The 2016 edition of teacher union marches, blockades and protests in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca, began May 15th. It’s a tradition which commences on the same date each year. And similarly like clockwork, the questions on social media posed by prospective tourists to the region persist, about safety, and more generally concerning the advisability regarding travel to Oaxaca.

Over the past quarter century, I’ve only read of two non-Mexican visitors to the city of Oaxaca and the state’s central valleys who have been harmed as a consequence of becoming involved in protests, marches and / or blockades initiated by either teachers, or members of other unions or interest groups. Visiting Oaxaca is essentially always safe (relative to being a tourist in any city of comparable size in a developing nation), even after the commencement of the teachers’ strike and occupation of the city’s central square or zócalo, and associated blockades and marches. What’s more crucial, however, is understanding that the constitution of Mexico precludes foreigners from participating in the political process, and enables government to expel any non-Mexican almost at will.

The following is the essence of Article 33 of the Constitution:

While foreigners are entitled to the guarantees granted Mexicans, the federal executive has the exclusive power to compel any foreigner it deems inexpedient to leave the country without requiring any previous legal action. Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of Mexico.

While it appears that this provision is rarely enforced, the point is that it can be. If you rub the wrong person or community the wrong way, the authorities can be notified and you can be removed from the country, on a dime. A few years ago an American resident of Teotitlán del Valle (popularly known as the rug village), was suddenly gone, having been expelled from Mexico. I do not recall the precise circumstances, and never did learn the official reason that he was told he must leave. All I knew was that he had some kind of occasional employment in the state’s central valleys; I would periodically see him working at a mezcal retail outlet on Sundays at the Tlacolula de Matamoros marketplace.

Walking alongside any politically motivated march, or even hanging around a blockade for the purpose of chatting with a member of a union or community group can have adverse consequences. Granted, using Article 33 to kick someone out of Mexico is rare, but it can happen.

One never knows when a peaceful protest will descend to violent conflict.

Many still recall the 2006 death of an American videographer who elected to embed himself with protesters. At some point in time in his misadventure he surely realized that on the other side were armed police/soldiers. Though presumably not intentionally, during the conflict he was shot dead by a government employee or employees. He elected to put himself in the middle of a political mess. Don’t do it.

The other incident, also within the context of the 2006 civil unrest, was a tourist being inadvertently pepper sprayed as a consequence of having elected to walk alongside marchers so that he could video the procession of protesters and/or film any ensuring conflict. In at least one media report he brushed it off as having been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to my knowledge he did not take any steps to follow up by lodging a complaint.

Protesters, marchers and blockaders in this part of Mexico can become aggressive and even violent at the slightest provocation. In January, 2015, I was attempting to leave the city for the day, in my vehicle, when I saw a blockade forming. There was enough space for my car to proceed between two vehicles which had been strategically placed along the roadway for the purpose of precluding other vehicles from getting by. Either the organizers had not finished setting up the blockade, or they had done a poor job, since it would have been very easy for me to get by. I attempted to do so, whereupon protester immediately stood in front of my car. I told him I just wanted to leave the city. Two others began kicking my driver side door, and then another (or one of the two) suddenly punched the left side of my face through my open window. My glasses flew off. By the end of the day I was sore, with a black eye. But I subsequently realized that it was my own fault. I have since joined the ranks of the meek, my wiser Oaxacan friends.

For most of us with age comes wisdom. For most of us with age we begin to lean a little to the right, even those of us who grew up in the 1960s counter-culture era. Leave it to Mexicans to change the socio-political and economic order. While we have good intentions, we must keep in mind the following:

• Non-Mexicans visit or live in the country at the grace and with the permission of government;

• Being in Mexico is a privilege, not a right;

• As much as we might want to right what we perceive as wrongs, or show our support, any steps aimed at so doing can have dire, long-lasting consequences.

As much as I like to believe that I know what’s going on to the same extent as my native Oaxacan friends, compadres and colleagues, I likely don’t, despite the fact that I’ve been living in southern Mexico for well over a decade. And even if I do, a good, safe and prudent rule of thumb is to quietly walk, or drive, the other way. I value my ability to continue to live peacefully in Oaxaca.

One of the four vital soft skills necessary to lead others is the ability to negotiate for win-win deals. Unlike in the past, today’s leaders cannot accomplish anything meaningful without engaging in constant negotiation. The days where leaders just give the order to realize their goals are literally over. In the 21st C, as they set goals, assign tasks to their team members, interact with their peers, superiors, and other stakeholders within and outside of their organizations, they need to excel in negotiating for win-win deals.

In this article, let me share with you one of the most important considerations as you negotiate for win-win deals, which is, not revealing everything at the onset of any negotiation. Negotiation is an art and requires being strategic in our approaches and timing. To illustrate the vitality of this wisdom, let me share with you the informal negotiation between US President Trump and Mexico’s President Nieto at Twitter.

You might have already read or watched the news about Mexico’s President, Enrique Pena Nieto, canceling a meeting with US President Donald Trump. If you review the events leading to the cancellation, you wouldn’t be surprised. On Wednesday, January 25, 2017, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to build the wall on the southern border of the US believing that Mexico will pay the cost in one form or another.

This decision was unilateral and was made without the consent of Mexico’s government. The Executive Order offended members of Mexico’s delegate who was in the US at that time to have some forms of negotiations with Trump’s administration. Following the signature, the high-level representatives called their President to cancel the scheduled meeting with Trump.

On Thursday, while this was still going on, Trump tweeted saying: “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.” It didn’t take long for Mexico’s President to just do that- he canceled the planned meeting on Tuesday the following week, like Trump, via Twitter: “This morning we have informed the White House that I will not attend the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with the POTUS.”

Why he canceled the meeting, you may ask, especially knowing that Mexico is going to lose the most? For your information, according to US Census Bureau, Mexico is US’s 3rd largest trading partner. Not only that, reports show that Mexico exports more than it imports- $63 billion dollars in deficit.

It is simple. In any negotiation, if you give your counterpart an ultimatum with your walking away price upfront and honestly (in this case, Trump revealed that he walks away if Mexico doesn’t agree to pay for the wall), your counterpart immediately realizes your best and worst scenarios. And, if they figure out that they won’t get a satisfactory agreement from a negotiation and somehow they could be able to live with the worst scenario, they walk away. That is what Mexico’s President just did.

Below are four valuable lessons from the Twitter feud POTUS had with Mexico’s President, which may help you in your future negotiations:

1. Don’t give ultimatum upfront before the start of any negotiation. This applies to you even if you have the upper hand as you enter into any negotiation. Of course, if your desire is a win-win deal. I’m not sure whether Trump was making a tactical move to begin the negotiation from a strong ground or whether that was a misstep and oversight or brutal honesty. Otherwise, you shouldn’t reveal your position honestly at the wrong time; most importantly, you shouldn’t demand concessions before the start of a negotiation. You should wait for the right time to demand concessions, and if necessary to make some concessions.

2. Don’t reveal the bottom-line too soon. This is especially important during negotiations between two nations. Negotiations in business are entirely different than negotiations between nations, especially those from different cultures. In the case of business negotiations, as far as the negotiators get a deal acceptable by the majority of the shareholders, they may be considered successful. Unfortunately, negotiations between countries are complex. There are many stakeholders with diverse, sometimes irreconcilable, interests and priorities. Trump attempted to negotiate on Twitter and revealed his bottom lines honestly for all stakeholders too soon. Sensitive negotiations should be done behind closed doors, at least, at the initial stage. There should be an agreement from both parties on how and when to communicate the progress of the negotiation to their respective stakeholders.

3. Don’t undermine emotions. Negotiations should consider both positive and negative roles emotions play. In their book ‘Beyond Reason’, Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro discussed the critical roles emotions play. They believed that people experience both positive and negative emotions as they negotiate. The authors claimed that people have difficulty to deal with their own and the emotions of others, and that affect the success of negotiations. His inner circle and thousands of ordinary citizens pressured Enrique because they felt that Trump’s publicly displayed tweets did hurt their national pride! According to news from Mexico, the President was forced to cancel the meeting because citizens felt that their country and its people are bullied, and therefore, regardless of the economic consequences of walking away from the negotiation, they demanded their President cancel the meeting. “Emotions of the negotiating parties play critical roles for the success of a given negotiation. Recognizing my emotions and the message they may send, and also reading the emotions of others to recognize where they are in the negotiation.” In this regard, Daniel Goleman also acknowledged, “Without the ability to sense our own feelings- or to keep them from swamping- we will be hopelessly out of touch with the moods of others.” Sharpening one’s negotiation skills requires understanding our emotions and regulating them so that we may not send inadvertent messages that may be used against us. And also the ability to read our counterparts’ emotions and tap into that knowledge to lead the other party where we want to take them without manipulating.

4. Don’t damage long-term relationships. Neighboring countries like the US and Mexico shouldn’t just negotiate to get a better financial deal. They need each other for other collaborations that are critical to their countries, people, and the region. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t aim at getting better deals for their respective countries, but this shouldn’t come at the expense of permanently damaging their relationship. Win-lose negotiations always burn bridges and also injure healthy relationships. For Sunil Mittal- billionaire Indian telecom tycoon, “Relationship is very important. I can lose money, but I cannot lose a relationship. The test is, at the end of a conversation or a negotiation, both must smile.”

At the time of this writing, it’s too early to reach any conclusion, too premature. However, going forward, I’m sure that the two nations may keep working on a win-win deal, at least, behind the scene… I guess they have already realized that negotiation doesn’t succeed on Twitter.

We know that fermenting was practiced in Mexico dating to several thousand years ago with the extraction of aguamiel (honey water) from certain species of the majestic agave succulent, which when left to ferment becomes pulque. And that agave itself otherwise has a history of being used as a source of nutrition going back roughly 10,000 years. But there’s a big difference between (1) allowing fruit, agave nectar or anything else to ferment, inhibiting its decomposition and enabling its imbibers to become inebriated, and (2) deliberate advance planning and the use certain tools, resulting in distillation (i.e. the production of mezcal).

Perhaps the story of distillation and the history of mezcal in Mexico begins with the arrival of the Spanish during The Conquest in the first quarter of the 1500s. Or with Filipino seamen in the Manila galleon trade who reached the country’s western shores that same century. Or with indigenous cultures some 2,500 years ago. Mezcal of course is Mexico’s iconic agave distillate, often thought of as a generic term, one subset of which is tequila, its more popular cousin.

We also know with a reasonable degree of certainty many specifics about the global history of distillation and styles of still manufacture, all of which aids us in our conjecture. But it must be kept in mind that most is scientific speculation often based on inference, regardless of how adamant our historians, geographers, chemists, biologists and anthropologists might be in their discourse (or me in mine).

The Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula about 711 AD. We have them to thank for the introduction of many food products including rice and saffron, integral in the preparation of Spanish paella. Despite their Islamic beliefs together with a prohibition against imbibing spirits, Moorish influence in Spain is connected with the distillation of mezcal.

During or about the 9th century, the modern alembic, or still, made with a serpentine condenser alongside, arrived in what is now Spain as a consequence of the invention by Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. Non-Muslims who were already fermenting grapes quickly realized that distillation, for whatever purpose initially intended, could result in production of a high alcohol content spirit extremely agreeable to the palate.

And so when The Conquest began, the Spanish armed with this knowledge came across indigenous populations which were already drinking pulque, and likely baked sweet agave piñas (pineapples, or rather the hearts of the carbohydrate-rich agaves) which had been fermented. The bridge had been gapped. It is this style of still, the two sided alembic, which is frequently used in mezcal production today. It has been suggested however, that the technology had its first application in the distillation of sugar cane which the Spanish imported for rum production.

But throughout various parts of Mexico there is a different type of still being employed to make agave spirits including mezcal. It is a single unit comprised of two or more pieces stacked on top of one another, made primarily of wood, metal and/or clay. It is frequently encountered in Oaxaca, Michoacán, and elsewhere throughout Mexico including tequila country (i.e. Jalisco and thereabouts).

It has been suggested that this type of still was introduced to what are now Colima, Guerrero and/or Jalisco, during the 16th century by immigrants from the Philippines and the Solomon Islands who established a community for the purpose of developing coconut plantations. Local materials used in their homelands for fashioning small yet effective equipment for making their coconut distillate, principally clay (and likely reed), were available in this new North American environment. In fact, to this day the term tuba, the fermented coconut liquid which was thereafter distilled, is used in some parts of Mexico to describe fermented agave, despite its origin.

Various sources confirm that the beginnings of and motivation for the prohibition era in Mexico (yes, we also had prohibition) were to protect the interests of Spanish brandy importers and rum producers, and to assure tax revenue. Banning production, sale and consumption of pulque, tuba and coconut distillate started the movement which eventually lead to full-scale prohibition. But it was the portability of these small single unit and easily fashioned predominantly clay stills which (together with below ground ovens and stone fermentation chambers) made detection of distillation, including the production of mezcal, all but impossible by the “revenuers.”

Epilogue

The 2016 publication of El mezcal, una bebida prehispánica at minimum makes us rethink our understanding of the origins of agave distillation in Mexico. Authors Mari Carmen Serra Puche and Jesús Carlos Lazcano Arce together with their associates from various disciplines spent in excess of a decade researching in Oaxaca and Tlaxcala. They have purportedly debunked all previous theories, having uncovered ovens containing burned stones with runoff stains they concluded after analysis had been created by baked agave piñas. But has literally hundreds of years of research and umpteen publications been thrown to the wind? Certainly not. The foregoing finding in and of itself is not determinative, since it suggests nothing more than converting carbohydrates to sugars, and a reasonable likelihood of fermentation thereafter. It’s the unearthing of pre-Hispanic pottery fragments they identified as parts of stills, which is most significant, suggesting pre-Hispanic distillation dating to perhaps 2,500 years ago. Others have previously proposed similar theories, but that of Serra Puche and Lazcano Arce is the most comprehensive and convincing to date.

Since the book’s publication there has been a considerable amount of chest beating, a renewed or additional sense of pride that the indigenous peoples of Mexico did not need the Spanish nor the Filipinos to distill mezcal. Of course there is academic significance to the most recent work. But regardless of origins, one can never take away from our Mexican brethren of predominantly pre-Hispanic heritage, that mezcal, the pre-eminent agave spirit, owes its recent and exponentially growing popularity to not foreign interests, but rather to its dedicated artisanal producers, beginning with subsistence lifestyle agave growers, and concluding with expert distillers.

Agave is Mexican. It has been of such importance over millennia that it warranted its own goddess, Mayahuel. Her husband, Patecatl, was the god of pulque. Yet curiously there is no pre-Hispanic deity for an agave distillate. Food for thought.

For some, sustainable development is associated with the environment. For others, it means investing in projects or technology that will reap long-term benefits and will have no tangible effects on the present. This could not be further from the truth. As defined by the UK based Sustainable Development Commission, ‘sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The business and Industry sector has traditionally been driven by a single factor, such as profit or efficiency, to the detriment of other vital components society relies on, such as local communities, the environment, science and technology, or welfare. The negative impact on society of this one-dimensional approach has been reflected through large-scale financial crises caused by irresponsible banking, or even strong changes in climate patterns. However, the growing influence of established and socially responsible corporations, such as HSBC, combined with the emergence of new players, such as Google or Facebook, has contributed to shift the rules of engagement and exert more pressure on their piers to adopt corporate practices that are more in line with sustainable development.

Good financial management is defined by the efficient and effective management of company funds in such a manner as to accomplish the objectives of the organization. This is achieved through planning, monitoring, organizing and controlling the monetary resources of an organization. If the objectives have as a focus the capacity to balance different, and often competing, needs, against an awareness of the environmental, social and economic limitations faced as a society, then the sustainable development component will be part of the driving force of the company, rather than being perceived as an additional cost, or labeled as ‘the price of doing business’. Ensuring you have the right financial management framework in place, whether it is in-house our outsourced, is the key to delivering successful sustainable development.

Over the years, Mexico has consistently contributed to sustainable development on a global level, and has been leading by example in Latin America. Mexico’s progress in policy planning and institution building over recent years has been remarkable, including the April 2012 adoption of the General Law on Climate Change (LGCC in Spanish), one of the world’s first climate laws-and the first in a developing country. Under this law, Mexico aims to reduce its emissions by 50% from 2000 levels by 2050. The NDC proposal is consistent with this objective. Mexico has significantly lowered its CO2 emissions without hampering its economic development, and actually seeing considerable growth. Various ministries now offer wide-ranging support to companies wishing to grow the economy whilst making a positive impact on the local community involved, and the inflow of foreign direct investment in these types of projects is a testament to the fact that Mexico is leading the field.

Through efficient financial management you can build solid foundations for your company, as well as providing bright opportunities for future generations.

In 2010 Mexico celebrated its bicentenary of freedom from Spanish rule and the Cry of Dolores could be heard ringing out across the country. Read this article to discover why the War of Independence was necessary and how it unfolded.

The War of Independence between Mexico and Spain began on 16 September 1810 and ended 11 years later in 1821.

The Spaniards first arrived in Mexico in 1517, when a group of explorers traveled to the Americas in search of land and gold. In 1519, Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, arrived in Mexico with his supporters and defeated the Aztec Empire, and from this point onwards La Corona de Castilla (The Crown of Castilla) controlled the majority of Mexico. As a result, it was renamed the ‘New Spain’, demonstrating that Mexico belonged to the Spaniards and was entirely under their command. This new reign meant that the Mexican natives were left with no sense of freedom or power, and were exploited by the ‘encomiendas’ (those with control over land) forcing them to work for nothing.

The arrival of the Spaniards also brought disease into the country, causing the death of a large number of Mexicans between 1519 and 1605. Working conditions resulted in many fatalities and the natives became increasingly discontent: many died in the mines and, all-told, 95% were killed by diseases and by being overworked (Green, 2005: 6). The consequential reduction of the population in Mexico drove the Spaniards to force the Afro-Americans to become slaves in place of the Mexicans.

In addition, the Spaniards forced the Mexican women to have sexual relations, resulting in the birth of the Mestizos: children with a Spanish father and a Mexican mother. Martin Cortes, son to Hernan Cortes and Dona Marina, was the first Mestizo as well as the first soldier to rebel against the Spanish government in resistance to the Mestizos’ treatment. Many of the injustices in Mexico existed due to social status. The Spaniards were the most superior, then came the Creoles (those who were born in Mexico but to Spanish parents), then the Mestizos, followed by the native Mexicans: the indigenous population, and finally the Afro-Americans. The natives, low down in the pecking order, were the worst treated and hence their craving for national independence.

After three hundred years of suffering, the Mexicans decided to fight for freedom from Spanish rule. It began when Hidalgo, a Catholic priest from Dolores in Mexico, summoned his followers telling them ‘Mexicanos, ¡viva Mexico!’ (Mexicans, long live Mexico), and this saying is now known as ‘el Grito de Dolores’ (the Cry of Dolores) (Kartha, 2010: Buzzle.com). Hidalgo and his followers captured one of the mines run by the Spaniards and continued to fight against the interlopers for many years, eventually gaining control of the majority of Mexico but, due to the strength of the Spanish army, failed to defeat them.

Higalgo was killed on 30 July 1811 but, despite this, the Mexicans did not lose hope. Jose Maria Morelos, another Catholic priest, assumed command and captured Oaxaca and Acapulco, two major cities in Mexico. He too was killed by the Spaniards, on 22 December 1815. Both Hidalgo and Morelos are today considered heroes in Mexico for their efforts during the War of Independence.

Two revolutionaries, Vincent Guerrero and Guadalpe Victoria, then took up the fight for freedom. In 1820, the Viceroy of New Spain, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, forced the Creole, Agustin de Iturbide, to overthrow Guerrero and Guadalpe. When Fernando VII (the King of Spain) finally decided to accept a liberal monarchy, Iturbide was afraid it would be worse for the Creoles and supported the fight for independence. He believed that if they could achieve it, the Creoles would control Mexico. He came up with the ‘Plan de Iguala’ which stated that when Mexico achieved independence it would be a Catholic country and that the Creoles would have equal power to the Spaniards.

Juan Ruiz de Apodaca knew that Guerrero and Guadalpe’s followers would support Iturbide and resigned his post as Viceroy. In September 1821 the independent government of Mexico was established, run by Iturbide who crowned himself ‘Emperor of Mexico’ (Kartha, 2010: Buzzle.com). But it was not long before the Mexicans overthrew Iturbide and Guadalpe Victoria took power. In 1823, Spain attempted once more to take control of Mexico but when Fernando VII died in 1836, it was decided that Mexico would be independent indefinitely.

Although it took eleven years and caused the loss of many lives, the Mexicans continued their long and bloody battle to gain back what had once been theirs by right of birth. September 16 is an important date in Mexico and one which is much celebrated because it was on this day that Hidalgo summoned his supporters and began the War of Independence. Every year at midnight on 15 September, Mexicans shout the ‘Cry of Dolores’ in honour of the people who fought to achieve freedom for their country.

This article was researched and written by Vanessa Alexander and Charlotte Alexander.

Bibliography:

-Green, D. Faces of Latin America. (2005). Latin America Bureau.

-Bingham, J & Chandler, F & Taplin, S. (2000) The Usborne Encyclopaedia of World History. London: Usborne Publishing Ltd.

-Kartha, D. ‘Mexican War of Independence’. (2009)

-‘The History of Mexican Independence’. (April 2009)

-Palfrey, D. ‘The Spanish Conquest 1519-1521’. (August 29th 2007)

-Mckeehan, W. ‘Mexican Independence’. (2009)

"There are only twenty million of us!" a friend of mine from Mexico City said to me one day not long ago. That number – which is still rising – puts Mexico City among the great cities of the world.
Mexico City has enough tourism sites to keep you busy indefinitely! Museums, art galleries, sports teams of all sorts, great shopping, a beautiful historic downtown area, wonderful parks … there is no limit to the things you can do in Mexico City. Here are a few:
The Museum of Anthropology is famous worldwide for its extensive collection on Mexican archeology and history.
The Bosque de Chapultepec is a huge park in the city, with many things to do within it: museums, cafes, etc. And the people-watching is great.
In the downtown area, the Zocalo is one of the largest plazas in the world, with the cathedral, the presidential palace, and much more in the vicinity. Beautiful historic buildings!
The floating gardens of Xochimilco
Art, including great murals and paintings of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and many others
Before you pack your bags for a vacation there, do consider pollution, congestion, and crime.
Pollution: The air quality is terrible, as the geography of the valley that Mexico City sits in combines with the heavy traffic to create a thick stew instead of the air your lungs would prefer. At about a mile high, the city's air is thinner to begin with anyway.
Congestion means that travel around the city is slow and tedious. The traffic is so frustrating, and parking so difficult, that rental cars aren't generally recommended. See more on the page about travel to Mexico City and within it.
Crime: In the 1990s, Mexico suffered economic problems that left many of its people destitute. Some of these people used a lot of ingenuity in figuring out ways to separate richer people from their goods. Today, tourist guidebooks on Mexico generally explain the situation in detail. Here are some general guidelines: Carry little cash with you, and be very alert to your surroundings. Stay out of places where there are few people. Don't necessarily trust the police, as in some cases they are involved in crime too. Don't hail a taxi on the street, as some of the roaming cab drivers are involved in robbery. Taxis at your hotel or in official cab stands are much better. While other parts of the country may have seen some increase in crime, it's in Mexico City that it's reached the highest levels. All in all, a hefty dose of thoughtful preparation (making photocopies of your passport, leaving your fancy jewelry at home, that sort of thing) and vigilant common sense are called for.
But do these drawbacks mean you should avoid Mexico City as a tourism destination? It all depends on what you want. Many people love the vibrancy of the city. There may be something you particularly want to do or see there. You may love big cities and want to experience the unique flavor of this one. But if you are just looking for a laid-back, relaxing vacation, you will be happier somewhere else in Mexico. People go to Mexico City for business. With about a quarter of the entire population of Mexico, and with government and industry offices centered there, "the city" (la ciudad) as it's called, is where a lot of things happen. Many of the hotels in Mexico City offer suites for business travelers to use as offices while they conduct their business.
If your business takes you there, or if you decide to live or retire there, you will do the same thing that most of the other twenty million do: make the best of any drawbacks and enjoy the many wonderful aspects of the city. If you might be there for a long time, see the page on real estate in Mexico City.
I've been there several times, and I have happy memories of fascinating hours in the Anthropology Museum, international restaurants, staying in ultramodern hotels and in intimate little places, the friendliness of people I met, and much more. I will spare you my unhappier memories, but none were really bad. It's unlikely I will return, as nowadays I like my cities on a smaller scale. But everyone's tastes are different, and you may love it. It's truly a phenomenon, Mexico City!

A few years ago I was leading a group of travelers to the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca on a mezcal educational excursion. Mezcal is the agave based spirit produced in Mexico dating back to anywhere between the 1500s to over 2,000 years ago, depending upon to which theory of the history of distillation one subscribes. In the course of visiting a number of small, artisanal distilleries, or palenques as they’re known, we attended a co-operative in the village of San Baltazar Chichicapam (“Chichicapam”). There were about a dozen men, women and children pitching agave hearts known as piñas into an in-ground oven on top of and around a mound of rocks, below which were flaming logs. They were members of the indigenous Zapotec ethnolinguistic group. They working feverishly. My clients were intrigued. Some began photographing, while others offered to assist the workers. My clients asked me a plethora of questions about what they were witnessing. I explained how the co-op worked. One exclaimed “this is a classic example of permaculture.”

I had heard of the word permaculture and had a rough idea of what the term connoted. I was curious to learn more, so after the conclusion of the mezcal tour I went home and looked up the word online. I found definitions, and more detailed explanations some of which placed the term in historical context. Sustainability was one of the recurring themes. I had already been writing about mezcal and sustainability for quite a while.

Over the ensuing days I began to consider that indeed what my clients had witnessed was what permaculture was all about. I still did not grasp the difficulty in arriving at a single definition. This became more difficult within the context of agave and mezcal production and the implications for the broader community; that is, the culture. But what I was able to glean from my cursory review of the literature was that not only were these particular villagers practicing permaculture, but that the industry sustainability about which I had been writing was actually part and parcel of the concept.

Over the subsequent months I struggled with three issues: better understanding the various permutations of permaculture; selecting case studies of mezcal production and permaculture for a proposed book project; and trying to convince an American photographer friend who had been shooting all aspects of mezcal production for about 20 years, that it would be in his best interest to participate in the endeavor. The undertaking stalled. However since then, that is periodically over the past three years, I have not only continued to ponder permaculture within the context of mezcal production, but have come across aspects of their connection which I had not previously considered, certainly to a sufficient extent. One such dimension is the importance of anyone associated with the industry being cognizant of the possible adverse sequelae of not addressing water issues. The “mezcal boom” might not be all good for everyone for all time. Solutions fall more within the purview of applied anthropology, rather than how I have conducted my academic endeavors over the past few decades. My approach has been more to observe, understand and teach; rather than to observe, assess and improve. I suppose it’s because I am a product of 1970s social anthropology, trained to be more than anything else an ivory tower academic.

This article, perhaps a pilot project of sorts, works towards an all-encompassing definition of permaculture using the Chichicapam co-operative as a foundation for understanding the term within the mezcal industry. It touches upon other aspects of mezcal production taken from other palenques which could form the basis for additional case studies. These illustrate indicia of permaculture not necessarily evident in Chichicapam. The article only tangentially touches upon what I consider the main danger the industry faces, that is water, in terms of maintaining sustainability and advancing permaculture tenets.

Three final caveats are:

(1) Many aspects of agave growth and its use for making mezcal as well as other products, and industry sustainability, are not included in this article, primarily because I have written about them elsewhere. Some, however, are included, but only to the extent that they relate to the Chichicapam case study.

(2) This is not a primer on mezcal production, so the reader interested in just permaculture who has little if any knowledge of Mexico and mezcal, may be at a disadvantage. However, interspersed throughout the study are some of the basics of how agave is employed to produce the spirit, the use of waste product, and of course the interaction between humans and their physical environment. The corollary is that it is hoped that mezcal aficionados will gain a better understanding of the concept of permaculture and how it intersects with mezcal production.

(3) No footnotes or references are included, specifically for the portions regarding coming to grips with defining permaculture, although several sources have been consulted. It is my synthesis of the literature, for better or worse.

I will examine the workings of the Chichicapam co-op palenque, then put together a workable definition of permaculture which can be applied to the particular distillery, and finally go back to the palenque and examine its workings within the context of how I perceive the interplay between artisanal mezcal production on the one hand, and sustainable agriculture and permanent culture on the other.

Mezcal Production at the Co-operative in San Baltazar Chichicapam, Oaxaca

Fortunato Hernández, wife Victoria Martínez, their daughter Estela and son-in-law Pedro are tossing píñas onto a mound of hot rocks built atop blazing tree trunks, all in the pit-in-the-ground oven. The family is working at the co-op palenque in Chichicapam owned by Angélica García. Member participants pay her in mezcal for use of the distillery. By all outward appearances and in terms of how the palenque functions, this is a communal effort and does indeed represent permaculture at its best. I doubt if anyone using the facility has heard of permaculture. No matter, since neither did cultures practicing it thousands of years prior to when the term was coined, or perhaps even contemplated.

The rocks being employed by Fortunato and his family have already been covered with wet fiber known as bagazo, discard from the distillation process now being used to insulate the piñas from direct contact with the stones. The family is being assisted by four hired day laborers. Others at the palenque are also pitching in as needed, although their primary tasks are attending to their own mezcal production operations at the distillery.

Inside the covered portion of the palenque Alfonso Sánchez is working a horse, egging him on to pull a large limestone wheel known as a tahona over the batch of baked agave piñas he had cut with a machete into small more manageable pieces the day before. As a quantity of agave, locally known as maguey, is crushed, Alfonso loads it into a wheel barrow, pushes it up a wooden ramp and dumps it into a pine slat fermentation vat known as a tina. His wife has arrived with his hot lunch, though it’s a little early since Alfonso must first finish the task at hand before the mid-afternoon heat makes it too grueling for the horse to continue beyond the customary five or so hours of work daily.

The wheel barrow is being shared with Lázaro Mendoza, yet another palenquero working with his own family and fellow villagers. They’re using all three copper pot stills or alembics at the same time, in the process of doing a first distillation of Lázaro’s fermented mash. The fruit of this labor, the first distillation, is not even known as mezcal, but rather shishe. There are four men working in this group, together engaged in different stages of the distillation process. One is pitching fully fermented fiber into the wheel barrow, another is filling buckets with the liquid; it is collectively known as tepache. They’re loading up a still. Another is stoking the fire under a second still, while the fourth is replacing a full bucket of shishe from beneath the spigot with an empty receptacle.

The palenque is used by 10 – 15 families, all Chichicapam residents. It was built by Pablo García, Angélica’s late husband. He died in a car accident eleven years ago. Prior to his death Angélica was a housewife raising the couple’s four children. Angélica had been involved in mezcal production to the same extent as other wives in Chichicapam, and no more. She was thrust into the role of owner after her husband’s passing. Quickly she began to receive assistance from her husband’s palenquero friends, with whom she had of course already been acquainted. She readily garnered their respect, which remains solid to date. She no longer requires any assistance, having learned the ropes through sink or swim initiation.

Prior to the construction of the palenque, the tradition had been for the artisanal mezcal producers in Chichicapam who did not have their own facility, to rent from other owners. The producers had been paying the palenque owners 25 liters of mezcal for each tina of tepache filled. A tina should produce anywhere from 60 to 120 liters of mezcal, depending on the type of agave being processed, time of year harvested, the particular micro-climate in which it is grown and the skillset and knowledge of the palenquero. Accordingly each palenquero had been paying a consider percentage of the yield for the right to use the tools of the trade owned by others.

Pablo used savings and borrowed funds to build the co-op in 1996, as a means of reducing his own production costs, and just as importantly those of his villager friends. Initially he did not charge them for use of the palenque. He then began charging two liters per tina. The amount currently charged by Angélica is 7.5 liters, but it can vary depending on the quality of mezcal produced (taste, percentage alcohol, type of agave, etc.). Anyone can use her palenque. The “regulars” produce a fairly consistent product. With the others, there are sometimes quality issues, and accordingly it is with these producers more so than with the others that the amount charged sometimes increases.

The palenque consists of a sheltered area housing the three copper stills, ten tinas, the shallow pit used for horses to pull the tahona over the baked chopped sweet agave, and a storage room where both mezcal and readily removable parts of the still (i.e. copper) are locked inside to prevent theft. Outside there are a couple of acres of land where there are two ovens. One holds up to 15 tons of piñas, and the other up to 12. The larger one is currently not being used because it requires a lot of firewood.

The land surrounding the palenque is also used to temporarily store the spent bagazo, the mounds of firewood owned by different palenqueros waiting for their turn to bake their agave, the piñas, and often a horse waiting to be taken into the covered area to work. Angélica does not supply the beast of burden. If a palenquero does not own a horse he rents one for 150 – 200 pesos per day.

Angélica retains ownership of the bagazo. It is most often used as mulch. She either has it trucked out to her own fields of agave or other crops, or sells it to the palenqueros or anyone else interested in buying it for use as compost or mulch. She also uses the bagazo as part of a soil mixture she places in small plastic bags to grow her tobalá agave from seed.

When Fortunato, Alfonso, Lázaro and the other participating palenqueros have harvested their agave, they take it to the palenque and leave it in mounds segregated from those of others. Only infrequently does a palenquero have enough of his own agave to fill even the smaller oven, and hence he waits until other palenqueros have arrived with their own agave. That’s the norm. Two, three or four palenqueros bake their agave in the same oven at the same time to economize on the cost of firewood. Whether you’re baking 5 tons or 9 tons, the amount of fuel required to keep the oven hot for five days remains essentially constant.

The first to arrive at the palenque with agave is entitled to the first opportunity to bake; then the second, and so on. There’s an order to things. All that Angélica stipulates is first come first to have the right to use the oven(s). The palenqueros work out the rest, in terms of the order for crushing, fermenting and distilling. There are rarely disputes.

Angélica keeps a notebook in which she records who is using how many tinas. She must therefore attend at the palenque on a regular basis. She lives only a six or seven minute walk away. When the mezcal has been distilled, the palenqueros attend at her home with payment. It is at this time that she may sample to ensure the quality is up to snuff, and deals with any issues dictating a higher payment. With her regular producers she generally does not test quality.

Angélica usually sells the mezcal she receives from her home. On a regular basis she sells to her mother-in-law who takes it to Oaxaca for sale to her own regular customers. Angélica does not blend the mezcal provided to her, but rather keeps it separated. Everyone’s product is a little different, and there is no need to mix together batches of the agave spirit from different palenqueros.

Chichicapam was founded in 1583, a satellite community which since the outset has remained an agricultural community under the sphere of the state capital. The most recent comprehensive census figures reveal that it has 655 households comprised of a total of 2699 residents, with an almost equal number of females and males represented (1446 and 1253 respectively). This is an unusual ratio given that Oaxaca is the second poorest state in the country, characterized by significant adult male emigration out of economic necessity.

The women to men ratio in Chichicapam is 1.154. By contrast, in nearby communities which do not produce mezcal, the ratio is skewed. For example in San Marcos Tlapazola, San Bartolomé Quialana and San Lucas Quiavini, the ratios are respectively 1.481, 1.34 and 1.318, with a conspicuous absence of adult males in the streets or working the fields close to the villages. It is suggested that Chichicapam’s numbers are a direct result of the co-operative palenque’s ability to keep men in the village as a consequence of enabling them to eke out a reasonable living – harmoniously working together to produce mezcal for their mutual benefit while at the same time maintaining productive land.

Towards a Definition of Permaculture Applicable to Artisanal Mezcal Production

In 1978, Australians David Holmgren and Bill Mollison first coined the phrase permaculture, as a design concept mirroring how systems in nature survive, continue and prevail. At the time it was meant to combine the words permanent and agriculture, and referred to extending what had been observed in nature, to how humans might conduct their agricultural lives. It was a philosophy of design principles for sustaining the environment and hence making it viable on an ongoing basis for human benefit through wise use of land, crops, nature and water. The seeds for the term’s initial development by Holmgren and Mollison dated to earlier written works by Joseph Russell Smith in 1929, Toyohiko Kagawa and Masanobo Fukuoka in the 1930s, P.A. Yeomans in the 1940s and 1950s, and others such as Stewart Brand, Ruth Stout and Esther Deans. These treatises centered upon the maintenance and sustainability of natural systems through human sensitivity to and the development of, inter alia, orchards, gardens, landscapes, water supply and distribution, crops and “natural farming.” Non-human animals were sometimes integrated into the theses.

Then, a decade after the term was first promulgated by Holmgren and Mollison, Mollison with Reny Mia Slay authored a more comprehensive work, Introduction to Permaculture. Mollison subsequently wrote Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. In short order the term began to include and stand for, at least to Mollison, permanent culture as well as agriculture. That is, concepts, philosophies and design strategies not only for the benefit and maintenance of natural systems, but also of humans as both individuals and members of families and communities.

However to date many authors continue to write about permaculture without integrating the healthy maintenance of our own specie into the concept. I suppose at least part of the motivation is to financially capitalize upon the movement towards maintaining sustainability of only the physical environment through being sensitive as to the “how,” and bandying about terms such as organic and natural and all else that is “touchy feely” and protects our land, plants, animals, rivers, lakes and oceans. But the preferred understanding, I suggest, here and now in the 21st century, whether or not mezcal is considered, is to include human beings in the discussion as integral parts of the whole. If we return to what impressed my clients at the Chichicapam co-op several years ago, it was indeed the integration of human and natural systems, the ways in which the villagers advanced their economic goals as efficiently as practicable without adversely impacting the environment and in fact improving it for nature and for themselves.

Within the context of mezcal, agave, the broader environment and human settlement, I suggest that permaculture is, or at minimum should aspire to be the following: the intricate and harmonious weaving together of what nature can provide in a microclimate, with material goods, and human needs/aspirations, in an ethical manner which while minimizing adverse impact, self-sustains the complete system as well as advances it to an optimum, realistic and attainable extent.

Permaculture and the Co-operative Mezcal Distillery at San Baltazar Chichicapam, Oaxaca

The tools of the trade required to produce mezcal in the co-op, and in fact in most artisanal palenques in the state, are by and large sourced locally. They include:

• Copper stills of about 300 liters in size, fabricated at two workshops in the town of Ocotlán which is less than a half hour’s drive from Chichicapam (although they can be purchased in the state of Michoacán, for a little less of a capital outlay).

• Wooden slat fermentation vats again produced locally.

• Iron implements used to cut the agave out of the fields (i.e. machetes) which have been hand forged in Ocotlán since the 16th century.

• Limestone mined from nearby quarries, required for wheels for crushing the baked carmelized agave.

• Stone and gravel for encasing the wheel and the copper still.

• Clay pots for storing and transporting the mezcal, although more recently glass, plastic and stainless steel have been employed.

• Locally collected rocks for the oven.

• Wood for fueling the ovens and the stills. Typically hardwood logs for the stills are cut from forests a couple of hours away from Chichicapam, or more locally by palenqueros who head out early in the morning with their donkeys and burros. It can also be purchased from lumberjacks who cannot secure as high a price for “seconds” as they can with quality trunks which can be used in the lumber industry. Also, for the stills the palenqueros can use dried agave leaves, kindling they source from the hills, and/or discards from the debarking industry, that is bark with wood still attached which is shaved from trunks to produce lengths of lumber. Some brand owners in the village have embarked upon reforestation projects so as to ensure an ongoing supply of wood to fuel ovens.

• Water from wells, although with climate change there has been a water shortage in Chichicapam for the past couple of years, the further details of which, and other matters relating to water, discussed below.

• Agave cultivated or harvested wild from the nearby hills. For the former there are three predominant means of reproduction: harvesting and transplanting pups or hijuelos naturally thrown by the mother plant, germinating seeds harvested from the flower stalk known as the quiote, or by obtaining baby agave naturally self-pollinated or by manual pollination. In Chichicapam a program has begun to ensure that there will be ample wild agave in the future, such that the municipality dictates that for every wild agave for which permission has been granted to harvest, two small agave must be planted. Chichicapam understands that the mezcal boom has the potential for spawning economic fortune down the road provided that care is taken to ensure an ongoing supply of, for example, wild agave.

• The buildings for storing mezcal and some parts of the copper stills, and for sheltering the stills, the vats and the crushing area, have been constructed with almost entirely locally produced materials including clay bricks and roof tiles and adobe.

While not part of this particular palenque, perhaps noteworthy for a subsequent project on mezcal and permaculture, about a 20 minute drive away there are numerous “ancestral” distilleries which produce in clay pots. The raw material used in their production is sourced from in and around the nearby town of Atzompa where they are fired. Within the same proximity to the co-op is a more traditional palenque which has constructed one of its copper alembic casings using an old dump truck tire rim.

But it was learning about the human factor that impressed my clients to the extent that they believed they were witnessing a dynamic example of the permaculture I have set to define. The following are some aspects of mezcal production at the co-op which are consistent with the healthy, productive and sustainable tenets of the permanent cultural side of our definition:

• The premature death of Ms. Garciá’s husband could have spelled disaster for her and her four children. But the acceptance of and respect for her which quickly arrived in the village enabled Ms. García to thrive. Getting paid in mezcal rather than currency has enabled her to sell the use of her palenque without worrying about getting paid. For those readers who are old enough to recall, Ms. García need not worry about being approached with “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Despite the lingering machismo in much of Mexico, she has managed to succeed for the benefit of not only herself and her family, but also for her village.

• Regardless of how much maguey is being baked, the amount of firewood required to fuel the oven for five days is the same. And so the economic benefit for the palenqueros of combining the agave they are able to readily harvest without it drying out rather than waiting until ten tons have been accumulated of their own, with the maguey of others who contribute their fair share of firewood, is remarkable.

• The palenqueros harmoniously work out the schedule between themselves as to the order of using the crushing area, fermentation vats, and stills.

• Each understands the importance of keeping the storage room locked at night which reduces to close to zero the likelihood of theft of mezcal and valuable pieces of copper. Because Chichicapam is a small village with self-government and policing, trust is able to run deep.

• While palenqueros at times hire day laborers, as indicated the norm is also to call upon family and extended family members, as well as others working independently at the palenque to pitch in as required.

• Not only labor, but also equipment is shared.

• Three, and at times four families can work at the Palenque at the same time, each attending to its own stage of production.

• Rural southern Mexico has traditionally been subject to emigration by adult males to the US in search of work. This is backed up by the male to female ratios in a few villages, as noted above. But the ratio in Chichicapam is essentially 1:1, an anomaly for the region. Yes the mezcal boom has spawned a lot more work for villagers, both male and female, but the figures suggest that this particular locale, in large part because of the successful running of the co-op, has been able to retain a disproportionate percentage of adult males relative to what happens in other towns and villages. And, Chichicapam boasts more paved roads and later model vehicles than surrounding villages, which would suggest in large part because of the efficiency of the co-op, and/or others in the village in the industry. Palenqueros are able to retain more money for self and village improvement than residents of other villages. Government does provide grant money for bags of cement for paving projects, but often families must pay for the sand and gravel, and the labor, for paving, made possible because of how the village, including of course the co-op, is managed. Ms. García’s co-op has kept palenqueros in Mexico.

With tools of the trade and means of production (that is the human element) having been illustrated within the context of permaculture, the final component which factors into our definition of the term is how artisanal mezcal production at the Chichicapam co-op generates no “waste” within the traditional sense of the phrase. Put another way, in the positive, the palenque recycles. But these particular villagers have a long way to go in advancing in this regard, so we should perhaps look at the industry in a more general sense, not without noting the main shortcoming facing both the co-op in particular and hand-crafted mezcal more generally; water.

Mayahuel is the pre-Hispanic goddess of agave. The succulent warranted such reverence because it gave so much to humankind. It was literally worshipped. And today it continues to give, but more so within the context of mezcal production:

• Because the oven is airtight, the wood at the bottom of the pit does not burn down to ash. It becomes charcoal. Three of the main uses for the carbonized fuel are: for cooking by the paenquero’s family, for resale to others who similarly use it since it is sold for much less than traditionally produced charcoal, and as fertilizer for growing agave and other crops.

• The ash from the still is also used as fertilizer.

• The bazazo, that is the waste fiber removed from the still after the first distillation, is used for more than insulating the rocks from the piñas. It is utilized as compost, mulch, when mixed with soil as a starter for baby agave plants, and in making adobe bricks for home and other construction. It is used to make paper, planters (which can then be put directly in the ground when the roots get too big), filling ruts and potholes in dirt roads, and as substratum for growing mushrooms commercially in the Sierra Norte region of Oaxaca.

• When the clay pots break in the course of ancestral mezcal production, the shape often remains intact, so they are used as planters.

• The leaves and the quiote (flower stalk) left on the ground after the piñas are been harvested are dried and used primarily as firewood by other villagers; to fuel kilns for making pottery; comals for making tortillas; pots for cooking moles, salsas, coffee; and a plethora of other purposes. The quiote, which can extend to 30 feet, is also used as a construction material.

• Leftover tail end from the second distillation with its low alcohol content, is used for curing containers, readying them for use in storage, transport and sale of mezcal.

However water is the issue which has not yet been adequately addressed. If not the lifeblood, then certainly it is one of the most important aspects of mezcal production, both as the coolant for condensers and as one of the two principal components of the agave distillate.

There has been a concern that because of the dramatic increase in mezcal production, the effluent which is often simply discarded after the initial distillation and left to filter into the water table, can potentially harm humans because of its chemical composition. While there are efforts being spearheaded to address the problem in the nearby town of Santiago Matatlán, through design of purification facilities of sorts, change comes slowly. At the Chichicapam co-op, during the dry season when water is the scarcest, it is sometimes re-used as the coolant for the copper serpentine condensers. But more generally water is in short supply in the village both for adding to the baked crushed agave in the fermentation process, and for use by the villagers more generally. The well at the Fortunato Hernández household has been dry for two years.

As contrasted with copper distillation wherein the water in the tank housing the copper serpentine need not be continuously exchanged (once a week is sufficient though not optimum), at palenques distilling in clay the water must be continuously exchanged. Often it is simply allowed to filter into the ground.

Epilogue

Palenqueros will come to realize that they must further adapt in order to economically benefit from the increased demand for artisanal mezcal. This is in both towns and villages where for now water remains plentiful, as well as in other areas in need of more water. Water is far from the only concern. Ingenuity of the human condition has brought them to where they now are, by living permaculture. And so there is good reason to believe that the villagers using the Chichicapam co-op, and palenqueros elsewhere in Oaxaca, will continue to address the issues facing them now, and into the future. The foregoing examples are but a fraction of how permaculture works in the artisanal mezcal industry. As these Oaxacans continue to adapt, they will address any and all adversity which comes their way in terms of water and otherwise, advancing both permanent agriculture and permanent culture, that is, permaculture.

The southern Mexico state of Oaxaca is where about 85% of the country’s mezcal is produced. Over the past decade the traditionally smoky and relatively high alcohol content agave based spirit has spawned a sales boom in and for Oaxaca. Concomitant with that, mezcal tourism has arrived in the region, particularly in the state capital. Travelers flock to the city of Oaxaca and nearby towns and villages to visit artisanal distilleries, or palenques as they’re locally known. They come primarily to learn about the diversity of mezcal production methods, flavor and aroma nuances and industry/agave sustainability. But they also come to get entrepreneurial export projects under way; to buy at a fraction of the price paid in their homelands; to photograph and film the spirit’s rural producers for commercial purposes; and to embark upon due diligence prior to inaugurating their own mezcalerias or bars with a significant complement of different mezcals. So how do you decide what tour company, guide, driver or “expert” to contract for a day or longer, based on your reason for visiting Oaxaca?

The question has resulted in a conundrum for many visitors to the state, because here in Oaxaca now everyone and his brother wants to get in on the action and capitalize by “taking people around” to visit quaint, rural palenques. Regretfully this sometimes results in not what the visitor is actually seeking. The day may consist of simply visits to touristy distilleries on the side of a highway led by a facilitator with only a cursory knowledge of mezcal. Often this “guide” is a generalist at best, with an interest in making money and little more, rather than concentrating upon best servicing his customers, improving the economic lot of modest producers or more generally promoting the state of Oaxaca. And some are not even licensed. Thankfully most guides and the like do not fit into such categories. But the issue remains, as to how the visitor to Oaxaca gets what he/she wants without being misled, either by design or unintentionally.

The easy answer addresses one category of traveler; the visitor who wants to obtain a most basic knowledge of what artisanal mezcal is and how it is made, and to buy a bottle to take home; just like tourists used to do in the 1960s, 70s and 80s when returning from Acapulco with onyx chess sets and garish sombreros. All they have to do is hop on a bus or into van with the rest of the group of camera wielding tourists, and it gets done rather simply, and indeed effectively.

Typically a tour company driver takes passengers along a single fixed route where they can visit, for example, El Tule (the big tree), Teotitlán del Valle (rugs), Mitla (the archaeological site), and perhaps Hierve el Agua (the bubbling springs) and if on Sunday then also Tlacolula (the market town). The tour will of course include one of the umpteen touristy mezcal factories which have been constructed along the side of the highway over the past decade or two. Such a full day does serve its purpose, admirably for many, and for a fairly modest day rate. It meets expectations. The chauffeur might not know very much about mezcal, and rely upon the employee of the mezcal factory to speak and illustrate processes to the busload, which can be fine.

However for most others, that is those who want to truly learn; investigate; sample; buy a higher quality product distilled in clay and/or copper; photograph and/or film, something very different is presumably in order. And this includes perhaps even more so the ever increasing number of visitors to Oaxaca who almost treat agave spirits as a religion, making a pilgrimage to the state for something rather in depth.

Regardless of motive for the visit to Oaxaca, you want to ensure that your needs and desires are met by someone highly qualified to legally address them. You, the customer, or client as I prefer to put it (at least from my personal perspective), have the right to satisfy yourself before committing. You want to ensure that the dollars or pesos you will be paying are commensurate with the service you will be receiving.

The prospective customer/client has right, and an obligation to himself/herself, to ask the hard questions:

• Are you registered with the appropriate government authority to lead a mezcal tour, and if so what are the particulars?

• What are all of your other qualifications, aside from perhaps having spent your entire life in Oaxaca, knowing producers and being an aficionado of the spirit)?

• Is your car or van insured (optional for passenger vehicles in the state of Oaxaca)?

• How long have you been leading mezcal tours, and what were you doing before then to make a living?

• Have your written any books or articles about mezcal, agave and/or sustainability?

• How else do you currently spend your time? Do you also do general tours?

• How do you select which palenques to visit?

• Do you consider yourself a mezcal expert, and if so why, and if no then why not?

• Can you send me references of people who have previously taken a mezcal tour with you, and provide me with their full names and cities of residence?

• Do you receive a commission from the palenques you visit?

• What if anything do you give back to the community, and/or the palenqueros and their families aside from helping them to sell a bit of mezcal (i.e. supporting the families in other ways, donating to charities)?

• Do you have any arrangement with the palenqueros for after people have sampled and decided not to buy anything (i.e. do you give them anything or am I supposed to leave a gratuity)?

For more specialized guidance, you might want to inquire as to what experience if any he/she has had working with photographers and documentary film companies, and/or assisting entrepreneurs to successfully start export brands for other countries or open mezcalerias in Mexico or further abroad.

Now, to be clear, the foregoing is not meant to suggest that you should be asking all of these questions, but rather to provide a range of inquiries from which you can select which are most important to you and which you would not feel overly uneasy asking. Everyone has a different level of comfort.

The most important points of this article are that you want to have your expectations met, feel comfortable with how it is all being done, and be confident that you will receive value added service, all regardless of which aspects of mezcal interest you.

The popularity of motorcycling in Mexico has its modern roots in the first half of the 20th century. And through blogging and other online means of mass communicating, especially over the past decade writing about this particular means of seeing the country has increased exponentially. However the topic has not received comprehensive treatment in both an extremely informative and highly entertaining fashion – until now.

In Mexico by Motorcycle: An Adventure Story and Guide (Sombrero Books, 2015), Mexico expert and motorcycle enthusiast William B. Kaliher takes us for a ride spanning more than two decades. No, Kaliher has not been riding continually all that time; his first visit was in 1964, and the meat of his book is drawn from extended experiences in 1971 and 1993.

Kaliher immediately grabs your interest. At the outset he lets you know what’s in store in terms of his use of descriptive anecdotes interspersed with gems of travel advice. It quickly becomes apparent that the author is a talented writer and former biker who has been diarizing his travels over decades; not just the two main motorcycling adventures chronicled, but literally for fifty years using different modes of travel while traversing thousands of roads connecting Mexico’s villages, towns and cities.

The advice includes: night riding; what and how much clothing to bring and why (even bikers should have on hand one nice shirt and pair of slacks); climatic considerations; repair matters; modern day perceptions of drugs, violence, bribes and associated anxieties; insurance; maps; the border; relationships; size of motorcycle (a dumbfounding surprise for me); accommodations, restaurants and sights; parking; security; dogs; and all that makes the adventure worthwhile, and more importantly a life-altering experience.

Although a plethora of valuable advice is detailed in the first couple of chapters, Kaliher’s style is to intersperse additional nuggets of wisdom throughout the book. He imparts the fruits of his expertise through the use of richly descriptive, and at times humorous narratives such as referring to “the mother of all potholes,” and how traffic lights and stop signs suddenly become “obstacles to be overcome.” His knowledge of Mexico’s past, as well as its unique and diverse present-day traditions and personalities shines brightly.

Mexico by Motorcycle is an exquisite photo essay, a guide book packed with critically important advice and tips which will surprise you by virtue of the fact that Kaliher even considered mentioning them, and an adventure through the country’s landscapes, history and contemporary cultures.

My criticism is with the title, but only because prospective visitors to the country using car or van may miss out on one of the most important books in modern times about traveling in Mexico. The audience should include Mexicophiles who have no interest in driving in the country. The read will induce fond recollections of past experiences and pique the interest in a return, perhaps even on a motorcycle.