The week before I left, migrating slate colored juncos were resting in the tree outside my balcony.
My Christams cactus was in full bloom,
and snow was on the balcony. I arrived at the airport in Mexico City within a half hour of Seth, Lorena and Luke, traveling from San Diego. From the airport, we took the bus, Pirmero Plus, to Queretro. On the way I saw an ostrich farm, foothills, sheep, donkeys, hawks, horses, stone fences, holsteins, angus, and cactuses as big as trees. I also saw a large green bird fly up and perch on the roof of a house. I thought might be someone's pet parrot.
We were met at the bus station by Bertha, Lorena's mother, and taken to her large five bedroom home.
Bertha is an excellent cook and is always offering food such as mole and eggs and beans and tortillas, etc.
I was given Lorena's bedroom which was large and overlooked the street.
The day before I left about 300 horsemen rode below my window. Lorena thought they were going to some kind of a nearby arena for an exhibition.
There are great views from the roof of Bertha's house.
That night we were invited to Christian's (Loreana's older brother) house for dinner.
I was sick and took a nap while everyone else played Cuban dominos. I had a bad sore throat but later, Lorena bought me some medication that seemed to be a miracle drug because by the next day, the pain was gone.
Most days, Seth ran in preparation for the Napa Valley marathon in March. His mother-in law teased him about the belt he wore that held four small water bottles. She referred to them as his pistoles agua.
Seth, Loreana, Christian, and Bertha showed me downtown Queretaro in all its Christmas splender. It's historic center is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. The plaza de La Constitucion has a beautiful fountain.
The Casa de la Corregidora is currently a Palace of Goverment for the State and is open to the publlic.
Inside this building is a painting of the heros of independnce.
My favoirte Mexican historic figure is La Corregidora, Josef Ortiz de Dominguez. We have no female rebel in our own fight for independence unless you count Betsey Ross, and I don't. I don't know how La Corregidora had the time because she had 14 children.
She is called La Corregidora because she was married to the Corregidor of Queretaro. Early on, she developed sympathy for the oppressed mestizo and criollo community. She attended secret literary society meetings and convinced her husband to have the meetings in her home. The rebels Hildago and Allende attended. The conspirators were berayed by an insider who informed the Spanish colonial authorities. Her husband was informed and he locked her in ther room. According to a guide I had on a tour three years ago, she managed to communicate to a servant who got the message to the rebels that they were busted and they decided to openly revolt stating the Mexican War of Independence (1810). Wikipedia said she managed to get a message to the mayor who notified the rebels. She and her husband were both imprisioned but he was released and she was taken to Mexico City for trial. She was imprisoned in a monastary until 1817. She was released after taking a vow not to support the rebellion. I don't think she was sincere since she was later involved with other movements. She refused any rewards for her involvment in the indepedence movement.
The indside of the Casa de la Corregidora was decorated for Christmas.
Lorena's family knew I wanted to see a Poseda and they graciously, and with some effort, made arrangements. It represents the effort the holy family had in finding a place to stay on Christmas Eve. Las Posadas means lodgings or accomodations and the tradition is from Spain and is 400 years old. It lasts for nine days, representing the 9 months of Mary's pregenancy. Our celebration began with a traditional Christamas dinner. Shots of mescal were served first which could be drunk neat or poured into a ceramic bowl of ponche, a hot fruit drink. Next was an ensalada de manzanna, apple salad. (I served these two plus a version of Bethra's carrot soup for New Year's Eve). Dried cod was the main course which reminded me of European Christmas dinners, especially Norwegian.
There are two groups for the poseda, one outside, pilgrims, and one inside, the innkeepers. Everyone one is carrrying candles. Prescsribed songs are sung in call/answer form. The pilgrims ask for admittance and the innkeepers turn them away. This goes on for several verses until the pilgrims identify themselves as the holy family and the inkeepers let them in. The pilgrims carry angels and Mary and Joseph (not Jesus, he hasn't been born yet). Both groups sing together for several more stanzas. Then it's time to break the pinata. The Christmas pinata has seven points, representing the seven deadly sins.
Christmas pinata with seven points for the seven deadly sins.
The pot represents evil that must be destroyed. The person that is blindfolded represents faith and the turning around represents disorientation that temptation creats. While the person attempts to break the pinate, the audience sings and shouts. There is a time limit. When the singing stops, someone else gets a turn. They wanted me to take a turn but I thought the children should go first. There weren't many children and they insited I give it a whack.
After the posida, we went back to Bertha's to exchange gifts.
This is my third trip to Queretaro and my favoirte part is the aqueducts. They were constructed with private money in 1726. The biggest donor was a rich man with a lot of names: Don Juan Antonio de Urruita y Aran, Marquis de la Villa del Villar del Aguila, the Marquis for short. Carol and Randy stayed in the house that he build for his wife: Las Casa de la Marquesa. It's only right because she was the one with the money. According to legend, he built the aqueducts at the request of the beautiful Capuchin nun Sor Marcela to mitigatae the suffering from intestinal disease brought on by drinking bad water. The system is still used today, with water stored in 10 public fountains and 60 private ones.
The water originates from a spring in the hills. The system covers 1280 meters. The very best view is to drive down the Bernardo Quintana Blvd which parallels the aqueducts. Seth and Loreana and Chris where kind enough to drive me to places for pictures.
Seth took me to the biggest park in Mexico: Almeda Hidalgo.
Seth and I wasted one Sunday watching three football games. Lorena thought we should have taken a day trip because it was sunny. We were punished. All our teams lost: Saints, Packers and Bears. None lost as ignobly as the Bears. I also got a chance to watch Seth, Christian and Daniel play squash. I can't understand why it dosen't have more appeal to spectators. It is faster than tennis.
We were invited to a barbecue at Lorena's cousins house.
Lorena's Dad, Luis, demonstrated his dancing skills. He taught Lorena how to dance and said he would teach me. I don't think he understood what he was up against.
We were also invited to diner at Luis's house. His son Karim, his wife and children were there.
Lorena suggested I might enjoy an exposition at the historic train station. When we approached it, I thought we were arrving at an observatory.
It was a winter carnival. There was ice skating.
Guerra de Nieve: snow ball fight, notice the helmets on the inside wall.
The weather was unusual, it rained for three or four days. We did manage to fit in a day trip to Villa de San Sebastián Bernal, or just Bernal. On our way there Lorena pointed out speed bump markets. There are venders that set up whereever there a speed bumps because some drivers will stop and shop. Bernal has the third tallest monolith in the world and it was impressive approaching it from the highway with the mist hanging over it.
I had to leave the next day. I returned to even colder weather and more snow with warm memories of Mexico.
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