Beautiful, beautiful Queretaro

I'm sitting at an outdoor coffee shop right now, staring into the Plaza de Armas. Trees are cut into perfect shapes, the bottoms of the trunks painted white. There are several plazas here with fountains in the middle, gathering places for the people of the city. Each cafe has its own music, so I'm sitting in the middle of an eclectic blend of rock and classical.

Queretaro is made up of winding pedestrian walkways, with cubby hole restaurants, cafes and shops. Our hotel overlooks one of these tiny streets, and we can see churches and billowing purple bougenvillea outside.

Below are a couple of views from our balcony.

We walked around the city streets during magic hour, trying to capture the magical feeling of this town, which pops with color.

David blends in, but the Mexicans here are completely taken off guard when he doesn't speak a word of Spanish. They often look at me with a confused expression as I translate between the two.

Behind me below is an Aztec statue. One thing I've noticed about Mexico is how much they honor their ancestors. Even their money features faces of prominent Aztec leaders. This is like if American money featured Chief Seattle, or Chief Joseph. I guess the Indian heritage is a bigger part of these people, although their architecture and language reflects Spain.

Below is one of the famous churches in town, which borders a huge "jardin", with well-manicured plants and benches were people eat ice cream and chat. It's very communal here, with people gathering in central places, to be together. I love seeing the families, the "novios", holding hands and snuggling.
There is a huge gazebo in the middle of this public square, where you'll see David standing below.

Darkness is falling, and David and I stop at yet another public plaza to watch a water in a fountain dancing to American music. Vendors sell balloons and cotton candy. Then it's back to our little street.

Now, it's time to party, so David and I head to one of the bars on a little street. There are lots of "half bands" here, which is recorded music, and then a person singing, or playing the drums, or the trumpet, or whatever. We had a blast!