adventuress extraordinaire

Ruth and I are in el D.F. (¨the Federal District,¨or Mexico City, kind of like how we call Washington D.C. just ¨D.C.¨) and doing well.  Queretaro was beautiful; highlights were the Museo del Region (we lucked out and got free admission, and it is housed in a beautiful old convent), el Teatro de la Republica, and el Convento de la Santa Cruz, an old convent built on the site where the Spanish finished conquering the indigenous people in 1531.  According to legend, as they were fighting, a great cross appeared in the sky, and both sides were moved to stop fighting.  At least, so say the conquistadores.

We saw the convent Sunday morning, and afterward had a breakfast of pan dulce y cafe.  We stopped at a nice looking panaderia and bought two lattes, 5 pastries (several of them very large—too much for two people to eat for breakfast), and two bottles of water for 45 pesos, or about $4USD.  Take that, Starbucks.  It was delicious, and the perfect breakfast for a chilly, gray morning.

Queretaro has an amazing old aqueduct that was also a sight to see, and Ruth and I got some great info on it from a tour guide—I don´t think he ever told us his name, but he was so great.  About 5 feet tall, and 84 years old, he told us all about Queretaro, its legends, his family, his time living in the U.S. (he worked there for 3 years during WWII).  He was funny and kind and I can´t wait to show you his picture.

(Speaking of pictures, the one above is from last year´s road trip to Montana, taken in WY.  I won´t be able to upload ones here until I get back to the U.S., but then there will be many.)

We packed up at our hostel in Queretaro around noon, and this time made it to the bus station without a problem.  We took the same bus line as the day before, Primer Plus, to el D.F.  We love Primer Plus.  The three-hour bus ride cost about $15USD—not bad, and very luxurious.

I was very proud of us for figuring out the Metro easily, even though our first stop was shut down and we had to take a bus to the next station.  We made a couple of exchanges to get to the centro historico, which is beautiful, busy, and very alive.  We found our recommended hostel (by our guidebook and our friend Josh), and the location couldn´t be better.  We are right behind the Catedral Metropolitana and the Templo Mayor—the old Aztec temple.  Ruth and I toured the bell towers of the cathedral yesterday and the view from the top was amazing.  As we were up there, our tour guide rang the last bell toll of the day (with a great 8-ton bell) and the sky simultaneously let go with a burst of cold rain and hail.  We are going to start carrying our rain ponchos every evening—it was freezing. 

We had a delicious dinner and then went back to the hostel—even though the centro historico feels very safe, we felt like there was no reason to risk being out at night.  And our hostel is great because there are a lot of things to do and people to meet there.  We made friends with Patrick from N. Ireland and Duncan from New Zealand (no, Dad, ¨made friends¨is not a euphamism for anything else), who are much more experienced world travelers than us. 

I think that pretty much catches you up on our trip.  We are having a wonderful time; continued prayers for safety and health are appreciated.  Mexico is beautiful and I highly recommend it.  Dad, if you get another chance to travel here, you should definitely snatch it up.

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