Atotonilco el Alto and more!

So I have a lot of tequila to tell you about...... oops I mean I lot of events to tell you about!!  First off I have another Rotary Presentation to a group of English speaking jr high and high school students in Atotonilco (I had to use a little bit of Spanish for the jr. high kids, but all of them spoke really well and paid a lot of attention to the stories that I was telling).  Afterwards, my friend who teaches English at those school (the reason I was invited) decided to take me out on the town in the "small" town of Atotonilco where a majority of the tequila that we know is produced.  We started with a drink called Charazo which is basically tequila with grapefruit juice, lime and salt.  I might have gotten the name wrong because it wasn't really good enough to remember. Then, we had to try a Margarita....  :)  After that, we had this drink called Vampiro (which means Vampire).  It is kinda like tequila mixed with tomato/sangria with lime, salt, lots of chili powder and squirt to top it all off.  I didn't like it.  Then we had to try a few different types of tequila. 

       

After a long night of... I mean a long day of giving presentations and talking to students, I took the two hour bus ride back to Guadalajara.  It was really fun and I got to meet a lot of fun new people who have invited me back later in September for the Sept 16th Independence Day celebrations.  Apparently all the major tequila distilleries, there are about 10 different companies that are located in Atotonilco such as Jose Cuervo, Don Julio, 7 Lagunas, and Patron just to name a few, set up bars in the main plaza and it just becomes a huge party for the month of September.

Hijos Escalados -- a tribute to the people from Jalisco who have done exceptional things. 

Last Saturday night, after class got done I went to the Rotaract meeting where I met a really nice visiting Rotaracter from Hidalgo, Mexico.  We decided to have lunch together and walk around the market on Sunday before she had to leave to Colima... this is what we saw.

The steeples of La Catedral

The Catholic Church is the middle of town.  Basically the church that the city of Guadalajara was originally build around.  

There were a bunch of kids playing in the water in the fountain.  I don't think I would be brave enough to do that, but they looked like they were having fun.

And last but now least, for some reason Spider Man was there... Maybe he arrived in Guadalajara to help fight off the narcos!  :) 

Yesterday I gave my first presentation in Spanish!!!  I was super nervous, but everyone said I did really well.  I spoke to the Club Rotario Zapopan Lomas del Valle, they are my host club and they were really excited to learn more about me and why I am down here in Mexico.  They use nicknames a lot in Mexico.  Everyone has a "mote" and when I introduced myself and said I didn't have a nickname one of the guys in the club must of thought I didn't understand what a mote was... here is how the conversation went.
Me: "My name is Amanda Hermes, and I dont have a mote." 

Him: "Yeah but what do your friends call you?"
Me: "Amanda"
Him: "Ok but what does your family call you?"
Me: "Amanda"
Him: "ok yeah but what did they call you in school"
Me: "Amanda"
Him: "hmm.. well thats weird!"

I am sure my the end of the month, once they get comfortable having me around either the Rotary Club or the Rotaract Club will come up with some sort of nickname for me... you know... just so I dont feel lift out!  :) 

Finally, this morning I saw what looked like a scene straight out of the movies.  We have this big train that goes by our house.  It runs from Guatemala all the way up to the boarder of the US.  The people here call this train La Bestia which means The Beast!  Well today while I was waiting for the Beast to pass I looked down the tracks and saw a couple guys running after the train..  then all of a sudden they grabbed on to the railing and jumped!  It was just like a scene in the movies.  I couldn't get my camera out fast enough to get a picture of them in action, but as they passed I was able to sneak a picture and just happened to catch these stowaways, once they got comfortable, sneaking a ride of the Beast back down south towards Guatemala..  Who knows where there final destination will be!