacti (epiphyllum), even other trees.

 They are even home to ant and termite nests.

Their reflections on the still waters of the lagoon are weird and lovely. Sometimes it's hard to see where the tree ends and the reflection begins.

 We stayed for a lovely sunset.

 A fitting end to our jungle journey.

Next, back to Quito.

P.