In my last post, I told you that we had decided the order in which we should proceed:
1. Jobs
2. Place to live
3. Car
Well, so much for planning. On Thursday afternoon, we found a gorgeous house to rent in El Refugió, a housing development off Fray Juniper Serró, a little north of downtown. It is brand new and completely furnished, and approximately equidistant from Juriquilla, where I hope to be teaching, and the downtown area. There are small shops and the all-important OXXO (convenience store) along the edge of the community, which makes it very attractive as well.
I still haven’t heard back about the job/demo class. I am hopeful, but I will start to look other places next week. We really need to get to work! I know Lyn is quite anxious. I sent his CV off to the school, too. We will wait to hear on that one. This weekend we plan to work on his academic CV so he can start looking for university positions. That, naturally, would be his preference.
The New House
One of the things we really liked about it, was that it was very tastefully decorated. Everything was brand new and well coordinated. There is a small grassy garden area, which will be perfect for the dogs.
While it isn’t “big,” it has plenty of space, two floors, and three bedrooms. It is an attached house, so we share walls on both sides. The construction here is mostly brick and stucco, so you don’t really hear anything. The walls are just too solid.
The same is true here in our Airbnb. You would never know that we are right off a main street. Although, some nights, when there are things going on, you can hear the crowds roar. The sounds come over the top of the building and drift down into our garden area, which is open to the entire house. Since we never close the windows (why would you…the weather here is gorgeous), we can hear it quite clearly.
The rent is also very reasonable — $750 US a month. Of course that doesn’t include utilities, but those here are minimal. Electric and gas, mostly. Water right now is free because the community isn’t finished. There is also a swimming pool (yes!) and green spaces for walking our babies.
Friday Night in Querétaro
The city is very different at night, especially on Friday nights. Everyone is out walking in the plazas. There are musicians and performers everywhere, and the kiosks and stores stay open late. The church steeples are all lit up, too, making for lovely photo ops around every corner.
Last night, Lyn and I took a stroll as well. On one corner was a man playing a saxophone with some prerecorded music. He was really good! We listened for a while, and I took some pics and recorded a little bit. I wanted to include it here with my post so you can enjoy it as well; however, it is taking too much time figuring out how to do it. (Tell you what: I will post it as soon as I get it sorted out.)
Since we had already eaten, we decided to look for a place to get some flan. We walked down to Restaurant 1810, where we had eaten once before, and had a little flan and listened to more music. There are two musicians that set up right outside the restaurant to play. One plays sax and violin, and the other the piano. Unfortunately, there was a concert going on right behind them. It turned out to be a student band. They were very cute!
There were also some performers going into a building along the square, perhaps to rehearse for an upcoming performance.
Today I am going to try to get to an bazar of independiente artists and others that our Airbnb host has organized. We don’t have a car right now, so we will have to Uber it. It looks to be between here and where we usually go to shop at WalMart.
Don’t judge! It has everything we need plus groceries and you can’t beat the prices. It isn’t like some WalMarts in the US. It is clean and usually quite empty of people. It is located conveniently in a shopping center with a small mall, Petco and Sam’s Club. There is also a Costco here in Querétaro, but we haven’t found it yet.
The Poodles
We’ve been trying to get the dogs out and about at least once every day. It is hard here because the sidewalks are virtually nonexistent and the streets are extremely narrow. The other day, Izzy hopped off and was nearly hit by a taxi! Lyn gets very stressed whenever we take them out. We have to meander around the block to avoid the crowds on Juarez to get to Av. Universidades. There is a decent walking path there for the girls. We just go a few blocks and turn around. They are getting used to it, but Lyn isn’t. It is easier when I go by myself.
The girls have gotten a little shaggy, so we bought a clipper. I just trimmed their faces and feet for now. They look better. I bet they really miss Andrea (Wizard of Paws). I know I do.
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