La Martina Restaurant and Los Osuna Tequila Distillery

Today is Thursday and I'm only writing about Monday...Lots going on for us and around us. It rained again last evening, pretty hard for a bit but at least no strong wind. The humidity is brutal though. UGH! We both feel the temperatures more when it is humid. I get hotter and Bill gets colder - he went back to bed under the covers to warm up this morning.
On Monday we headed out to the La Martina Restaurant again. This time with friends from the RV park. We got there about 9:30. First we had to look around to see what was new. Nice to go there during the week, not so super busy. 

This table is huge - made from one solid slice of a tree trunk. It is beautiful.

Another one of the paintings in the restaurant. This one looks almost 3-D.

We all had Mexican coffee - called Olla - it is special coffee that is brewed then it steeps in a big pot. In the pot with the coffee are cloves and cinnamon sticks to give it flavor. This is a traditional Mexican style of coffee made in clay pots and flavored with raw sugar and spices such as cinnamon and cloves. (Sometimes also has orange zest in it.) The coffee beans typically used for this recipe are Viennese type dark roast beans. Love it - and I usually drink my regular coffee without sugar or milk. She is taking the coffee out of the pot and straining it into the pouring carafe. The strainer catches the cloves and cinnamon sticks.

A lot of construction going on in the back lot. 

The truck is a load of bricks that was unloaded by two men. They had a good system and unloaded it quickly. Guess next time we go there we'll find a new building 

The women's bathroom is beautiful and inside the restaurant - the men's bathroom is down the stairs, across the lawn, through the construction area ...

We walked up the hill to the little chapel up there. View looking down. Was puffing a little by the time we got to the top. View was worth it. 

 I forgot to take a picture going up. The chapel was locked. Walking down the stairs.

Leaving the restaurant - lots of beautiful bougainvillea.

We were so close to the tequila distillery we decided to go visit it. Our friends had never visited it. Nice drive in, dirt road was in pretty good shape. Beautiful big trees and fields of agave. 
Just getting there. We've visited it many times and I've taken loads of pictures of it. If you want use the search button for either distillery or Los Osunos. It is a really pretty place to visit. 

Landscaping is great. Some amazing huge old trees there. 

Their tequila is supposed to be very good. I've mentioned that, Jessica,  the wife of Roberto, the leather worker in La Noria is the manager here. Everyone there knows us by now. 

Have never seen these big net type things before. Of course, Bill asked. The distillery is expecting a delivery of pinas - what they call the ball of the agave plant that is used to make tequila. With the leaves cut off the ball looks like a big pineapple. One of the beginning steps in making tequila is to cook the pinas. So...The pinas will be placed on these big nets and then lowered into the ovens. Makes the job easier putting them in and taking them out. 

They were washing the nets and setting them out to dry. 

There are two big in ground ovens for the cooking process. 

Going down into the oven to finish preparing it for cooking.

Way down in there. 

This is the machine that squishes/grinds the cooked pinas to free the juice. We hope to see that being done this coming Monday. Of course will blog about it if we go.

I didn't take pictures of the area where the actual distilling takes place.
Outside the tasting and buying area. Nice shade under the umbrellas. By then it was getting hot and I wanted to just sit. There is a salesman there who entertains the visitors by singing. I like to listen to him. Regular tours from Mazatlan go here. 

He started singing while I was sitting there. Turn the sound on. 

Just a dash cam view of the road into and out of the distillery. Lots and lots of agave and pretty landscape. 

There is more and more construction going on around us. No jungle on any side of the RV park anymore. But we now have a big concrete wall around us. Will do a blog on it in a day or two. Especially pouring concrete at night with one flashlight!
No plans for today.