from Oaxaca City to Santiago Matatlán winds through the vast central valley of Oaxaca, an arid plain walled by scrub-colored hills. You’ll know you’re getting close when rows of what look like giant green anemones stitch their way through the browned landscape. This is agave, the spiky succulent used to make tequila and mezcal. A miraculous plant, agave can grow in the driest environments with no need for irrigation, and it’s provided food, fiber and intoxication to Mexico’s Indigenous peoples for thousands of years.