k – RET – a – row

Travel, like life, can teach you lessons if you take the time to notice them. If you’re lucky, maybe you can internalize them. Writing has always been the medium I have used to reflect, and this blog is sometimes where I try to process these lessons. The lesson that is presenting itself to me on this fourth chapter of Rock-Awn is “you’ll figure it out and discover the things when you get there.”

Rock-Awn 4.0 plans were confirmed at the end of October. Admittedly, I don’t always do a ton of research before I go away, but this time I felt like I did almost nothing! Not because I wasn’t excited or interested (I certainly had time), but maybe because I’ve allowed worry and overwhelm to fill the space in my brain with B-Rod and my recent move to Kelowna. Whatever the reason, I was underprepared and the first few days I’ve made rookie mistakes and felt like a travel newb. Luckily DawnO has been here to pull my slack, but more than that I feel like we’ve just been in the places and have met the people we need to for the experiences we’ve been hoping to have.

The first thing I learned when we arrived was how to correctly pronounce the name of this city. The correct pronunciation is the title of this post, and let’s just say … that’s not where I’ve been telling people I was going! Santiago de Querètaro is a city in central Mexico located 213km Northwest of Mexico City. It’s the capital of the state of Querètaro, but hasn’t felt overly big or overwhelming. There are not a lot of foreign tourists here which is appealing to both DawnO and I, and has given DawnO the opportunity to practice her Spanish (which is quite good and has definitely helped us to get around and find out information fairly easily … you ROCK DawnO!!!) I am reminded of the Philippines a lot here. Both countries were ruled by Spain for a period of time and I see similarities in some place names, the architecture, some desserts, and the mix of native beliefs with the Catholic Church.

What have we gotten up to so far?

• Wandering around the cobblestone streets checking out the architecture including the 1.78km Roman style aqueduct.
• Checking out the Christmas decorations (including an ice skating rink) and wandering through the busy centre on the very evening that the decorations just happened to be set up!
• Visiting the archeological site of El Cerrito (which has a house built on top of a pyramid that cannot be removed because the house is also designated as old!) and the church which houses the virgin that was said to have appeared there.
• Having a flight of beer and a game of ping pong at a brew pub that had a Medalta (in Medicine Hat) feel.
• Being in the right place at the right time to catch a parade in a smaller neighborhood
• Eating all the food!!!