The road that leads to cheese

LOURDES, Michoacan-- Last year during an international food festival in Italy, a Mexican cheese rose far above the rest. It's called queso Cotija. This cheese beat out all the Italian gourmet cheeses and took first place. For the small town of Cotija and the humble cheese producers surrounding the small town of Cotija, this marked the beginning of what could be a better life for their families. We wanted to find out more about the people who dedicate their life to making the cheese, where they live and what the product means to them. What we found was a story of sacrifice, struggle and hope.

The cheesemakers live in the outskirts of the town of Cotija--way up in the mountains. The roads were in bad condition, and our compact rental car, we were told, would not make the drive. So two adventureous policemen drove us to the mountains in their pickup truck. We've had to travel on some crazy roads in our travels from Nicaragua to Africa. But this was definitely the craziest.

We trekked up the dirt road for more than an hour winding up the mountain, going higher and higher. From my window, I could see how a few inches to the left could be a scary drop several stories high. Our ears popped and my weak stomach even felt a little nauseous from all the twists, turns, and bumps. But our reward came as we drove further to the top. A breathtaking view of the mountains and foliage amazed me. It seemed appropriate that mother nature helped produce the best cheese in the world at this location.