Queretaro Parte 2

We had burgers & brew at the Blue Jaguar later that night.

In town proper just off the main plaza there is a little restaurant row (pic below) - a wall on one side and half a dozen small eateries on the other. A very comfortable niche with outdoor seating available at each.

We ate outdoors every chance - didn't want to miss anything. We never thought about the weather - it was very comfortable for Gringos.
50 F. was a low and we saw some locals all bundled up at that temperature.

One neighbor lady had her Chihuahua in a dog jacket too!

Being the holiday and considering the pedestrian crowd, parking (estacionamiente) was prohibited as you get closer to the celebrants so we walked several blocks to the plaza.


I love the cobbled streets & narrow sidewalks. The homes & shops on the blocks have 5 centuries of fascinating architecture & colors & lovely ornate ironwork on the doors & windows.

Very European feeling but not exactly because a lot of the art had indigenous influence - corn, Aztec & Mayan deities, etc. with their particularly recognizable design themes and big lines & bright colors.

During the open-mouthed, wide-eyed amble to the Jaguar, I had my first face to face impression of the plaza. We would later cross many times from all angles and all times of day.

This introduction was at night. New to me - holiday lights, smells & sounds from all directions. I was happy as a dog in the passenger seat, my whole attention being grabbed by each new sense encounter.

One of my first unforgettables was an older gentleman in an office chair playing the saxophone. Accompanied by a little boom box, he sounded great to me. Music is my lighthouse.

This was a soothing delight. Spoke to my heart. Though a stranger in town, I felt welcomed by the local spirits. I recorded just a snip. Once he gets going, listen to how beautifully he finishes his notes. I should have recorded more. Halleluia.
The Saxophone Guy - Click for video

The street musicians like to come by & serenade the restaurant customers. All are good, some of them are excellent. A door down from the Blue Jaguar is a pizza place. We ate there a few nights later and I had one of the best pies of my pizza career. Second only to NYC & Florence Italy. Surprise! The owner had just moved from Naples to Queretaro a few years ago. Lucky Me.

One of my favorite street musician encounters - A thin young man, maybe mid-20's with bushy black hair playing a tiny guitar (@ 30 inches long) with long stick violin tuners instead of gears and his partner - fair haired, about the same age and playing a French horn?!? A pair of street performers I will also remember.

The guitarist played well, strumming chords in accompaniment to his excellent youthful baritone voice.

They stood @ 6 feet from us & sang beautifully.

Camille said it was a traditional tune. I couldn't tell if it was Spanish so I'm guessing it was in Otomi or another indigenous language. The French horn guy was a bit unusual - generally the other instrument in these duos is a violin.

He was hitting his notes - it sounded good & unique. I overtipped - its fun and musicians really appreciate the look straight in the eye as you smile and thank them.

Later, a walk and a cab ride back to the apartment, we were "first day overwhelmed" and so fell into the sack to the sounds & smells of a still strange (but getting more familiar each outing) city.



Next morning Camille says "Let's eat breakfast at the Market". I know those words but I really had no idea what they meant.....

We took off walking and had to make a slight (ok long) detour because down the street in our prospective path there was a commotion of humans dealing & dogs barking that it was best to avoid. I got the vibe & totally agreed.

The residential streets are very colorful with paint & Bouganvillas (I love 'em) and almost every street has shops & places to eat. The food was always today fresh - my body prospered, my eyes drank in the sights. Click these guys twice to see the big picture.


There are lots of places there with small, almost unnoticeable doors. We arrived at a corrugated steel wall and went in a small door cut in the sheeting. Ducking in and then standing up on the other side was a revelation!

You just don't know what kind of world you will encounter beyond that door.

The "Market" is amazing! I'm guessing an acre or two (maybe lots more) of small "shop spaces" back to back, sharing common walls & dividers - no empty spaces that I could see. The apparent ceiling was about 10 feet up though there may have been way more above.

Vendors of everything could be found. No kidding.

All the foodstuffs you could possibly think of and many I had not yet imagined.

Nopal (prickly pear cactus) in many forms - it is a serious health food. All kids of peppers & chilies, pork (including giant "pork rinds"), beef, chickens, breads, corns of all kinds (corn is king there - no corn - no civilization!)

Fresh veggies & fruits, (the colors & smells were myriad & amazing! Many shades of green & red, yellow & orange beautifully laid out.

I guess in such a concentration of dealers - a bright arrangement sells better. I saw fresh Ginger & Turmeric roots in the same basket - bought some of both.

Boots, belts & hats was a fascinating corner shop. The lusty smell of finished leather pulled you into the enclosure. You could get any size, any product made to order. Quality stuff at very good prices.


Not only brightly colored merchandise but colored light devices everywhere too. I presume more than usual for the Christmas Holiday.

Strings & spirals & whirlpools of flashing programmed LEDS - whacking out cheer in blues, reds & the unique bright purples native to LED lights.

We (the newbies, Caren & I) walked with astonished wonder at the overwhelming assault on all our senses, having a hard time keeping a straight path for all the gawking & examinations we were doing.

Then - through a very narrow, 1-person wide hallway for about 20 feet. Passing people going the other way, you both had to squeeze sideways to get by. At the end of that birth canal we popped out the other side to even more wonders of color, stuff & food!

I didn't smell any prepared foodstuffs before the amniotic hallway. After we passed through the food smells (strong enough to almost taste) were heavenly to our own hungry selves.

In the midst of all this color & confusion there were scattered eateries. The tables were set pretty much in the kitchens. They were cooking breakfast(s) right across from where we were eating them.

At the place we stopped, there was a TV on the wall behind the cooks (so they & the customers both could see) and it was showing a B&W 1960 Mexican Sci-Fi movie "La Nave de los Monstruos" (The Spaceship of Monsters).


I didn't see any monsters, just babes in skimpy suits, our wide-eyed hero with a pencil thin mustache and a large tin can (@ a #2000 can) robot with big metal crab claws.

Pretty unique flick (full version link here.)



OK, There WERE monsters in the movie, I found them on-line.


We resumed our amazed wandering after breakfast. The kids know I am extremely partial to that yellow-green smell of fresh cut flowers so they made sure we exited the complex at one of the flower shops that had exposure both inside the Market and to the outside on the street.

Ahhhhhhh I do love that smell. Flowers & cut greens salad. You can almost eat the scent. I'm telling you - the riot of colors, sounds & smells coupled with the floaty sensation of never having been here before gave me several fantastic impressions of being on a totally different planet. Wowsers! No way to have possibly imagined what lay behind the next door - anywhere in Queretaro.

This is Caren with some of her purchases on the outside row of shops at the Market. (isn't she lovely?) That's a bucket of big tortillas up front and right by Caren are gigantic pork rinds! They take their deep-fried football (pigskin) seriously in MX.

Through the block or two that the "Market" occupies and out the other street side, individual shops continue on the out-street side too. Camille & Carlos did some clothes shopping while Caren & I people-watched the activity on the boulevard.

It was a busy commercial street and lots of folk out shopping for the holiday. We saw some "dumpster diver" equivalent folk with shopping carts, poking through the public trash cans for recyclables. Going down the street, checking each receptacle and getting something worth collecting at each.

They were not "vagrants" but busy and focused. No job goes undone. We saw folk from every socio-economic stratum. From beggars to businessmen everyone seemed content to go about their days.

There was an overlay, even in the busy city of two million, of relative peace and hope. The city is Mexico’s 3rd ranked economic boomtown . It is growing and will continue to do so. Might be some serious magic going round Queretaro in the last half century.

Click each photo a few times to blow it up maxumum and then pan around to see stuff.



Big Love to All