Mezcalero alongside a pine vat with fermenting baked agave

Think of mezcal as you would single malt scotch, or better yet as you would red wine with different vintages from different regions of France, or perhaps as wine from grape varietals from the diverse valleys and coastal areas of Australia. Forget about the worm for the time being, and forget forever the reputation with the college crowd of mezcal's better known sister, tequila.

Introduction

Mezcal is made from the agave plant, often referred to as maguey. Its production, according to most recent evidence, pre-dates the Spanish Conquest. Many of today's facilities use the same age-old technique, although some of the tools of the trade have changed. Clay pots originally used for manufacture and storage have been replaced with copper serpentine for distillation, and oak and glass for aging and transporting.

Mexico Mosaic: Bat Cave and Robin Hood

I felt the Grand Marquis downshift as I drove up La Boca Canyon. I followed the river, looking for the Bat Cave, which is an unusual formation, 100 feet above the road. As the Bat Cave came into view, the large, dark, rectangular entrance appeared to be a mine entrance, the work of a stonecutter rather than that of nature. Opposite the cave was a platform, which had been built for tourists who wished to watch for flights of bats.

Gravel crunched as I parked on a wide spot in the canyon in front of Café San Ángel. Pedro, the owner, invited me to rest and sit inside the screened patio where bougainvillea were in bloom.

Pedro was eager to talk and asked me if I knew the history of the cave. "No," I said. "I've heard that it was a bat cave, and that the bats flew out in the evenings, seeking insects. And, visitors come to see the sight."

"It was once the home of Trevino, a bandit who robbed the rich and gave to the poor," Pedro explained.

"Sounds like our story of Robin Hood, which I saw at the movies when I was a boy," I replied.

Spotlight on Jacobo Ángeles ...

Try searching the Americas to find creators of folk art with more form, symbolism and importance to the development and sustenance of their culture, than those of indigenous ancestry in Oaxaca, one of the southernmost Mexican states.

Many so-called experts in folk art have mistakenly written that the origins of Oaxaca's wood carving tradition date back fifty or sixty years, to a small number of carvers residing in one of the central valleys of Oaxaca, a few miles from the state capital of the same name. The error has consistently been equating the recent commercialization of the art-form with its origins, and ignoring its pre-Hispanic roots and subsequent development.

Jacobo Ángeles lives with his wife María and two children in San Martín Tilcajete, one of three main native Zapotec villages, where most residents earn a living from carving and painting colorful figures, often generically referred to as alebrijes. The others are Arrazola and La Unión Tejalapan.

Border Crossing

The Grand Marquis needed a lube, an oil change, and the tires rotated. I stopped before the border in Laredo, Texas. There was a long wait so I went to a café next door, sat down, ordered coffee, and looked in my guidebook for Villa Santiago, Mexico's latest designated Pueblo Mágico. This Magic Town was not listed in the Lonely Planet Guide, but my map showed that Villa Santiago was just southeast of Monterrey in the Sierra Madre Mountains. I guessed it would be about a 4-hour drive from the border, but with Monterrey in between it might be longer. Villa Santiago would be a new experience. I would head east, take the scenic route, back roads and side trips, before going south to San Luis Potosi.