New Beginnings: Queretaro

A pleasant colonial city - larger than expected at 1.5 million in population. Seemed to be a business center but the pretty historic center still intact. It was here that the Spanish established their first FIDE institution to convert the natives

A Guadalupe shrine at the entrance to the gates

A Luxury Class bus - with Comfy wide and reclining seats with footrest - drink holders and snack. The trip was about 50 minutes (km ?) and cost under $10

Mott scrolled thru the terror selections - wifi available as well

Bus snack - I hadn't had breakfast and found this lowly ham and cheese sandwich on mushy wheat bread comforting

Bus station amenity

The main plaza - with the typical trimmed laurel trees - the trunks painted white to discourage disease

I don't think I've ever seen dogs as fountain statuary. A guide told us that dogs were very important to the native populations - also the Spanish - and often were buried with owners to provide companionship in the afterlife....as in ancient Egypt.

We happened upon a gordita lady sitting in a doorway - lots of people standing in line. We were gauging the sanitation standards, when a young guy came along and heard us speaking English - "best in town" he said - from Detroit - I think he was probably Mexican and returns here often. He translated everything for us then told us about his recent trip to a resort on the Golf - and showed us all his photos - 7-hour bus ride - stay in hotel booked locally. ... all-inclusive and very cheap it seemed. He said everyone was from Minnesota and Canada.

There are a lot fillings - tripe - other innards among them

These are deep-fried and different from the grilled San Miguel variety -
still of masa and filled

Chorizo and potato - nopales, cheese and tomato

At a university art student show

Icicles of painted glass in a 3-D frame

This one is 3-dimensional and of cut paper

Another mural depicting the history of Mexico. There is a strong tradition of murals here - Diego Rivera being one of the lauded artists

I really wanted to get one of these for someone - couldn't decide who - nor could I decide if it was cheesy or resourceful - I decided it was kitsch.... not a derogative term. You see a lot of crocheted items in shops - vests, scarfs.