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Published: January 23rd 2011
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Yesterday morning, I was leaving Guanajuato for Queretaro. I left the hostel at about 9am, wanting to be at the coach station for about 10, but in the end I was there for 9.20. I knew from the previous day's enquiries that there was a145 pesos bus at 10.30 and a 133 pesos bus at an unknown time. So I went to the cheaper counter to ask and was told there wasn't one until 6pm. My 3rd option was to get the 9.30 economico to San Miguel (where I was the day before) and then another from San Miguel to Queretaro. That would probably take longer but leaving an hour earlier might just mean the arrival time wouldn't be that different. And it only came in at 123 pesos over all. 22 pesos, better in my pocket than that of the bus company. I hopped on the 9.30 for the 1h30 ride to San Miguel. It turned out that I had the whole bus to myself for the first hour, so it was almost like being on a direct bus after all. I got to San Miguel for 11am and the next Queretaro service was at 11.10, perfect. I arrived at
Queretaro
Maybe overdoing it a bit with the gold... around 12.30 and after locating where to get el camion from (5 minutes walk from the coach station) and some help from the locals (including a bus driver who shouted me when I had to get off), I made it to the centre for 1pm. There, no map to be seen, so I asked a woman if she knew where the street I was looking for was. She pointed me in one direction and I started walking when I got stopped by an old man who started saying people around here say they know but they don't know: “la mujer, no sabe nada!” (the woman doesn't know anything), but that he was properly from around here and proceeded to give me super precise (and accurate) directions on how to get to my destination. It was a bit of a walk through the centre in the pounding midday heat, but I managed to stop and grab a map at the tourist booth and was at the hostel before 1.30.
The hostel was top notch, friendly, pretty, comfy, quiet, with a good kitchen (and I would discover the next morning with hot water from the beginning to the end of my shower
– first time for everything). I dumped my bags and went off to explore...
Santiago de Queretaro, another one of UNESCO's World Heritage Site, is located about 200km North West of Mexico City. It is one of the most (if not the most) prosperous city in the country. This is due to many industries being located here (GE and Bombardier Aerospace being 2 of them which might mean something to the people I know) and as you approach the city you can see how big it looks. My visit only took me to the Historic Centre (originally built by the Spanish conquistadores), so I can't really say much about the “true” city. Most of the tourist sites are located there (other than the aqueduct) so once again, it was a 3 hours job to walk around and see the sights. Very much like the colonial cities I have seen so far, the area is partly pedestrianised (and the drivers are quite friendly towards pedestrians here) and a mixture of leafy plazas, churches, craft markets and generally colonial architecture. The houses were in the same sort of style as in previous cities visited, but much paler shades of yellow, oranges and
pinks. I spent 4 hours strolling along the sunny streets and managed to see all the sites on my tourist map and even had a look around a couple of free museums. I also went to a small art gallery looking at the people of Queretaro through history. In there, they had a blurb about portraits which made me think:
“El retrato responde en parte a la necesidad de prolongarnos en el tiempo y bocetar una respuesta a asuntos medulares de nuestra existencia: Quién soy?, quién eres? Cómo eres?, nos miramos en los estanques, en espejos, en fotos, en facebook, nos miramos y entonces sabemos que existimos, la mirada en el otro nos confirma, el sabe que esta porque yo lo miro y a la vez el sabe de mi existencia, un retrato es entonces la prolongación de la mirada que posamos los unos en los otros.”
Now for my best translation:
“The portrait responds in part to the need we have to prolong ourselves in time and draw an answer to fundamental problems from our existence: Who am I? Who are you? How are you? We look at ourselves in the xxx, in mirrors, on photos, on Facebook, we
look at ourselves and therefore we know we exist, the look of the other confirms it, he knows he exists because I am watching him and at the same time he knows about my existence, a portrait is therefore the extension of the look we cast on each other.”
It made me think about all this, the blogging and the telling people about what I'm doing...
In Queretaro, I understand there are regulations about street selling and it means there are very few, especially when it comes to food, which was a bit of a shame as I hadn't had lunch and didn't want to pay real shop prices. I also struggled to find a market or big supermarket to buy fruit and vegetables. In the end, as I was about to give up, I found a small “fruteria” (selling both fruit and veg) where I managed to stock up. It turned out that there was a market 2 blocks away from the hostel, but not in the direction I had gone. I was back at the hostel for about 6.30, intending to spend some time there and go back out later, to see the city by night. In
the end, I didn't, but I had a good conversation with a couple of Brits expatriated to Canada and spending the winter in Mexico. They'd come from where I was going and were on their way to where I was coming from. The husband said something else that struck a chord: He said it was amazing how things had changed in a couple of years, because today, everyone comes to the hostel with their laptop, whereas 2 years ago, it wasn't the case and people talked a lot more... It made me feel a bit guilty about having brought this (but so had he!) but I guess if I hadn't I would just have been sat on my own, watching everybody else on their computers!
I also had to go for a quick visit to the chemist because of a niggling but worsening sore throat (I blame the air conditioned buses and the cold nights) and I was grateful for having listened to my Radio Lingua Spanish lessons and the whole episode on going to the chemist: “Me duele la garganza”. Only then the chemist started asking all sorts of questions and tried to get more details... He gave me
some pills to take every 12 hours and said I should be cured within 3 days. All that for 30 pesos.
I had a massive mixed salad (just what I needed) and rice for my diner and spent the evening planning the following day's activities...
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