Day 7: Our Adopted City, Querétaro

Naomi:

We awoke at Hotel Castilla y Leon en Guadalajara and breakfasted at their restaurant on the roof. Guadalajara’s rooftops are beautiful too. Our final leg of the journey was pretty quick… about 4 hours from Guadalajara to Queretaro and the landscape reminded me of the foothills near Zurich or maybe Wisconsin’s rolling hills if you ignored the mountains in the background.

Very green, lots of corn and blue agave growing in the fields, and lots of livestock. We saw a truck piled high with pigs stacked one on top of the other--that were still alive! I drove today, so I missed the photo opp… The driving was very exciting today because we had to stray from the Autopista (toll roads) and that was a bumpy ride. I felt like I was playing a video game called el camino peligroso—not really, but it kept me on my toes. We didn’t know what to expect driving into Queretaro and were so excited to see la architectura. We made our way around the periphery of the Centro Histórico looking for street names and finally made our way to La Mansión del Burro Azul.

They gave us a bargain when we said we’re here looking for a place to live. The décor is described as “Frida Kahlo-esque.” I will highly recommend it to visitors ;) Check out our sink:

We walked around el Centro Histórico and marveled at the beautiful façades.

The vibe here is also very energetic. It is Sunday, so we saw musicians performing in the town square’s gazebo and there were many, many people promenading and partaking of the many foods offered by vendors. We found an amazing restaurant, which we will take visitors to for sure!

Jose:
Wow! We’ve finally reached our destination/home/host city Querétaro. Of course we only have one day to rest before we head out to Mexico City D.F. (think Washington D.C.) for our Fulbright Orientation.
But people, I got to tell you, this is one fine city. I mean beautiful, friendly and with an eclectic troupe that makes you think melting pot, at least a small one.
As Naomi mentioned, we stayed at the Burro Azul en el Centro Historíco.
A lot of the cities we’ve visited have a center with loads of history (you see a pattern here). I’m guessing Mexico has a 'few' more years in the history dept. than the USA and you don’t have to go to no steekin’ library to find out, just walk out into the streets.

What struck me more than anything was the large Indian statue that greeted us as we walked into the center of town. He was looking up into the sky over his left shoulder with the hope and future of Querétaro on his shoulders.

Of course food always fills our evenings so we looked around for the local eats and were lured by a round cheery woman with a warm smile and twinkling eyes. We of course couldn’t refuse and by the time you know it, we were stuffing our faces with some of the best authentic food we’ve had since Los Zarapes. We ordered our food a la carte and thinking they would be small portions because of the cheap prices, I ordered too much.

My only criticism is they didn’t have cerveza fria! I had 2 gorditas and 2 sopes with chicken guisao and Naomi had enchiladas Queretanas which were filled with cheese and piled high with chunks of carrots and potatoes, smothered in delicious cheese and jalapeños.

Eating like kings, we paid only 12 bucks including our ‘soft’ drinks. After dinner we walked around the Jardin Square getting acquainted with our home for the next year. I’m loving life. Next stop la capital de Mexico.