NOTES FROM THE FIELD: The end of a busy working week in Tequila, Mexico. Today was really more of a catch-up day. Catching up on other responsibilities I have within whl.travel and a recap on what we’ve learned in the week so far. Since Project:Exposure in Tequila, Mexico is a pilot, the entire team learned a lot pertaining to the process of the assessments, content collection and follow-ups with different accommodation providers.
What I love about this part of the country (and all of Mexico) is the fact that people don’t question your presence. Tequila is a small town that has only recently been recognised for its tourism potential, so occasionally we saw Canadians or Americans walking around. Still, most of the places we visited were predominantly visited by locals, and yet no one questioned why we were there or even gave us a mal-intentioned expression. If we didn’t understand something whoever was around tried their best to explain it to us.
Variable night and day temperatures
One thing I couldn’t get used to is the winter in Mexico – the desert weather. It drove me nuts how the temperature was in the 30′s at night, then during the day it was in the high 80′s! For any traveller preparing a trip to Mexico any time soon, be ready to freeze your bum off at night and morning, then get ready to layer off during the day.
More firecrackers, another parade
Before we knew it more firecrackers were being thrown. Zack counted one morning – 74 firecrackers set off in one morning. Our consensus was that they were making sure all of Tequila was awake. Just like the night before, another parade was headed down the streets of downtown Tequila. This time there was a float with a priest holding a Bible in front of children dressed up as angels. The dancers were present again, preceded by lines of people reciting the rosary as the parade made its way to the church in the town square.
Parade making it's way to the church
Mexico still struggling from Swine Flu
Later that night we went to a fairly nice restaurant a few blocks down from our hotel. Being completely empty, we got first dibs on our table. We sat around drinking our free margaritas wondering how such a nice restaurant was empty. Unfortunately, the swine flu outbreak and the recession has caused the town of Tequila, along with much of Mexico, to really suffer economically. Some of the accommodation providers we spoke to mentioned how their occupancy rates were lower than normal due to these conditions. Thankfully, Mexicans have stayed optimistic, and the country seemed to have been getting more beautiful by the day.
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