San Miguel de Allende

Hey everyone...I am so behind on my blogs and pictures. We did have internet service in San Miguel "supposedly" but it was way too slow to post pictures.

Anyway, we left Guadalajara to San Miguel via bus. This trip took 6 hours. As you guys know we are "busing it" everywhere. The bus system is awesome here in Mexico. They have Lujo lines which means "luxury" in Spanish. A sandwich & drink are provided, 3 seats across vs 4 seats makes for spacious sitting and separate bathrooms for girls & boys. "Busing it" has been very cool.

On our way to San Miguel we past thousands of walkers and we are thinking what the heck is going on. We learned from some of the passengers that we were witnessing the Famous Jalisco Pilgrimage. This is huge. Thousands of walkers on a religious journey to San Juan de Los Lagos. A devotion to Virgen de La Candelaria. We later read this isn't a marathon walk; these people were walking for 9 days. (250 kilometers / 155 miles). Unbelievable! We aren't talking about the most fit individuals either. We saw all ages, some carrying their babies while others need the assistance of a walking cane. Tents were set up along the sides of the highway to offer water & fruit.

Unfortunately, we couldn't

capture more photos.

A little difficult in a

moving bus.

We spent one week in San Miguel, a small colonial town. Lots of retirees from the states live here. I'm not actually sure why this place. Don't get me wrong; it is beautiful here but dang the hills in this town are steep. My knees, my back, my butt and my lungs were killing me. Our hotel was on a pretty nice incline and not only was it a journey from the town square up to our hotel but once we reached the hotel entrance, we still 95 stairs to climb before we made it to our room. The air is then here; altitude is 7000 ft. I was winded big time. But, our scenery was beautiful.

The view from our hotel

A view of the city

Town Square

Here we are overlooking

the town square area.

Lots of churches in this city

as well. I'm

pretty sure

we went into

atleast 7 of them

A handful of the Policia still

dress in the old Colonial garb.

While in San Miguel I did find a cooking class. I wished I had more time to attend other classes. The lady that taught our class was actually from Houston. She's been living in San Miguel for 18 years and owns a restaurant as well. She stays pretty busy. The class took place in her home where she also runs a Bed & Breakfast.

The kitchen where it all happens

Kris Rudolph, Owner of El Buen Cafe

We made Chile Pasilla Salsa, Stuffed Poblano Peppers (filling: grilled veggies & goat cheese), Pork Tenderloin w/Hibiscus Glaze and she made Raspberry Chipotle Brownies. I had no idea what we would be cooking before attending the class. I probably would have sat out if I heard the menu before hand. Goat cheese, yuk! But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The goat cheese wasn't overpowering at all. It turned out to be a really good class.

Poblanos are now ready to be stuffed.

Bon Appetit!

Typical housing

As we announced we were leaving...Our friends in San Miguel displayed a fabulous

fireworks show in our honor. OK....OK.... Maybe it wasn't just on our behalf. But check it out, we are taking pictures from our hotel room. We are seeing the burst at eye-level.

San Miguel was beautiful and is for the art enthusiast. Tons of galleries in this small town. And lots of boutiques as well for the ladies.

We did find a restaurant called Harry New Orleans Cafe & Bar. We were ready for some good ol' creole food. The restaurant was upscale and the food was delicious. This place had all the good looking people dressed to the nines. And a fabulous Happy Hour. Wouldn't have mind getting a few more meals there.

Have lots more to blog about so stay tuned.

Hugs - Bonnie

Ajijic and Lake Chapala

Hi! How is everyone doing? Hope not working too hard!

Just wanted to share some pics of a day trip we took out of Guadalajara. We caught a bus and headed to Lake Chapala and Ajijic. Lake Chapala is a small town w/a lot of expats living there. It's a great place and I see why people from the U.S. made the move. We were told to check out Ajijic as well since we were so close to the area. We're glad we did. Ajijic was beautiful. In fact we actually liked Ajijic better than Lake Chapala. Ajijic shares the same Chapala lake but the town still has all the Mexico charm. Americans are starting to discover this land as well. It has all the amenities we are used to back home except for a mall. (grocery stores, movie house, home depot and lots of speciality stores.) And yet its still very affordable.

I'll start by sharing pictures of Ajijic first.

They had a beautiful

Church.

As I stated this is

an upcoming area.

They are starting to

put in a Boardwalk

& preparing for tourist

Don't get me wrong...There's plenty of restaurants, shops, beautiful homes and a strong Expat community already in existence. But this place is just now starting to boom.

The Expat community

gathers in this area.

Here they share information

Post bulletin notices.

Have coffee, play games,

organize charities & parties.

Beautiful streets

and nice homes.

Real Estate is

starting to boom

and it's inexpensive

at the moment.

Lake Chapala is town built

around this amazing

lake. It's a huge

body of water.

This man was so cute.

He's fishing using a

fishing line and a

coke bottle.

Definitely an art

to it.

Get this, the fish in this lake like tortillas.

They have a very

nice boardwalk w/

shops, restaurants

and large homes

A view from the

pier looking back

at the boardwalk

As you can see...

we are still enjoying

our travels here

in Mexico.

We've met so many people on our journey and several of them have traveled the path we are heading. It's been awesome hearing their experiences and knowledge. We really want to thank them. We've taken all the advise to heart and because of them our travels so far has been smooth. We hope our paths will cross again in the future.

Happy & safe travels - B&B

Guadalajara Zoo

I'm a sucker for Zoo's! Bob & I spent all afternoon watching all the animals. The grounds are divided into the zoo, a safari, and aquamarine park. All require separate entry fees or you could buy a package deal at the front gate. We wanted to see it all and we're glad we did. The first part of the day we spent at the zoo seeing my favorite animals.

I love the big cat

family

Don't you just

want to play

with them?

Hey Bro,

What's up?

Sorry I couldn't

resist.

After the zoo we went to the Safari. As we enter their were some bongo's /drums and we decided to have a little fun.

Then we boarded this

large jeep to watch the

animals in the wild.

Very cool since they were

not caged up.

I was able to feed

the giraffe some

carrots.

A momma ostrich had

laid her eggs and wasn't

too thrilled with us being

that close.

She had a few

choice words

for us.

I don't know why

but I think these

enormous animals

are so cute.

We had tons more photos taken of the zebras, lions and jaguars but since we are on a moving vehicle the photos pretty much sucked. They did a nice job with the Safari layout.

From the Safari we took the little train that ran all over the parks over to the Aquamarine Park.

Great train ride and it

wasn't on tracks.

The park had

a separate road for the

train which was

really nice.

The Aquamarine Park was very cool. We walked down into a cave and so the tanks were surrounding us. Fish were swimming over our heads and moving down the walls on either side of us. They had the normal displays of fish; everything from Clown Fish to Piranhas to Sharks. My favorite were the Manta rays & Stingrays. They are beautiful. You could tell they were used to being handled by humans. They were in a shallow tank and would swim to us. I manage to pet a few of them. They feel so soft. I don't know why we didn't take pics other than we was more involved with watching them and playing.

The park also had some

awesome scenic views.

As you can see we

had a great day!

Hope everyone is

enjoying their day.

Lots of love - B&B

Jose Cuervo Tour

Hi! How is everyone doing? It's been awhile since I've blogged. Guadalajara may not have been the prettiest city we've been to but there was lots to do and we stayed pretty busy.

We did the Jose Cuervo tequila tour in the city actually named Tequila. Great little town and

several other distributors were nearby that offer tours of their plants.

All I can say,

Jose you are a friend of mine.

I like to drink you with a little

salt and lime....

Woohoo! Great tour.

It all starts with the

Blue Agave plant.

It actually takes

8-12 years before

harvesting.

If harvested too soon, it is said that there wouldn't be enough sugar to do the job.

The leaves are then chopped away by hand by a Jimador. The leaves are not exactly useless, when dried out factories buy from the Cuervo plant and make paper and different types of clothes with the dried leaves.

The heart of the Agave plant lies below the ground....much like a pineapple. In fact they call the core a Pina.

These are said to weight 70 pounds each

and can weigh up to 200 pounds.

It takes 15 pounds take make

one liter of tequila.

We were able to sample

the raw pina.

Sad to say it had

absolutely no

flavor.

The next process is

roasting which takes

approx 34 hours.

The agave will appear

charred once extracted

from the roasters.

During the roasting period the starches will turn into sugars. After the roasting process, the pinas are run thru a shredder. It looks like bark.

We were able to sample

a piece of bark.

WOW! Tons of

flavor and so

good but no

alcohol at this point

After shredding they then run a machine that presses all the juices out of them and store them in wooden barrels. From this point yeast is added and during the fermenting process the yeast turns the Agave sugar into alcohol. Alcohol content can be 70 to 110 proof.

You basically have to 2 types of tequilas minus that Mezcal stuff. There's 100% Blue Agave and then there's 51% Blue Agave w/other additives. Both types are then broken down by Blanco/Silver, Oro/Gold, Reposado and Anejo. All depends on their distilled/aged process.

Gold is the type of tequila that should be used in Margaritas. There's no reason to waste money using the Reposado or Anejo.

I had no idea the boxes in which some of these tequilas are sold in are collectors items. You can actually buy them on EBay. There are some that are really pretty.

Each sold separately

Put them together

and wha-la...

How cool is this?

There lots of different

boxes sold.

Hope you found this as informational as we did.

Take care - Bonnie & Bob