How I met the Queen of Tequila

Back in the late 80's and early to mid 90's, I was with a start-up company, Arizona Pepper Products Co., and we made a hot sauce called "Arizona Gunslinger Smokin' Hot Jalapeño Pepper Sauce" which eventually evolved into many more products - www.azgunslinger.com , well this called for monthly trips in our trucks to farmers in eastern Arizona and New Mexico to buy fresh red ripened jalapeño's. Many of the farmers spoke spanish and we figured we needed to learn Spanish, so we took some classes at the local Community College to learn the language.

Well after about 3 semester's worth, the principal owner - Bill Marko (who is one unique cat and a hell of a lot fun to be around) said we need to take a trip through Mexico via a bus, but we needed to do this alone. I immediatley nominated myself to be the first to go......and I did!

It was late August of1994 when I boarded a bus in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico and set off for Mexico City. This bus ride took approximately 24 hours and was a real trip! Now, I happen to be 6'5", blond and blue eyed, so I definitely stood out. I spent 4 days in Mexico City tooling around, visitng many famous places and eating a lot of great food. I then went to Guadalajara for 2 days and did the same thing.

After many interesting adventures, I decided to hitch hike home. This proved to be the most incredible adventure of my life. I walked along Avenida Vallarta for about 4 hours to Highway 15 and headed north to Tepic, Nayarit, it started to rain, and finally at about 4:30 or so, a lady stopped (my only ride) and gave me a ride to the next town called La Venta de Astillero. From there I got on a crowded bus. I made my way near the back of the bus when I saw a beautiful Mexican girl. She asked me if I spoke english, I said yes, and she said she was learning english. I replied..."I'm trying to learn spanish". Well I sat down next to her and found out she was on her way home from the University of Guadalajara to her house in Tequila.

As we talked, I found that she was just crowned the Queen of Tequila.....not the drink, but for the town and for their annual competition that commences on their "Dia de Independencia" or Independence Day on Sept. 16. She asked if I would like to meet her family and to see her house. Of course I said "yes"! She was 21 yrs old at the time and I was 33, she could have passed for 16, she was beautiful. I really had no inkling of starting anything with her at all, but she definitely captured my full attention, besides I was dating another girl for 6 years at the time.

The bus stopped in Tequila, we got off and then walked about 15 minutes to her house where her father was out in the street waiting for her. Well, I got to meet her family, I stayed for about 2 hours and then her and her father escorted me back to the bus stop area so I could continue my way back home. They were extremely nice

Well, we ended up as pen pals, writing each other in the language we were trying to learn (which, by th way was/is a great exercise in learning the language). I made 3 subsequent visits, Feb of 1995, April 1995 (to surprise her on her birthday) and August 1995. On the August visit, I proposed to her, she accepted!

In Mexico they have 2 wedding ceremonies, a civil ceremony and then the religous ceremony. The civil ceremony took place on October 27 that year and then the church ceremony took place April 27, 1996. Twenty five of my family and friends flew down for the fiesta, it was awesome, great food, all the tequila and beer you wanted and of course, a 12 piece Mariachi band! There is much more to the story.

We now have 3 great kids, Juul Francisco 8 years old, Daniella Fernanda 3 years old and Derrek Alejandro 14 months old.

Here is a link that our paper The Arizona Republice did on us http://www.azcentral.com/families/articles/1201fam_lovestory.html