We see beautiful flowers everywhere. This was outside our brunch restaurant. We traveled with Carlos & Sylvia Zepato (pictured below) to an historic town near their home.
It is called Queretaro
The restaurant was VERY nice.
In upscale restaurants, each table is
supplied with a purse tree.
 |
We walked through the town, which has a very
Spanish colonial feel. We walked 3 miles by Sister
Harson's pedometer. Every 6 feet or so was
another dwelling, shop or restaurant--each choistered back a little alley as you see pictured here. |
Although not a great picture, this gives you
the idea of the entrances back into several plazas,
shops, restaurants etc.
A beautiful aquaduct over the freeway.
The town boasts sharp contrasts in
architecture.
I was taken with the bright colors!
Even in car decor!
Carlos works at the MTC and has been
so very good to us. He is a retired executive
for Otis Elevators and well-traveled. Sylvia
owns her own quilt shop, and on our request,
brought some of her handwork and machine
quilting (with her Bernina, of course)
Just as we entered the beautiful church,
we spotted this little beggar lady with her cup.
At the entrance of the church, we saw
this little chapel. We took the picture because
the black statue of the Virgin was very beautiful.
We were surprised to come upon a wedding in progress.
This was a small wedding of maybe 25-50 guests. It cost
20,000 pesos (I think about $1,200) just to use the church
and for the flowers. Mexico does not recognize religious
weddings, so you need to be married civilly first. The cost does
not include any licenses, fees, food, reception, anything else.
Tourists were milling about in the back. It was interesting that
it looked like 6-7 bridesmaids approached the pulpit and gave best wishes to the couple at the end.
This replica of the Savior was also part of the
entrance to the church.
We wanted to give you a sense of these
old streets, with their wrought iron
balconies and doors.
As we saw often in Europe, each
business had a strong colored decor.
It kind of reminded me of Venice without the water.
The doors were often large, heavily carved, and ornate.
I just threw this picture in for the beautiful
colors she is selling.
Not the barbarian
Neal loved driving through the countryside.
Another view of the historic street & its
Spanish influence.
We saw many ornate door knockers, but
thought we wouldn't bore you with more than one.
These handpainted walls were also everywhere
along the street.
I loved these painted apartment buildings
on top of the hill
Some of the ornate balconies.
I loved the little open-air optical shop
and the electrical maze above reminded us
of the Philippines.
We see pinatas often
They are very big. We'd love to
bring one home, but it would take up
a seat by itself.
One of many plazas we saw this day.
We took a trolley tour, Neal climbed
to the top of a hill & took this picture
At the end of the day, the Zepatas took
us to another fancy restaurant. This one is
called the Rattlesnake Restaurant.
These are pictures of the reservoir surrounding
the Rattlesnake Restaurant. The train across
the water has been refurbished into a nice bar we
were told.
I had to take a picture of this lovely cockroach
in the middle of the swanky restaurant.
Although it is called the Rattlesnake Restaurant,
it has a pirate motif.
Interesting tree in the restaurant...
prickles all the way up the trunk.
Just one last picture of the restaurant &
its resident duck. We put in our order
to eat, but there was a wait, and we still faced a
3-hour ride back home, so we drove down
the road and ate a Carl's Jr. Not quite the
same ambiance.
This is an interesting place. It was
the government headquarters of the
Spanish occupation. It honors with
statues, the leaders of the Mexican revolution
(mid 1800s) when they drove the Spanish out.
The mayor's wife was really one of the stars of
this uprising.
This lovely mural honors the revolutionaries:
Hildago, the Father of Mexico in the middle,
Josefa Ortiz, Morelos (the priest), & Vincente Guerro
and others.
This large hall was lined with
3 floors of prison cells for Mexican
dissidents.
This cubicle was used as a form
of torture--the criminal had to stand
within it for long periods of time.
This shop had several interesting objects:
note the two bikes, and the tin scarecrow man.
We see little dolls like this everywhere.
This is the largest I must say.
We were struck by the beautiful
lacy this woman wore as part of her dress.
Carlos said the clothes we see here in the market
are not costumes, but rather are just regular native
dress the people choose to wear.
The Day of Death, November 1-2
is a big deal here--as it was in the
Philippines. People take off work, clean
the graves, and take food to the graveyard in
honor of the dead. It is also like a picnic.
We see skeletons everywhere--ceramics, art pieces,
and like this fellow here making money.
This is the trolley for the tour. As it
was all in Spanish, we didn't get much out of it.
The markets are fun for me.
For Neal, not so much, but he is tolerant.
We women loved this shop of many puzzles
with Mexican themes. It was too expensive
but so cute. The little blue nativity to my
left was about $30-$35. We just couldn't see
it for that much.
Caps for Sale
A living statue--You can take my picture--for a fee!
We love these beautiful women
with their babies and native costume
More of those little dolls
We loved the pink parasol!
We just strolled down the street--
more beautiful flowers
We loved the blue warrior, but especially
the little old lady selling her wares.
More of the skeleton motif--ubiquitous, Kevin
On the trolley tour, the others climbed
to the top of the hill for pictures
They saw several 15 year old girls
all decked out. Fifteen is the year of
coming out for them.
These two memorials were on the top of
the hill.
Two of us women had falls during
the day. Sister Call tripped on a loose step,
not serious.
I fell up the stairs onto
my knee and elbow. So, embarrassing.
Dr. Gill was right there with Ibuprofen, a cracker,
and some water. It hurt, but was no biggie. Those
Gills are something else...really so kind.
These pictures do not do justice to these
rugs. This red one took 2 years to weave and
costs about $350 American.
At the end of our wonderful day with
the Zepatas, they took us to see these 10
houses he had worked as the contractor
to build. It is very upscale, looks like
Southern California to me.
