Querétaro

OMG, we´ve been here three days so far and are just loving it. It is so different from Boise, but so quaint and lovely. Our house is small and right downtown. We walk everywhere, except when we have to go to the store. Then we drive.

Our rental car is a MiniVan. The streets here are so narrow, with people parking on the sides. It is very scary to drive here, but drive I must.

Today, for example, we took a drive out to where my interview will be on Tuesday. It is in a suburb called Juriquilla, which is supposed to be a very nice place to live. It isn´t far by distance, but the traffic makes it seem light years away. Juriquilla is a lot more modern locale, with several malls, a WalMart, a Petco, and some interesting restaurants. Today we ventured to the Office Max and ate at a little taquerilla. Had something called ¨conchas.¨Delicious. Couldn´t tell you much about it, but the meat was very tasty.

The school itself is surrounded by a wall and looks like it takes up about a block with several buildings. I will let you know more after my interview on Tuesday.

Food

Seems like all the restaurants are outdoors. Tonight we ate a Restaurant Bar 1810. Not sure why, but I´ve been gravitating toward Italian and ended up with the Salmon Ravioli. Lyn had the lasagna, but it wasn´t to his liking. The restaurant isn´t really an Italian place, its just what we ordered. One of the dishes on the menu was ¨sauteed grasshoppers,¨ apparently a local delicacy. We passed on that one. We were able to have flan, which was delicious.

Since it is Friday night, the plazas were full of vendors, entertainers and people milling around. There were hundreds of small booths with local handicrafts and, of course, the occasional person begging. I´m amazed at how industrious people are here. Today, in fact, there was a man who went into the street when the light turned red and juggled these huge knives. It was very impressive.

Language School on Our Street

On our way home from walking the dogs, we stopped by a language school about 10 doors down from our place. Lyn ended up taking a private Spanish lesson for an hour and plans to return tomorrow for more. I´m so proud of him! I know it is hard to be in a place where you don´t understand the language.

I´m having an ok time with my Spanish, although when I´m tired it all goes to hell.

As we explore more and more, we are finding many beautiful places so close to us. We are right in the center of the old city. Here are just a few pictures from our outings today.