Feliz Cumpleaños, Happy Birthday El Negro

Today, my father in law Francisco "El Negro" Sanchez de Castillo was born 65 years ago in the beautiful town of Tequila, Jalisco, México. That's him with the yellow shirt along with my mother in law, the Mrs. and the trio of little gringo's known as my kids.

You could say El Negro is a sort of renaissance man, an accomplished artist, writer, he built his own home wiht his own hands, a 2 story beauty with a spiral staircase, a man of deep faith, he can school you on any topic....except for American football and golf ;-) ....... and if you happen to get in a tussle with him, you'll end up on the losing end, El Negro is tough as nails. He's 5'5", I'm 6'5" 230 lbs, I wouldn't mess with him.

A few adventures he has gone through.......while working with the major electrical company in México, he fell from high above while working on power lines, was knocked unconcious and put in a coma for a week, he was thrown from a fishing boat and lost at sea for a day...........and made the pilgrimage to pray to Virgin of Guadalupe in México City from Tequila........a stout 400 miles on foot! Took him and his 2 buddies 17 days to do it. That was nearly 40 years ago and every year since then he makes the pilgrimage to pray to Virgin of Talpa which is about 5 dayer on foot. Each year right around Easter, he and many from the town of Tequila and neighboring towns do this, he has done this for over 40 years! If you're not familiar with the terrain of the state of Jalisco, it is very mountainous, the Sierra Madre's run through Jalisco.

He's a great man, if you ever get the chance to make it to Tequila, make him you're tour guide. He'll take you on some great hikes through mountains, caves and show you some fantastic cave/underground tunnels that stretch for miles and miles.

íFeliz Cumpleaños!