Salsa dancing and Tequila

I'm pretty sure a post about salsa dancing and tequila could earn me some kind of award for being the worst missionary ever. However, they are two very big parts of the culture here so consider this an educational lesson. Last week was the final week of my salsa class I've been taking on campus. There are several cultural workshops on campus and at the end of the semester all the workshops do a presentation to show what they have learned. All the students on campus are invited to come watch the presentations. Not everyone in our class wanted to dance in the presentation and I wasn't sure dancing salsa with a lot of people watching me sounded very fun either, especially since I already stand out being the only American. But sometimes you just have to go for something...so I did...and it ended up being really fun even though Misael told me I was shaking because I was so nervous. Then at the end the teacher in charge of the cultural workshops even called me out by name and said they were glad I had been able to take part in the class during my time here.


Some of the students in my salsa class. That's our teacher in the very front and center.

Misael and I before dancing in the presentation.
Misael and I always have fun dancing together. Not necessarily because we are any good, but we can usually end up laughing about something.

A few weeks ago, I went with some friends to the town of Tequila, which is about an hour outside of Guadalajara. As you can probably guess, Tequila is obviously the birthplace of tequila and is where almost all of the tequila that is sold worldwide is produced. The picture above is Laura and I in front of the agave plants. It takes these plants 8-10 years to grow and mature enough to produce tequila.

A field of agave plants. This is a common sight driving through the state of Jalisco.
Laura in front of the hearts of the agave plants. These are what are actually used to produce the tequila.
The juice from the agave plant in the process of fermentation.
I'm sure I was the only one on the trip that thought that the picture of the Virgin in front of all the fermenting tequila was a little bit humorous.

Laura, Allan, and I hanging out outside while everyone else was inside buying their bottles of tequila to take back with them. Tequila wasn't the most exciting place to visit if you are like me and don't drink, but it was interesting to see the process of how it is made and it was fun to spend time with friends. Rodeos, sombreros, mariachis, and tequila are all things people think about when they think about Mexico. All of those things started here in the state of Jalisco so it was good to have this cultural experience before I return home.