BajaNomad - Tequila stories

Tequila stories

castaway$ - 11-29-2012 at 11:22 AM

Several years back we were sitting in the Pelican bar in Mulege, it was December and there was a nice little fire going. I had been out fishing that day trying find the yellowtails but didn't have much luck so I figured I might drown my sorrows with a couple cervezas and some tequila.
I'd been sitting there for a little bit when this old mexican fellow wearing a straw hat with a scorpion ornament on it comes in and sits on the stool next to me, I gave him the standard "Buenos Noches" he nodded and orderd a beer. I sat there for a moment, looking around the room and this guy from the corner of my eye, his presence was comfortable and I was compelled to talk with him however I only speak a little spanish, just enough to get me by in a restaurant or gas station, not conversational, yet I wanted to talk with him.
I ordered myself a Don Julio to go with my beer and I turned to the old guy and asked "tequila", "Si" he replied with a nod and Scotty poured him a Don Julio, again he nodded and said "gracias". Silence followed for a few minutes while he sipped his tequila, me being the typical gringo I slammed mine back and ordered another. I watched the old guy sip, sip, sip, and I was thinking thats not how you drink tequila and I slammed mine and ordered another. Shortly after finishing my third I noticed the old boys was gone so I ordered up my fourth and asked if he wanted another, he nodded. Scotty set us up again. When the drinks were poured he turned toward me and started talking in spanish and oddly enough even with my limited spanish I was pretty sure I knew what he was saying! I listened and nodded my yes's and no's but I wasn't quite ready to start talking.
Scotty mas tequilas por favor. Watching the old guy sip the tequila I new if I kept my pace I'd be on the floor so I started sipping too, Mmmmm I never really noticed the taste of tequila before, sweet with a hint of smoke pretty good stuff, this guy had it right sipping is where its at.
After sitting and sipping for awhile the glow I had gave me the courage to speak, I fumbled through trying to ask the guy if he liked fishing, I was pretty sure I screwed it all up but to my amazement he nodded and started talking back about fishing. During the tequila haze that followed we had a great conversation about fishing, he told me his favorite spots, when and how to fish them and I understood! I didn't know why but the tequila was helping me understand.
After another hour or so I knew I needed to get back to the RV before I had to be carried so I thanked him for the conversation and remarked I hoped to talk with him again.
I got up the next morning a little late with a fat head but still decided to go fishing with all of this new knowledge. We headed south around the point and I started looking for the land marks the old guy had told me about and at first I didn't see any of them so I started to wonder about the whole thing but then there was a rock aligned with the cactus on shore just like he had said, we pulled up and started fishing, whack! FISH ON! We had a great day fishing based on the spots he told me about.
I've never seen the guy in Scorpion hat again but I still sip
my tequila.

[Edited on 11-29-2012 by castaway$]

Lee - 11-29-2012 at 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by castaway$
Several years back we were sitting in the Pelican bar in Mulege, it was December and there was a nice little fire going. I had been out fishing that day trying find the yellowtails but didn't have much luck so I figured I might drown my sorrows with a couple cervezas and some tequila.
I'd been sitting there for a little bit when this old mexican fellow wearing a straw hat with a scorpion ornament on it comes in and sits on the stool next to me, I gave him the standard "Buenos Noches" he nodded and orderd a beer. I sat there for a moment, looking around the room and this guy from the corner of my eye, his presence was comfortable and I was compelled to talk with him however I only speak a little spanish, just enough to get me by in a restaurant or gas station, not conversational, yet I wanted to talk with him.
I ordered myself a Don Julio to go with my beer and I turned to the old guy and asked "tequila", "Si" he replied with a nod and Scotty poured him a Don Julio, again he nodded and said "gracias". Silence followed for a few minutes while he sipped his tequila, me being the typical gringo I slammed mine back and ordered another. I watched the old guy sip, sip, sip, and I was thinking thats not how you drink tequila and I slammed mine and ordered another. Shortly after finishing my third I noticed the old boys was gone so I ordered up my fourth and asked if he wanted another, he nodded. Scotty set us up again. When the drinks were poured he turned toward me and started talking in spanish and oddly enough even with my limited spanish I was pretty sure I knew what he was saying! I listened and nodded my yes's and no's but I wasn't quite ready to start talking.
Scotty mas tequilas por favor. Watching the old guy sip the tequila I new if I kept my pace I'd be on the floor so I started sipping too, Mmmmm I never really noticed the taste of tequila before, sweet with a hint of smoke pretty good stuff, this guy had it right sipping is where its at.
After sitting and sipping for awhile the glow I had gave me the courage to speak, I fumbled through trying to ask the guy if he liked fishing, I was pretty sure I screwed it all up but to my amazement he nodded and started talking back about fishing. During the tequila haze that followed we had a great conversation about fishing, he told me his favorite spots, when and how to fish them and I understood! I didn't know why but the tequila was helping me understand.
After another hour or so I knew I needed to get back to the RV before I had to be carried so I thanked him for the conversation and remarked I hoped to talk with him again.
I got up the next morning a little late with a fat head but still decided to go fishing with all of this new knowledge. We headed south around the point and I started looking for the land marks the old guy had told me about and at first I didn't see any of them so I started to wonder about the whole thing but then there was a rock aligned with the cactus on shore just like he had said, we pulled up and started fishing, whack! FISH ON! We had a great day fishing based on the spots he told me about.
I've never seen the guy in Scorpion hat again but I still sip
my tequila.

[Edited on 11-29-2012 by castaway$]

I liked this story. Think there's room for every kind of tequila drinking. Sip, chugg, mouthful (mine), with lime without. Thanks for writing this.

I wear reading glasses and half way through the story, I looked away a couple times, lost my place, had to go back to the line before, focus on what the last couple words were, scroll down trying to pick up the next words, hunting the sentences.

Would future writers consider using about 6 or so sentences and then skipping a line for a new paragraph? I'll be able to understand more in less time and frustration. Thanks.

Might be my screen. Don't have trouble with books.

sancho - 11-29-2012 at 04:22 PM

I remember a Pelican Bar on, I believe the second
floor of the La Mision Hotel in Loreto. My wife was
in P Vallarta a few yrs. back, observed a Gringo at the bar, betting another patron he could drink a bottle, either a
5th or qt., in one continous motion, the guy
did just that, sounds impressive. I always thought the Agave plant,
was a cactus, ran across info it is not, more like a Yucca,
Joshua tree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave
I'm refering to my first time down the peninsula, '83-'85, Mision Hotel on
the malecon, of sorts, in Loreto, the drinking incident
was in PV, Old town

[Edited on 11-30-2012 by sancho]

DENNIS - 11-29-2012 at 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sancho
betting another patron he could drink a bottle, either a
5th or qt., in one continous motion, the guy
did just that,

He's lucky he didn't fall off the barstool...dead.

willardguy - 11-29-2012 at 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sancho
I remember a Pelican Bar on, I believe the second
floor of the La Mision Hotel in Loreto. My wife was
in P Vallarta a few yrs. back, observed a Gringo at the bar, betting another patron he could drink a bottle, either a
5th or qt., in one continous motion, the guy
did just that, sounds impressive. I always thought the Agave plant,
was a cactus, ran across info it is not, more like a Yucca,
Joshua tree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave

hmmmm, I always thought it was more in the lily family. anyway I used to have this straw hat with a scorpion on it, man did I get alot of quality booze wearin that thing....

vacaenbaja - 11-29-2012 at 05:42 PM

I think of the tequila plant as aloevera for your guts......

Udo - 11-29-2012 at 05:45 PM

I know OSPREY knows that sentences need to be properly spaced in order to retain the reader's interest.
That is why his writings are so well read and popular with NOMADS.

Quote:

Originally posted by Lee

I wear reading glasses and half way through the story, I looked away a couple times, lost my place, had to go back to the line before, focus on what the last couple words were, scroll down trying to pick up the next words, hunting the sentences.

Would future writers consider using about 6 or so sentences and then skipping a line for a new paragraph? I'll be able to understand more in less time and frustration. Thanks.

Might be my screen. Don't have trouble with books.

Udo - 11-29-2012 at 05:52 PM

BTW:

I'm one of those who has difficulty reading more than three paragraphs that are on the computer screen, so I generally print the entire piece, and therefore able to read without losing my place. :light:

Marc - 11-29-2012 at 06:24 PM

Quote:

I tossed quite a few at that bar. Gone but not forgotten.

KaceyJ - 11-29-2012 at 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Udo
BTW:

I'm one of those who has difficulty reading more than three paragraphs that are on the computer screen, so I generally print the entire piece, and therefore able to read without losing my place. :light:

Udo , do you have a scroll wheel on your mouse? If you do you can set it to scroll one line at a time .

Saves ink.

jeans - 11-29-2012 at 08:04 PM

Quote:

Whenever I come across something I want to read but is not easy on older eyes (no paragraph breaks or odd colors like electric blue on black background) I just cut & paste the whole thing onto a Word doc.....and break it up into readable chunks .

vandenberg - 11-29-2012 at 08:19 PM

Quote:

Doubtful !! In the first place, this bar has been closed for many years. I'm talking early 90's. Had some clever bartenders there, who were probably in cahoots with one of the bettors and supplied some iced tea. Even that would be tough to drink in one motion. However, if you want to kill yourself, that's a novel way to do it. :biggrin:

dtbushpilot - 11-29-2012 at 11:02 PM

I learned to drink it like a Mexican years ago, I still find a way to drink too much of it though....

Marc - 11-30-2012 at 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandenberg

Quote:

Right. I think the hotel closed in 1994??

Udo - 11-30-2012 at 09:13 AM

I have a scroll finger on my Mac mouse, and if it does, I have no idea on how to set it to read one line at a time, Kacey.

Quote:

Originally posted by KaceyJ

Quote:

Udo , do you have a scroll wheel on your mouse? If you do you can set it to scroll one line at a time .

Saves ink.

boe4fun - 11-30-2012 at 09:39 AM

My rotarian friends in La Paz keep their tequila in the freezer. They say it's better for sipping that way.

shari - 11-30-2012 at 10:02 AM

Needless to say I have a few raucous tequila tales but my all time favorite is from Yelapa close to Puerto Vallarta when I was in my early 20's.

Some amigos from a sailboat I was crewing on rented a casa in Yelapa and our first night there we went to the "disco" which was just a cement slab with a palapa over it and a small bar.

To get there we had to cross a little arroyo...when we got to the hoppin place called Club de Yates we asked if they had tequila. A rather devious smile crossed the rather hunky waiter's face as he asked me to come over to the bar. From under the bar, he pulled out an ominous looking jug and whispered Ricea...huh? OK, whatever...my spanish wasnt so great but I understood it was a local moonshine tequila made from a special cactus.

We had a few shots and some beer, danced a bit then decided to go back to the casita for more pesos. The tide has risen so there was water up to our... I cant remember where....

the next bit was a tad blurry but when I got back to the dance floor...I was dancing up a storm as was everyone else on the packed floor. After awhile I glanced down and realized I had no shorts or shoes on...nada...just my t-shirt which didnt quite cover my unmentionables...ooooops....funny thing was that nobody seemed to notice!

I learned the next day that Ricea has "special" hallucinogenic qualities not unlike magic mushrooms...whoa....now that was good tequila!

the next day I found my flip flops neatly together at the high tide line but never did find my shorts....only in mexico!

QUETZALCOATL - 11-30-2012 at 11:02 AM

My Mexican friends many yrs back showed me this game where ever1 starts out standing and you pass the bottle(s) of tequila tell only 1 person can stand. any1 else played that?

Osprey - 11-30-2012 at 11:05 AM

The Search for Cien Fuegos

My early Baja runs were from Las Vegas to San Felipe and beyond. In those early, salad days I drove a little too fast – anxious to get to Mexico; really the liquor store in San Felipe. I would literally run from the truck to the front door, eager to see if my favorite tequila, Cien Fuegos was still on the shelf.

For many years I was not disappointed. There it was, the distinctive label captured me like no schmaltzy Madison Avenue ad. Simple, distinctive, descriptive – Hundred Fires; a pastoral scene of Mexican field hands burning the agave heads in the field, getting them ready for the big wagons to haul them to the distillery.

I would load up on the sweet stuff, let the air in the tires down to 19 pounds, bounce and slide my way to the first night’s campsite on the beach. With plenty of ice and gas and provisions I could take my time setting up camp, picking out just the right tunes, laying out the stuff for a nice evening meal. Then it was time for Cien Fuegos. Back then I always had two or three salt shakers, at least one bag of fresh limes, the fancy shot glasses from the gift shops. There was lots of ceremony to the thing. I took my time. The first taste was like electric sugar – the burn (if there was one) was not pain but some teasing titillation to the tongue and palate. As much as I loved the taste, the sensation, the ceremony meant I took the elixir in small, neat sips and usually by dinner time I really had not put much of a dent in the big bottle.

And so it went. I rarely missed a meal because of my love of the stuff; I will admit to some sloppy midnight dinners but back then that was just part of the deal.

Then came the fateful day in San Felipe that my Cien Fuegos was not on the shelf. I bought some Herradura Blanca and went sadly on my way. The nights were just as misty warm, the sunrises just as breathtaking but something was missing. At each little pueblo or store at a road crossing I would look for my favorite, ask the counterman if they still make it, can he get it, when was the last he saw it, etc.

Over the years my romance with rustic Mexico waned and my love of sportfishing changed the way I visited Baja California. No more camping. Airplanes to where the fish were biting. Sleeping in beds, in air conditioned rooms. Drinks at “the bar”. When I asked the bartenders about Cien Fuegos their eyes glazed over, they shook their heads and laughed at the funny gringo.

Things change. Now that I’ve moved to Baja Sur I buy Herradura Hornitos at Costco, sip it from any handy cup – no salt, no lime.

The music stayed. That part of the ceremony will never die – it goes with the smoky taste, the sound of the surf, the starlight from my hammock on the patio. If I close my eyes I can almost smell the acrid smoke from fires in some far off field.

Martyman - 11-30-2012 at 02:23 PM

Herradura Hornitos? I thought Ol Horny toes was Sauza.

sancho - 11-30-2012 at 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
Yelapa close to Puerto Vallarta .

the hoppin place called Club de Yates I learned the next day that Ricea has "special" hallucinogenic

Way too nostaligic, many memories, my first Mex yrs. were spent in
PV, including the panga ride to Yelapa from the malecon
by the Rosita Hotel in Vallarta. The bar next to Posada
Roger in PV would bring out the Ricea on request
D, I believe I do remember a falls, the cattle boat from
PV would pour a few dozen tourists who would scamper up
to some trickle of agua, not us who thought we were
LOCALS, you know the kind who scoff at the daytrippers
from town, not like us who were living out the
UNDISCOVERED village of Yelapa in a beer haze for days

[Edited on 11-30-2012 by sancho]

DENNIS - 11-30-2012 at 03:58 PM

Yelapa Falls...pleeeeze. :yes:

Sweetwater - 11-30-2012 at 05:15 PM

From my high school/college days in the early 70's...

The memories that have a hazy glint to them. :cool:

"Tequila Sunrise"

It's another tequila sunrise
Starin' slowly 'cross the sky, said goodbye
He was just a hired hand
Workin' on the dreams he planned to try
The days go by

Ev'ry night when the sun goes down
Just another lonely boy in town
And she's out runnin' 'round

She wasn't just another woman
And I couldn't keep from comin' on
It's been so long
Oh, and it's a hollow feelin' when
It comes down to dealin' friends
It never ends

Take another shot of courage
Wonder why the right words never come
You just get numb
It's another tequila sunrise,this old world
still looks the same,
Another frame, mm...

805gregg - 11-30-2012 at 06:23 PM

It was the late 60's or early 70's, my ex wife, her sister and I were in Hussongs,
drinking beer. A young couple comes in and starts drinking tequilla shooters. About 45 min or and hour later, they are in a big, argument, yelling and screaming like all get out. In comes the the federal cop comes in and stands by the fireplace holding his rifle. I went over and told the stupid gringos to cool it or they would go to jail. They mellowed out and within 1/2 hr were asleep heads down on one of the tables. So within 1-1/2 hrs they went from a nice frendly couple, to angry drunks, to passed out on the table, tequilla in moderation is best.

mike odell - 11-30-2012 at 06:29 PM

My tequilla thoughts? Bad tequila will make you take back stuff you
did not steal!
Show me a sane person, I will cure him with tequila.
I went on the tequila diet, I lost 3 days!

:lol:

wessongroup - 11-30-2012 at 06:41 PM

Thanks for the distant memories -- WOW, could walk in the "camp fire" and really drive fast

Marc - 11-30-2012 at 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sweetwater
From my high school/college days in the early 70's...

The memories that have a hazy glint to them. :cool:

Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5NnZcdtMnw

watizname - 12-1-2012 at 11:04 AM

In the old days, before sanity arrived, the trip down was fueled by beer and tequilia as much as Nova, and octane booster. From about 9am on, there was an open Corona between my legs. At each pit stop, of which there were many because of the beer, the girls would get out the "fun box" which had the makings of Osprey's ceremony in it. Tequilia, limes, salt, a small knife to cut the limes, and of course we all had our personal b-tchin shotglass. We would all partake in the ceremony, and go on down the road. We never got anywhere very fast, and it's amazing that we made it.

sancho - 12-1-2012 at 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by watizname
In the old days, before sanity arrived, From about 9am on, there was an open Corona between my legs

Same here, after clearing the checkpoint so. of Ensenada
beer between my legs. I wasn't alone, I'm sure some
young whippersanppers here do the same.
Getting a little older one at least learns a few things