Our first internal flight in Mexico was with Volaris and it went well, swimmingly well, and it was cheap as chips along the lines of Ryanair but without all the little traps to charge you an arm and a leg just because you hadn’t done this or that.  The 2hr flight cost us £30 per person including checked in cases.

On arrival we took a taxi to The Hotel Roma in the centre of Guadalajara which was to be a stop off for just one night.  As we checked-in we were handed a little padded envelope package containing Cheryl’s trousers that had been AWOL for several days, relief! The trousers had made it and arrived before we did.

We had a walk around the central plaza that evening, exploring the cathedral and other beautiful buildings before settling down for dinner in a great little place that had margaritas at 60 pesos and even better, 2 for the price of 1…..now that’s right up our street.  The food was very good, not overpriced and it was just a really nice bistro type of place with several small balconies overlooking the main plaza. 

Next day we left our main cases at the hotel and headed off for a 2 night stay in Tequila, and why wouldn’t you?  The 2hr bus journey was quite tortuous to start with as it headed off in totally the wrong direction to pick up passengers before finally heading towards Tequila.  The first hour was spent touring the city whilst the second part of the journey, which covered the greater distance, then took a further hour.  The seats were a little uncomfortable and to help her back Cheryl used some clothing to make a small lumbar support cushion.  The countryside outside town soon became field after field of the blue agave plants used for Tequila and it was quite stunning.

On arrival in Tequila we hopped off the bus and with just light backpacks the 15 minute walk to the hotel was really easy.  We had booked a king suite, however, the room we were shown looked nothing like the pictures shown on Booking.com.  It was tiny with just a small window which overlooked the corridor used to get to the room.  Not very private, very dark and quite claustrophobic.  Cheryl immediately asked for one on an upper floor hoping to get a proper window, and we usually do request a quiet room on a high floor. We were told that was not available.  Cheryl stood her ground and stated that not having a window was an issue and was certainly not something we would book.  We were then shown the room at the front, with a large window and a balcony overlooking the street.  This one looked just like the pictures on booking.com.  We were allowed to have it but we were told it was booked for the following night but she would see if we could stay. 

Did we mention logistics had been tricky?  We wanted to take a Tequila tasting tour and there are several noted in the guidebooks.  There was even mention of a Tequila train which was a day trip from Guadalajara and sounded a lot of fun.  However, add Covid to the mix and finding out what was actually available was tortuous to say the least.  Internet searches revealed that the train was now only operating as a ‘luxury’ aka ridiculously expensive exclusive tour by Jose Cuervo and only on Saturdays, and with no obvious way to book it

Our two-night stay in Tequila itself was to allow us to get to the distilleries in person and find out what was really on offer.    With the room sorted we were able to relax a little and set about organising a tour.  First, we went to Sauza but unfortunately the English-speaking tour at 1pm was full, as was the next day and the day after.  ‘Damn those bloody tour companies’! Just to be safe we booked on the next tour in Spanish at 3pm in the hope that we would be able to understand some of it and hoped we may find an English one for the next day.

With a couple of hours to kill we set off for a walk and found a restaurant to get some lunch.  We had just ordered beers when Cheryl had an ‘oh shit’ moment.  ‘F**k! I think I left my trousers on the bus’!  Neil couldn’t believe she had chosen those trousers as her back support, and that she could be so careless to leave them behind, especially after all the efforts made to find them before.  She left him to finish his beer and ran off back to the hotel to check that they weren’t in the room and then asked the very helpful hotel staff with good English who tried to ring the bus company.  No answer so she ran back to the restaurant and met Neil on his way back and we set off back to the bus stand to see if there was any chance we could find them.

The bus we had been on was headed on to another town, Magdalena, and then we hoped it would turn around and head back to Guadalajara.  The old guy at the tiny counter in the scruffy bus station was just lovely and with the help of a few mimes and google translate he made a call in which we heard the word ‘pantalones’ at which point Cheryl shouted ‘Si, pantalones!’ He nodded so our luck was in.  We had to wait until 2pm when the bus would return.  It was a long wait and about 2.15 a bus pulled in and we recognised the driver. 

Cheryl shot inside and was relieved when he pointed to the pesky pants which were now on the driver’s bags on the front seats.  Cheryl was once again reunited with her trousers.  Neil suggested that from now on she should wear them every day, sleep in them every night and shower in them every morning just to be sure she never lost them again.  She declined.

With only a few minutes to spare we made it back to the Sauza distillery for the 3pm tour and finally luck was on our side.  There were only 5 other people on the tour.  An American couple who were on a year out and travelling in a van plus 3 Mexicans from Merida.  Both the Americans spoke Spanish, she was actually a Spanish teacher, and the three Mexicans all spoke English so they kindly agreed to have the tour in English…..fab!   The tour was fun, we learnt a lot about growing and harvesting the agave that they use to make tequila, then we had a talk on tasting which was sadly only available in Spanish but the other guys all helped us out with a rough translation.  Whether we understood the finer points was irrelevant as the Tequilla tasted great! 

Tequila is another Pueblo Magico and deservedly so.  It has the rich history of the drink and is a really attractive small town with many pretty colonial buildings and public plazas.  It is also a noisy town mainly because it’s now a party central for hordes of Mexican tourists.  The party atmosphere starts early with the imaginatively shaped and brightly coloured tour buses for each distillery pumping out music as they roll through the cobbled streets. There are many touring musicians hoping to earn a few pesos serenading the diners at all the restaurants.   We also experienced our first Mariachi band who were fantastic. 

The next morning our hotel wanted us to change rooms.  Apparently, the other booking for the room had preference over us.  Neil wasn’t happy as you can imagine, and stood his ground as when we checked our original booking we were clearly in the room shown in the pictures.  We weren’t moving so if we couldn’t have the room we wanted our money back.  He soon got a call from customer service at Booking.com.  Hurrah! The hotel had backed down and we could stay.  There was however, quite a frosty atmosphere when we went past reception on our way to get lunch.

We were treated to the amazing Voladores which was something Cheryl wanted to see and we thought we would miss as our schedule wouldn’t allow travel to Papantla where they originate.  It’s an old mystic tradition where 5 men clad in traditional white clothes climb a 30m pole with ropes attached to their ankles. Four sit around the edges and rotate the pole so that the ropes coil around it while the fifth plays a mournful sounding pipe and drums.  The men then fall backwards and gracefully spin around as the ropes unwind and glide down to earth stopping with their heads a few inches off the ground.  There is something about eating dinner in a square overlooking The Cathedral, listening to Mariachi and watching Voladores gracefully return to terra firma.

We didn’t manage to find another Tequilla tour in English but overall we really enjoyed our time in the town.  We also realised that had we made it onto the 1pm tour in English on the first day that Cheryl would never have got those trousers back as she probably wouldn’t have remembered them until it was too late to catch the bus on its return to Tequila.  Some things were meant to be.

We had planned to bail out of the bus ride back to Guadalajara as soon as we reached the edge of town and then use a taxi to get back to the hotel in the centre.  That way we would avoid the needless hour long loop around the outskirts.  However, our plan failed as the bus did not make the same stop as it had done on the way out so we were stuck, and the traffic was horrendous to add to the misery.  We eventually got to the hotel, we were reunited with our cases and were allowed to check in early, hurrah!  Then we got to the room – hang on, this one is much smaller than before, and where is the fridge?  Back down to reception to have yet another argument over what we booked.  Eventually with the help of our friend Google Translate and scrutinising booking.com for the pictures of the deluxe room showing a fridge we were successful and upgraded to a junior suite!

Guadalajara is a huge city and our plan to stay in the centre was perfect as we were in walking distance of the main plazas and historical buildings.  We returned on a Saturday and returned to the restaurant overlooking the Cathedral plaza for dinner.  After eating Cheryl noticed the lights had gone out in the Plaza below and looking from the balcony spotted a countdown clock projected onto the Cathedral.  We had a perfect view of the amazing sound and light show which went on for about 10 minutes.

Sunday morning and whilst having breakfast at the hotel we noticed there was no traffic at all outside.  From 8am to 2pm the main artery routes into town are reclaimed for cyclists, including one with a tiny dog running down the centre of the road, pedestrians, skaters and all other non-motorised forms of transport.  It worked really well and we hope it’s a model that all big cities and towns could adopt.  We spent the rest of the day wandering through the various plazas and pedestrianised streets before returning to our favourite restaurant.  Just before 8pm the lights dimmed and we watched the sound and light on the Cathedral again.

With an early morning flight to Los Mochis we made the reluctant decision so stay at an airport hotel the night before.  Now did we mention how difficult logistics were proving to be?  Well, next day we were about to fly to Los Mochis still without confirmation that we had tickets for the train and without these we had no way to get to the Copper Canyon.  We had been told the tickets were booked but we had to pay for them before they could be released.  Reluctant to provide credit card details via email we asked for a What’s App call and that’s when the communication ground to a halt.  First thing on the Monday we sent lots of messages but no reply until it was time to change to the airport hotel.  Fortunately, on check in we realised one of the guys on reception spoke really good English so we asked him if he could call the customer contact centre of the hotel that was meant to be making the booking.  He did, turned out our contact had a day off but he eventually got hold of her mobile and we are extremely grateful, as it was agreed that we should go immediately to the train station when we land in Los Mochis to finalise everything.

The hotel was fine but the eating options, as is normal with airport hotels, were limited.  It was Hobson’s Choice, American chain restaurants Chillis or Dennys?  Chillis it was and we weren’t surprised……….crap!

Very early next morning the hotel shuttle dropped us at the airport for another Volaris experience to Los Mochis and yet another blip in the purchase of our tickets.  Next time folks!