By Jeff Gee, Mayor of Redwood City, California.
Listen to this note:
On June 21, I arrived in Aguililla, Mexico to celebrate Aguililla’ s 147th Anniversary and to formalize the sister-city relationship between Aguililla and Redwood City.
I was picked up in Morelia at 6:00 in the morning by Gerardo Godinez and staff from Presidenta Montes Mendoza for the nearly four-hour drive from Morelia to Aguililla. During the drive, we stopped for coffee in Apatzingan. We skipped the Starbucks and instead, stopped for coffee where the locals get their coffee – at a car stand where coffee was being made from the back of a van. People were just pulling up, ordering pan and coffee, then driving off to work!
The first few hours of the drive took us along a highway. Avocados and limon orchards lined the highway on each side. Much of the world’s avocados are grown in Michoacan, then exported around the world. The road for the last part of the journey to Aguililla was windier, but we made it in time for the parade. Everyone in the city lined the streets to watch the army and national police demonstrate their presence and importance to the community.
After the parade, it was time for tacos, and for a walk around the plaza.
The journey of the sister city relationship between Aguililla and Redwood City began in 2013 when Mayor Alicia Aguirre came to the region to discuss formalizing a relationship between our two cities. In 2017, the Redwood City Council formally approved a sister city relationship between our two cities. A delegation from Aguililla came to Redwood City to participate in the signing. However, no one from the City Council had traveled to Aguililla yet – until now.
To me, this formal sister city agreement is a recognition of the history between our two cities. Families from Aguililla have immigrated to Redwood City for many years. These families helped Redwood City become the city it is today. Families started businesses, went to our schools, went to church in Redwood City, volunteered in the community, and celebrated all the communities that have come from Mexico. With more than 40% of our residents as Latino and such a large part of our community, honoring these families is very important.
Planning a trip like this, with such importance takes a lot of planning and coordination. I want to thank Arnoldo Arreola and the Amigos de Aguililla for help their help in scheduling and planning my visit.
One of the benefits of our sister city relationship is that each year our city identifies surplus vehicles and equipment. In the past, Ciudad Guzmán and Colima, Redwood City's other sister cities in Mexico, have chosen to take surplus fire engines and fire trucks to their cities. This year, my goal and hope is that the City of Aguililla can use some of our surplus equipment.
After the parade and tacos, it was time to take a short break. Lunch was held at a reception overlooking the city. It had been very dry for the past several months, and the residents were worried about rain. They no longer needed to worry as shortly after lunch was served, the skies opened up and it began to rain – really hard rain and a lot! Thunder, lightening and hail! It rained for several hours and the hail was very large.
Later in the evening was the Miss Aguililla program. There were three young women competing for the crown. The crown went to Fatima. In spite of the rain, each young woman had their own cheering section!
On Saturday, there was another parade through the city. This one involving all of the students from the different schools – like Hometown Holidays. When the parade was over, it was off to the local high school gym for a flag ceremony. Lunch at a restaurant at the plaza, then to a soccer match between Aguililla and Kuekos, with plenty of cerveza!
Saturday evening was the formal signing of the sister-city relationship between Aguililla and Redwood City. The local youth symphony began the program, followed by folklorico dance, speeches, signing of agreements and finally, the band started playing and the dancing started!
Everyone I met was warm, friendly and greeted me with a smile. There were many residents that had lived in Redwood City for many years, retired, and came back home to Aguililla. They retired from San Mateo County, Stanford, Kaiser, the Sheriff’s Office and many of our local employers. Families were here visiting their parents, having their kids spend time with Abuela and Abuelo, or helping the community.
I also have to mention that there was plenty of cerveza, tequila, mezcal from Michoacan, and even cachunga mezcal (this one will sneak up on you!) There were tacos, carnitas, barbacoa, pozole, and much more! The avocados were delicious and the mangos, oranges, limons and all of the fruit tasted wonderful!
I traveled to Zhuhai China last year to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the sister-city relationship with Redwood City. I look forward to the many anniversaries that Aguililla and Redwood City will celebrate in the future.
I have invited all Redwood City’s sister cities; Aguililla, Ciudad Guzmán and Colima MEX, and Zhuhai China to visit in late-September. I hope that representatives from all of our sister cities will be able to make it.
Again, thank you to Arnoldo and Maribel Arreola, the Amigos de Aguililla, Gerardo Godinez, Santiago Perez Valencia and the many residents that opened their home and their hearts to my visit to Aguililla. Everywhere I went, there were smiles, handshakes, hugs, genuine warmth, and very welcoming. Everyone extended an invitation for me to come back and visit.
The history between Aguililla and Redwood City is a long-lasting one – a relationships between communities, between people and is to be honored and celebrated. I am glad that I was able to visit Aguililla. I hope that in the future, I will be able to bring a delegation from Redwood City to promote relationships between our schools, business and others.
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