Tequisquiapan

The city of Tequisquiapan is about an hour and a half drive from San Miguel de Allende. Every year I’ve heard about their annual wine and cheese festival.

“I want to go,” said our friend Paola, “Let’s go tomorrow.”

“Somehow I don’t think an afternoon of drinking wine and eating cheese and then driving back is such a great idea,” I said.

“I’ll hire a driver,” she said; and did.

The next day Alex, Rodrigo, Pao and I pilled into Pao’s car with a quiet, competent driver at the helm. The ride there took a little longer because we had to stop at Pao’s apartment in Queretaro so that Pao could change shoes.

I liked the Tequisquiapan immediately. The narrow streets and architecture had a very European feel. People were well dressed and the town was very clean.

The festival was held in a big tent in the park, just steps from the town square. It felt kind of like a mini Oktoberfest except with wine instead of beer. And being from California I found the variety of wines offered to be very lacking. So I settled for buying a cheese and meat plate and a magnum of champagne. We pulled up stools around a wine barrel, visited with Pao’s co-workers who had joined us, and listened to the band.

“There’s Tory,” said Rod.

I’d wanted Tory, our architect, to meet Pao since she purchased some land a couple of years ago and eventually wants to start building. I’ve been very happy with Tory’s work, and as a tall, strapping young man, he is very easy on the eyes. I flagged him down and he came over to our barrel. Tapping Pao on the shoulder I said, “Pao, I’d like you to meet out architect Tory. Tory, this is Paola.”

Pao turned around and looked up at Tory. Extending a limp hand her eyes got big and her mouth dropped just a little too open. It took an awkward second for her to spit out, “Nice to meet you.”

We exchanged some pleasantries and a soft agreement to schedule something in the future where they could sit down and talk. As Tory walked away I turned to Pao. “Wipe the corners of your mouth Pao. You’re drooling.”
After we’d polished off the champagne we strolled into the center of town and found what is probably the best restaurant Tequisquiapan has to offer. And in honor of the festival, they just so happened to be offering a five course wine pairing dinner. The food was passable at worst and some courses were really wonderful. The same was true of the wine, and all for 350 pesos per person; a real bargain. Throughout the meal a Spaniard presented each wine and discussed its qualities and how it was best paired with the food.

The atmosphere was so upscale, as one expects from a wine pairing dinner, that I was surprised when one of the owners (a woman probably in her late 50’s) asked if she could have one of my cigarettes. The whole table stifled smiles as I said “Claro” (of course), but then we had to stifle our laughter as she proceeded to serve us our next course with a plate in one hand and the lit cigarette in the other. (So much for upscale.)

The driver proved to be a God-send as minutes after we got into the car, we were all asleep.

The next weekend Rod and I returned for lunch and some light shopping. We also went to the monument for the geographical center of Mexico. Rather unimpressive given some of the monuments that I’ve seen in Mexico. But at least we can say that we’ve been there.
In short, I’d say that Tequisquiapan is a nice place to visit. There is not a lot going on and one probably needs to bring one’s own party to have a good time. The town is known for its thermal waters and spa’s which we have yet to experience. But I think they have a golf course so we’ll probably be back.