It was a great trip to Zapopan, Mexico for our official signing of our 5th International Sister City for Grand Rapids.  Mayor George Heartwell and his wife Susan along with the rest of the delegation were treated with incredible hospitality in their city of Zapopan. We arrived Sunday, October 25th for a group dinner and started the week off with a trip to one of their Community Agencies serving families and the elderly. Their senior center was incredible. Their choir sang for us, performed traditional dances and everyone there seemed very proud of their facility. They offered many social services including health, dental, vision, a beauty salon, crafts that they sold and much more. It was truly impressive.

We also had a visit with the newspaper El Informador. They shared their program with literacy efforts in the schools. There were visits to local universities, meetings with their chamber of commerce, the Museum of Art of Zapopan and a tour of the Cuervo Tequila plant in Tequila, Jalisco. I had the chance to visit TV Azteca and Televisa, two of their local television stations. Televisa even interviewed me for their news.

This week was also the official signing with the YMCA of Grand Rapids with the YMCA of Leon, Mexico here in Grand Rapids.  Again, another opportunity to form relationships and exchange of ideas, programs and better understand our cultures and learn best practices from each other.

These two newly formed partnerships are inspiring for our community and another way to think globally for West Michigan.  I look forward to sharing some of the video clips from our trip on future blogs.

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