Last Thursday I met again with my professor and she approved my thesis for my paper. I am super excited and can't wait to start writing... kind of scary to admit but it's true.
On Friday a group of 8 of us went to Guadalajara. It was about 4 and a half hours from Querétaro, but we rode on a super comfortable bus. There was about a foot more leg room and probably half a foot more room in each seat than the buses that we usually take. It was definitely comfortable. We got to watch Get Smart, Australia and Seven Pounds and some others that I didn't watch during our round trip.
One of the students got a discount at the Hilton and we stayed there. It was really nice and it was nice to sleep on a comfortable bed with REAL pillows!!! What a luxury! They had a pool but I didn't swim, I chose to get a massage instead.
On Saturday we took a tour to the town of Tequila. We got to go out to the agave fields and learn about how they grow agave and harvest it. All the plants are planted by hand, and for a farmer to earn a decent wage he has to plant 1500 to 2000 by hand. I didn't catch how often, but nevertheless it sounds like a difficult and not well enough respected job. The agave plants have to grow for like 5 years until they can be harvested. The bigger they are, the more they get paid. Then we went to the José Cuervo factory "La Rojeña" in the town of Tequila. They showed us how they take the "piñas" or pineapples (the agave heart looks like a pineapple once its spines have been cut off) and roast them in ovens for 30+ hours. Then they take mash the heart and extract the sugars and yeast and add bacteria in big tanks to distill it and make alcohol. Then it is put into barrels and aged. We got to try the different varieties, and it was interesting what a difference the aging makes. Then we got a free margarita and went off to eat some lunch and check out the town. We left Tequila around 3:30 and got back to Guadalajara around 5.
Then we went to the historical center and had some dinner at the plaza de los Mariachis. The state of Jalisco (where Guadalajara is located) is famous for its mariachis. My housemate Amy had her birthday on Sunday so we paid the mariachis to play for her birthday. It was nice.
We came back to Querétaro yesterday and started class again today. I had a test this morning and I think it went well.
That's all for now. I will post some pics later.
Besos y abrazos,
Erin
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