Baja Safari NOW Archives

September 2, By Monday, September 3, some tropical storm force winds will be offshore of extreme southern Baja. Waves are already reaching the surf spots, with up to 4-5 foot swells.

The offshore waters off of southern Baja are cooler than normal this summer, thus, this storm will be limited in its forward motion and ability to grow into a larger force. BWS forecasts some rain and winds starting late Monday, ending Thursday from Cabo San Lucas north to San Ignacio. Stay tuned…     

August 30, By Tuesday, September 4, we may have a tropical storm threatening Baja South.

Sea swells should start bumping this weekend, from Cabo south. Surf for exposed southern beaches will see 4-5 foot swells as early as Sunday.

August 25, Baja Norte, cooler along the northern coasts. Mostly clear throughout, with partly cloudy to cloudy conditions, south.

August 24, Baja Norte: Partly cloudy south, cooler along the coast, north. Rain Reported on the East cape and Los Cabos.

August 22, The Remnants of Hurricane Dean may be able to impact Baja California weather over the next ten days. As the system crosses mainland Mexico, over the Sierra Madre and into the Pacific or Sea of Cortez, which is a very tall order, it may continue to be an organized tropical depression with the capability to push rain, clouds and some winds onto the peninsula. Stay tuned.

August 18, Rain reported throughout southern Baja, from La Paz south to the East Cape. Up to three-quarters of an inch of the liquid gold. Keeping down the dust and promising a lush, green fall season for the cape of the Baja peninsula. Overcast sky conditions and tropical, humid heat from Loreto south to Cabo San Lucas. Some locations received over an inch!

COURTESY BAJA WEATHER SERVICE

The UPDATED Baja Safari Mexico Club Road Conditions Report began at around 8 a.m. and the drive out of La Paz was as usual, a good one. We breezed through the first check point and headed north. La Paz to Constitution About 50 miles north of La Paz we encountered the first road construction. There was a short detour around the building of a bridge. This bridge appears to be almost complete. Another 16 miles and another short detour with another bridge under construction. Right before the little town of Las Pocitas there were maquinas were doing some minor road repairs. We mention this as they were right out in the road.

One hundred miles north of La Paz there was a longer detour. This will be drainage for a large vado. They continue to work on the large bridge between Constitution and Insurgentes. The detour is a short one. Insurgentes to Loreto Nine miles north of Insurgentes there is a major detour with a bridge under construction. Fifty two miles north a short detour, bridge under construction. The bridge just before Loreto is still under construction. This detour is a rough and longer one. Loreto to Mulege Ten miles north of Loreto there is a small bridge under construction with a small detour. Sixteen miles north of Loreto there is a grande bridge under construction with a detour. Another four miles after this there is approximately 3 miles of pretty rough road. There is also a bridge under construction and a rough detour.

Thirty-one miles north of Loreto we drove over the first new and complete bridge! At forty-nine miles north of Loreto there is still a pretty rough arroyo! Coming into Mulege there is a detour and another grande bridge under construction. The town of Mulege appears to have finished the major clean-up after Hurricane John. The road from Mulege to Santa Rosalia is very good. The only bridge under construction is right before Santa Rosalia and there is a small detour. (Picture 10) Santa Rosalia to Guerrero Negro Highway 1 to San Ignacio was good. The major bridge they were building over the huge vado there must be done as neither one of us remember any detours. We made a short stop in San Ignacio, just to look around. The road from there to Guerrero Negro was also good driving.

We spent the night at Los Caracoles. Los Caracoles is a real nice hotel on the right as you enter Guerrero Negro. $42.00 for the night. Guerrero Negro to Tijuana The ride north the next day was pretty uneventful. We noticed lots of California cars heading south, loaded down with surfboards. We also noticed all of the vineyards being planted around the Santo Tomas Valley. The construction of condos and homes from Ensenada north is truly mind boggling! Our happiest moment, arriving at the border and only spending 45 minutes to cross!!! We arrived in San Diego around 6 p.m. We hope this is of some assistance to you heading north from La Paz.

More UPDATES

We are heading toSanta Rosalia having left Los Angeles mid day our first leg only took us as far as San Quentin in daylight. The roadway from TJ to Ensenada was a breeze after skirting the afternoon TJ traffic. Once in the agricultural area south of Ensenada there was a lot of truck traffic and slow busses with the evening’s workers returning home. We avoid driving after sunset as much as we can. We were happy to find a place to pull over and camp by the end of the first day near a hotel in San Quentin were a number of other road campers had decide to spend the night. On day 2 we made great time and the road was in excellent shape. we were surprised at the number of new bridges being constructed through the high desert north of through to Santa Rosalia.

We didn’t keep exact count because none of the construction zones slowed traffic in the least. All the by-passes around the construction areas were well paved and most even striped. Pretty soon there won’t even be any vados to challenge the Baja driver! We camped that night in Santispac, right out on the sand spit in the Sea of Cortez. It was a lovely place to wake up and it reminded us of hw much we had missed the Sea. Day 3 proved as uneventful, taking it at a 6leisurely pace there were virtually problems to report from Loreto to La Paz. The Santa Rita bridge area is STILL being worked on. This was the easiest drive down Baja we have ever made, and by the way, the Pemex station attached to the La Quinta Hotel in Catavina is operational!

Another UPDATE

Looking north over the quiet little town of Santa Rosalia, TJ to La Paz. The transpeninsular highway has never been in better shape! I crossed the border at San Ysidro in the predawn hours and was waved through Customs, despite having tripped a red light. Traffic was light until I was on the south side of Ensenada – it must have been Friday rush hour! From Ensenada to Colnet, truck traffic kept me below the posted limits most of the way. It is incredible how much areas like San Quentin and Colnet have grown! The military check point north of El Rosario was already busy at 11AM, with about 15 cars waiting for northbound Santa Rosita, south of Ensenada has nearly doubled in size in the last few years. inspection. This was the only checkpoint that even bothered to open the rear hatch of my car and take a cursorily look through my belongings. Northbound travelers seemed to be getting a pretty good going over through. The trip through the high desert was lovely, very green and the Boojums are in great spring form. Watch for the speed trap in Catavina. Even the Semi’s were going through the area at a crawl. There is the reoccurring pot hole in the south bound lane in the vado on the south side of Catavina. There was virtually nothing to report the rest of the the first day, in Baja California. we crossed into Baja Sur around sunset and stayed in Guerreo Negro.

At the immigration Station we were asked for our travel papers but the car was neither searched or sprayed. A Columbia Exports truck winds it’s way up the steep grade south of Ensenada We left about 9AM, after the fog lifted in Guerreo Negro and made good time on the long straight-aways toward San Ignacio. There were some rough spots in the road for the fist 80 miles, but nothing drastic. In San Ignacio a truck carrying chicken crates had lost part of it’s load right at the main intersection where you turn off Hwy one to go to town. There were a few chickens running about, but there didn’t seem to be enough to have filled the cages dumped in the road. Perhaps Chicken was on the menu at several additional homes in S. I. that night! As we got closer to Santa Rosalia there were still some warning markers for hurricane road damage. It seemed that most of them were false alarms, as any damage we saw and already been repaired. A bridge is under construction at the canyon north of Cuesta del Infierno Just north of Cuesta del Infierno, (the long steep hill, just north of Santa Rosalia) there is a dramatic vado that the highway has wound through for years.

There are always a few wrecked cars at the bottom, those that failed to negotiate the sharp curves and drop-offs of this road hazard. Now they are building a bridge across it that will make the roadway flat and straight from one side of the canyon to the other. Having driven this road for years, I think it will take away some of the charm though. Mulege still showed debris lining the riverbed, but nothing like we had expected. South bound at Cuesta del Infierno homeward bound travelers get their reassuring first glimpses of the Sea of Cortez Closer to Loreto there was more evidence of road repairs and just one dip about 2km south of Loreto that rattled my teeth a little. Could be much worse pulling a trailer. Just north of the CD Insergents intersection they are rebuilding a bridge. It’s a short detour that slows you down to a crawl for a few hundred yards. It was clear sailing from there to La Paz, with the exception of the traditional road damage near Santa Rita. One vado made the car bottom out at 50mph. In the entire trip we saw 1 Federal Hwy patrol car and one Green Angel (Hwy rescue) which is fewer than I have EVER seen. Looking north along the main boulevard in CD Constitucion We saw quite a few US license plates driving south and met some great people at our rest stops. Truck traffic seemed light, but our second day was a Saturday. We had just one run in with a small caravan of RV’ers headed south. They seemed to feel it was an affront to their manhood to be passed, despite the fact they could barely maintain 40mph on some of the grades. Overall, it was probably one of the smoothest trips I have made in 8 years. Our total ‘on the road time’ was 22hrs and 15 minutes, from the border to our home in La Paz.

La Paz to Cabo San Lucas

The four lane expansion continues between La Paz and Cabo San Lucas along Hwy 1 and Hwy 19 along the Pacific Coast route of the Baja Sur loop. Four nicely paved lanes now are complete from La Paz to the 1/19 Y. The exception is a new bridge over the vado just about 1 mile north of the Y. The bridge construction of the piles has been completed and crews are now working just south of the roadway, prefabricating the beams for the bridge. The pieces will later be moved into place by cranes. A similar process is underway right within the pueblo of San Pedro. San Pedro used to be a series of speed bumps on the road to Todos Santos from La Paz. Pottery shops, roadside tacos, locals selling pitayas or queso are common and little tiendas lined the highway for not much more than a mile.

When the four lane is completed it will alter the face of San Pedro into a place where dust collects from fast passing cars. Another significant challenge to La Paz/Cabo driving is a construction of a new bridge at the Bordo Vado on Calle Forjadores (Hwy 1) just meters south of the cutoff for Pichilingue. They have already paved the by-pass to which traffic will be diverted shortly. The vado is nearly a Km wide and ALL commercial traffic and a majority of all traffic bound for the rest of Baja Sur will have to cross this detour then enter a traffic signal that is already congested. Paving, they are resurfacing Hwy 19 between Cerritos and Cabo San Lucas.

Three years ago this section was resurfaced with what I call the ‘rice krispy cookie’ technique, were aggregate is laid down, then tar applied and the process repeated. That section of highway was under construction for months. It also proved not very durable under the heavy traffic and high heat of that section of roadway. Everything consumed in Los Cabos travels that road. This time a paving machine is laying beautiful asphalt surface at the rate of about a 2 feet a minute. The road crews of closed 1 of two lanes for what seemed to be an inordinate distance of about 3 miles. Traffic is held in one direction for up to 15 minutes. Quite a line can build up in that time ad this can be particularly difficult in the southbound direction in which all the trucks are full. The 30 mph crawl that the pack is reduced to can often be reduced further when there are several heavy trucks in your convoy.

Construction on the 4 lane has begun from Todos Santo northward. Along the south side of the road clearing has begun. Unfortunately, one of the most ill-conceived Pemex stations has been constructed on the outskirts of Todos Santos. The new station is located on the headwaters of the freshwater feed to the city below. All gas stations leak, at very least from their parking apron. To add insult to injury here, the construction company pushed the building trash into the marsh are RIGHT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD in plain view. That’s OK Pemex, there is lots of clean fresh water here in Baja Sur! In the middle of the stretch from the Y to Todos Santos is a restaurant named Bugunbillia and a cluster of homes. In this area the 4 lane work is in process as well and there is a detour off the road during weekdays of about 2-3km. This is driving over graded desert.

There are places that will become quickly impassable when it rains, even a little Traffic is slow and the dust is high. I have been driving the Baja Sur Loop back and forth to Cabo now for 6 years. There have always been a limited number of places to pass and fewer that many drivers would call safe. Over the years I have memorized al of these places and strategically plan my moves around convoys of trucks. on this last trip, so much traffic is using this road in the other lane, those rare passing locations often have on-coming traffic. Although the 4 lane construction is going to be much more painful before it gets better, it is sorely needed. For years, the 1/19 route was faster for La Paz travelers to get to the San Jose del Cabo Airport. Today, With the increased traffic, construction and that southbound trucks are laden, I found the Hwy 1 route along East Cape, although longer, took exactly the same amount of time as the Pacific route. Northbound, Hwy 1/19 is still a few about 15 minutes shorter.

Checkpoint Tip

The Mexican Military is stepping up efforts to interdict drug traffic, particularly in Baja California (Norte for those who don’t know better) and the checkpoints are the most aggressive I have seen. When at one stop I witnessed one couple make a mistake I highly recommend against. While two young soldiers searched their car these two gringos struck up idle conversation with the officer and turned their backs on their possessions. At checkpoints you can request that only one person search your car while you watch. (you are not afforded this courtesy by US Customs who will intentionally seek to divert your attention during the search) If you can not communicate this to the soldiers, just keep an eye on them. These are young kids, many from poor families a video camera, $20 bill in the dash or other objects could prove a temptation. Coolly explain, if they ask, that if you watch, there is no chance of you falsely accusing them of taking something if ‘we search the car ‘together’ (contigo) If you have delicate objects (as my computer case, which to them might look like a gun case, simple say, ‘permítame, por favor’ (par-mit-a-may) This has never failed for me, they step aside and allow you to open for their inspection the article in question.

Baja Safari Mexico Club Editor

TOURIST CARDS AT TIJUANA:

Stay in the far right lane under the sign “For Declaration Only”, park and walk to the Immigration office in the long building to the right. Obtain your Tourist Card (FMT) form there, fill it out and go to the nearby bank to pay for it. Then return to the Immigration office to have it validated. Always ask for the maximum of 180 days. FMT’s AT TECATE: it is easier to park on the U.S. side, walk across to Immigration in the building on your right and use the bank across the street. Again, Always ask for the maximum of 180 days.

RIPOFFS

Police mordida in Tecate. Pemex stations in Ensenada on the east side of the highway leaving town and Santa Rosalia in town.

GENERAL ROAD REPORT

1) Hiway 1 good in Baja Norte. Potholes around Catavina and San Ignacio. 2) Much roadwork from Loreto-Insurgentes with roughness. 3) L.A. Bay road excellent with new paving. 4) San Felipe-Puertecitos road paved and very smooth. 5) Watch for speed-reducer strips before topes, sharp curves and steep downgrades.

FUEL RATES

Magna Sin (87 octane) 6.6 pesos/liter, $2.37/gal: Premium (93 octane) 8.2 pesos/liter, $2.91/gal: Diesel 5.6 pesos/liter, $2.00/gal. At Catavina and L.A Bay Junction Magna Sin from barrels - 5 gal minimum.

UPDATES

New gas station at L.A. Bay. Gas station at Catavina OPEN. Mainland Vehicle Fee - $30.00 Tolls - Tijuana-Ensenada 25 pesos per axle.

Baja Safari NOW Editor

Hints of lemon, apple and flowers, this native Mexican fruit enlivens summer dishes.

Making tomatillo salsa is a breeze. But for those short on time, we suggest our Baja Safari Salsa. It can sauce up fried eggs, baked potatoes, grilled steaks, roasted chicken and grilled cheese sandwiches. Take note of our authentic Baja Safari Mexico Club Favorites! • Recipes for Tomatillo-Avocado Salad, Mole Verde With Roasted Pork and Enchiladas!

The air blooms with a crisp green scent, as faint as an elegant perfume. Granny Smith apples and lemons come to mind, underlined by floral notes and a bright, acidic character. Our Master Chef slices a tomatillo in his airy “Office” kitchen. Others are stacked on the counter, ready to be boiled and chopped. The beautiful golf-ball-size orbs glow green, the color of fresh, young grass slick with rain. Tomatillos were a staple in his Mexico City boyhood. Today he depends on the fruit, indigenous to Mexico, to make lively salsas and his signature mole verde.

We tasted a green mole about three years ago and remember how the lovely pumpkin-tomatillo sauce draped over roasted duck, like a cape woven by Mother Nature. The nuttiness from the pumpkin and sesame, tempered by the tart tomatillo, was compelling. The sauce lingered in my memory with a dusky vividness. Recently a plate of enchiladas breathed life back into the memory of the mole.

Driven by the desire to duplicate it, I called our chef-owner, for a lesson in the basics. I’ve eaten tomatillo salsas countless times in restaurants but never learned how to use this member of the nightshade family in my own kitchen. The tomatillo is a cousin of the tomato. There are several varieties. In Houston, one generally finds large ones, slightly smaller than a baseball. “But these two tiny tomatillos have loads more flavor than a large one,” says the chef, holding out pinball-size specimens. In terms of tartness, aroma and intensity, the little guys come out ahead. Small tomatillos are from Mexico, while larger ones are usually from South Texas or California.

Only the large ones are available year-round. April through August, Ortega buys thumb-size tomatillo milba. In Mexico, this variety grows wild in cornfields, but those at the grocery are likely to be cultivated. Impossible to find in U.S. supermarkets is the cutomate, which grows during the rainy season and turns bright orange when ripe. It’s sweet but also intensely tart, Ortega says. With a slimy viscosity similar to that of nopales, cactus-ears, cutomates are used to make a salsa for tamales de elote, with masa and baby sweet corn. The smaller the tomatillos, the more expensive, says a vendor at the Tecate Farmers Market. The small ones run around $1.25 per pound, while tiny specimens the size of your pinkie nail cost about $2. These are usually available in October and November. The chef makes numerous sauces with tomatillos, including salsa verde, which also contains cilantro, garlic, serrano chiles, onions and avocado. The cilantro gives the sauce an incredible, glow-in-the-dark green hue.

To make it thick, he chops the tomatillos and cilantro in a food processor, transfers the mixture to a colander and allows the juices to drain. He then returns the mixture to the blender and purées it with the rest of the ingredients. How about quantities? Like many chefs, he guesstimates — a handful of tomatillos, a bunch of cilantro, one or two serranos, an avocado and salt to taste. We follow the instructions and now have a jar of salsa on hand to eat with fried eggs or drizzle onto leftover roast chicken. Throw in a few store-bought corn tortillas and I’ll have a quick, simple dinner. After the salsa-verde lesson, we made the mole verde, chicken enchiladas and tomatillo salad, a family recipe we are willing to share only if we credited its creator.

Tossed with lime and olive oil, the salad turned out to be simple yet layered with flavors similar to the crunch of Granny Smith apple mingled with sharp white onions, cilantro, red bell pepper and serranos. The most time-consuming part of this preparation is removing the papery husk from the tomatillo. But that’s the beauty of cooking with tomatillos. Aside from peeling off the husk, it takes little to showcase this beautiful fruit. Let’s begin.

CABO CLUB TOMATILLO-AVOCADO SALAD

A great dish for the beach!

* Juice of 1 lime

* 1 to 2 teaspoons powdered chicken bouillon

* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

* Salt to taste

* 1 pound tomatillos, husks removed, quartered

* 1/2 medium onion, diced

* 1/2 red bell pepper, diced

* 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

* 1 to 2 serrano peppers, chopped or sliced thin

* 1 avocado, sliced thin To make the dressing, whisk together the lime juice and chicken bouillon.

Add the olive oil, and season with salt to taste. Place the tomatillos, onion, bell pepper, cilantro and serrano in a bowl with half the dressing. Gently fold in the avocado and the remaining dressing. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

BAJA SAFARI DESERT ADVENTURE MOLE VERDE WITH ROASTED PORK

A terrific dish made out in camp, under the Baja Moon.

* 3 pounds pork loin

* 2 to 3 bacon slices

* Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

* 1 tablespoon dried rosemary

* ½ teaspoon garlic powder

* 1 pound tomatillos, husks removed

* 1 cup pumpkinseeds, toasted

* ¼ cup sesame seeds, toasted

* 4 cups (1 quart) chicken broth, divided

* 1 to 2 serrano peppers (or more to taste)

* 6 romaine lettuce leaves

* Leaves from 1 bunch radishes

* 3 garlic cloves, chopped

* ½ medium onion, chopped

* 7 cilantro sprigs

* 2 cloves, ground fine

* 1 pinch cumin

* 2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Using a knife, make 3 long incisions into the pork loin. Insert the bacon into the incisions; in cooking parlance, this technique is called larding. Season with salt, black pepper, rosemary and garlic powder. Place the loin in a roasting pan and cook until done, about 1 hour or 170 degrees. Remove and set aside. Boil the tomatillos until tender. They will lose their bright-green color and turn yellowish-green. While they cook, grind the pumpkin and sesame seeds into a fine powder in a spice grinder or food processor. Mix with 1 cup broth; set aside. Put the tomatillos, serrano peppers, romaine lettuce, radish leaves, garlic, onion, cilantro, ground cloves and cumin into the blender and blend until smooth; set aside in blender container. Warm the lard or oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the pumpkin-sesame mixture, and stir until it darkens and thickens. Add the remaining 3 cups chicken broth and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently until it thickens. Allow the broth to cool slightly, then add it to the blender. Blend until the sauce is smooth. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. If the sauce is too thick, thin it with a little more broth. It should coat a spoon like heavy cream. Transfer the sauce to a large pot. Slice the pork loin, and add to the sauce. Cook over medium-low heat, just to heat through. Serve with plain rice or tortillas. Makes 6 servings.

SAN DIEGO SAFARI ENCHILADAS

* 1 pound tomatillos, boiled

* 1 bunch cilantro, leaves only

* 1 to 2 serrano chiles, to taste

* 1½ tablespoons chopped onion

* ½ garlic clove

* Salt

* 1 cup crème fraîche

* 1 dozen corn tortillas

* 3 chicken breasts, poached, cooled, then shredded

* Vegetable oil

*½ cup cochita cheese or Bulgarian feta, crumbled

* ½ red onion, finely sliced

Put the tomatillos, cilantro, serrano pepper, onion, garlic and salt to taste in a blender. Blend until roughly puréed. Add the crème fraîche and blend until smooth. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Transfer to a pot and simmer over medium-low heat. Keep sauce heated until ready to serve. Over medium heat, fry the tortillas, one at a time, in hot oil, about a second on each side just to soften; set aside. Fill each tortilla with chicken, and arrange on a serving plate. Ladle the sauce over the enchiladas. Top with cheese and red onion. Makes 6 servings.

Baja Safari NOW! Editor

Honey from Yucatan bee fields. Coffee so concentrated it’s like chocolate stirred with molasses. Damiana, an herb with a heady aroma evoking mint, musk and Juicy Fruit gum. The earthy bite of agave familiar to tequila lovers. These are a few of the flavors you find in Mexican liqueurs. Quick, name a Mexican liqueur.

If the only one that comes to mind is Kahlua, you’re not alone. Not even many bartenders have discovered the host of others, some made by large national or international companies, some associated with particular regions — Jalisco or Baja or southern Mexico. Several have been around for a long time — one, the venerable Agavero, since 1857 — but they’re basically new to us because most of the dozen or so in stores here have been imported only in the last five years, encouraged by the late-’90s premium tequila boom. These south-of-the-border liqueurs have a fragrant, tropical air, and now is a wonderful time to enjoy them. They’re delicious simply for sipping on the patio, but they also bring something to the cocktail party.

Ice, soda and lime are their best friends. A dash of any of the more exotic examples could be added to a margarita. Try this And there are a lot of other things you could do with them. Xaica (pronounced shy-cah), flavored with jamaica (hibiscus tea), would make an extra-cool Sea Breeze. Reserva del Senor Almendrado has an almond flavor, like an Amaretto with a tequila twist — throw some in a rum and Coke to add a little profundity. And the richer Mexican liqueurs make sophisticated dessert toppings or ingredients.

The most widely produced liqueurs in Mexico are the coffee- or almond-flavored varieties, but just as the better-known unique European liqueurs draw upon herbs and plants native to the regions of their origins, some Mexican liqueurs impart aromas and flavors found nowhere else. Consider the damiana (Turnera diffusa), an extravagantly aromatic yellow-flowered shrub native to Baja California as well as Central and South America. Elixirs and teas made from its leaves have been used for centuries as reputed aphrodisiacs and as herbal medicines. Two of the most delicious Mexican liqueurs, the 150- year-old Agavero and the newer Guaycura Liqueur de Damiana, are made with damiana. Guaycura Damiana, appropriately, is a bright, sunny yellow liqueur. Made with a neutral spirit base by Damiana de Mexico, it combines resinous and floral flavors to wonderful effect. Agavero also is flavored with damiana, but much more subtly, emphasizing instead the smooth flavor of tequila. Its on-again, off-again availability in the United States has made it an elusive indulgence for aficionados, but recently it’s once again on the market here.

Produced by Los Camichines Distillery, also known for Gran Centenario tequila, Agavero is based on a luxurious blend of “reposado” and “anejo” tequilas. They’re aged in French oak barrels for around 18 and 24 months, respectively, giving this liqueur a sophisticated smoothness and touch of wood. As more Mexican distilleries export their liqueurs or develop new ones, the selection of coffee liqueurs widens. They’re first cousins to Kahlua and its like, except for that mysterious, fleshy note of agave because of the tequila base. The super-premium tequila brand Patron has XO Cafe, a densely brown tequila-based drink that marries dark coffee and dark chocolate flavors. It is in something of a class by itself because the coffee flavor is so highly concentrated. Tequilas del Senor distillery in Guadalajara makes the tequila-based Reserva del Senor Licor de Cafe and two almendrados (liqueurs flavored with almonds), as well as straight tequilas such as Sombrero Negro and Rio de Plata. Del Senor’s basic almendrado is made with silver tequila, the premium version with a reposado. The almendrados, perfumed with almond extract, go particularly well in drinks or desserts with a chocolate or coffee flavor, just as Amaretto does.

Citrus liqueurs There are a number of citrus-infused Mexican liqueurs, and at least one flavored with pomegranate, but the most interesting of the other flavors available here is a jamaica liqueur. Jamaica, or hibiscus flower tea, is almost as common a kid’s soft drink flavor in some parts of Southern California as it is in Mexico. As an adult flavor, it’s unusual, and as a not-too-sweet liqueur, it has a pleasantly dry aspect. Xaica comes from the single-product company Casa Destiladora SA de CV in San Miguel de Allende and has a neutral-spirit base and relatively low alcohol content for a cordial. With its sweet-sour-bitter flavor, it’s like an exotic cranberry drink and could make intriguing variations on cranberry cocktails.

Damiana’s sweet, flowery taste goes well with tropical fruits such as pineapple or passion fruit, so you might splash some on a fruit salad or fruit-based drink. Some people use jamaica or damiana liqueurs in a margarita in lieu of the triple sec. In Baja California, you might hear that damiana liqueur actually was the original ingredient, but that claim should be taken with a grain of salt. In The Joy of Mixology, mixologist Gary Regan dates the oldest margarita recipe to 1937; Damiana wasn’t marketed until the late 1950s.