business spotlight
The tortilla machine imprted from US
Hector Muñoz
The corn being prepared using Nixtamal Process
Hector Muñoz and staff
page 14 | cuenca expats magazine
H
Maix Tortillas
Mexicanas
ector Muñoz was born in
Houston, Texas but grew up
in Northern Mexico in Ciudad
Victoria, Tamaulipas. “Usually
it is the other way around,” he says with
a smile. “It is more common for people
to be born in Mexico and move to the
United States.” After high school Hector
joined and served in the US Army and just
prior to moving to Cuenca, he worked in
the oil fields of North Dakota. “I knew
it was time to leave when I was drinking
hot chocolate in my truck in December.
I tossed it out the window and it froze
before it hit the ground. It was just too
cold for me there and, even though I
had just gotten a promotion, I went to my
boss and said ‘Hey Boss, I quit.’ I was
making really good money and he didn’t
understand why I wanted to leave.”
Fast forward to February of this year
when Hector arrived in Cuenca. He
didn’t have any friends or family here,
but decided, after some research on
Google, that it was as good a place as
any, to pursue his dream of becoming
an entrepreneur. “I wanted to start a
business, but I didn’t want to start one
in the United States.“ So he began his
search and narrowed his final destination
down to two possible places, Costa Rica
and Ecuador. “Cuenca had everything I
was looking for – it is relatively safe, the
economy is more stable than most of the
other places I looked at and the weather
is great.”
Growing up Hector worked for his Aunt
Clara Delgado in her tortilla factory. He
enjoyed the work and he was impressed
by the amount of growth her business
experienced over the years. So, in April,
after securing a location on Avenida
Paucarbamba, importing his machinery
and hiring a couple of employees, Maix
Tortillas Mexicanas was born.
In making his tortillas, Hector employs
the Nixtamal process. Nixtamal is an
Aztec word to describe corn that has
been partially cooked and soaked with
calcium hydroxide, otherwise referred
to as cal or lime. Calcium hydroxide is
simply the dust that results from scraping
a limestone rock. The Aztec would grind
corn against the limestone found in the
riverbeds, and hence discovered the
benefit of the interaction of this natural
element with corn. This process allows
for the corn to retain most of its nutrients
and enhances the flavor.
Currently Hector’s business involves
making corn tortillas and corn chips.
He retails them at his shop at Av.
Paucarbamba 1-99 and Manuel J. Calle.
There you can buy 12 freshly made corn
tortillas for $1.75, 24 for $2.75, 36 for
$3.75 or 48 for $4.50. Additionally,
Hector sells his tortillas to restaurants
around town and just received a big order
of 1,100 tortillas from a new account,
Pronto Taco.
While Hector does not have any plans to