Queretaro, Mexico - Day 6

I started out the day by visiting a city park, Almeda Hildago. I sat in the middle of the park and sketched while watching people going about their day.

In the afternoon, I visited the Museum of Modern Art. It wasn't for me. I didn't understand what I was seeing. A platform with a pile of screws on it? Why? No one in the museum spoke English, but I did reasonably well at communicating in Spanish. At some points, the security guards were talking away at me, and I had no idea what they were saying. But they motioned towards rooms, and I just went where they told me to go.

I stopped by a cafe to get a chai. My pronunciation must have been horrible, as 2 girls sitting there were laughing at my Spanish. I listened to them speaking in Spanish, talking about different languages and how easy or hard they were. I understood 75% of what they were saying. I interrupted and said in Spanish, "I understand a little Spanish." They thought I was French but asked where I was from and I told them from the US. They spoke some English. They told me that another American had just been there, and only spoke in English, which they thought was rude. So, at least I get bonus points for trying. I did use some Spanish in my conversation with them when I could. I'm so glad I studied Spanish for 3 months before my trip, or I wouldn't have been having these fun interactions.

After stopping by there, I returned to the close by Pantheon of Illustrious Queretanos and sketched the building there. I had another funny interaction. A man came up to me and started talking in English. I figured he was Mexican and just knew really good English, so I responded in Spanish. He didn't understand me. He was an American from Florida lol. I'm guessing he was the person who had visited the cafe and just spoke English. This was the first American tourist I met. Although this is a lively town, I think people visiting it are from other parts of Mexico, not from other countries. It doesn't feel like a touristy town.

The power lines!

Museum of Modern Art

Hands doing sign language. 
After the fact, used Chat GPT to translate.

This exhibit was the most interesting to me.

Pantheon of Illustrious Queretanos

Queretaro, Mexico - Day 5

In the morning, I headed out to a mercado, something I was told I must experience. There were many aisles of food vendors and people eating at the stalls. Nothing was labeled, so I didn't try to order anything. There was a lot of meat.

I stopped in a cafe for lunch. The waitress knew a little English. Though she asked me if I wanted my cheese sandwich with jam (which I recognized as a mispronounced ham). 

After that I headed to the Plaza de Armas to see a fountain with dogs on it. I sat down to sketch. A woman walked around, handing out bougainvillea flowers to everyone, so I sketched the one she gave me. As I was sketching the fountain, a woman came up and set up her stall next to me. I saw her sell a bag of bird seed to children. The park was full of pigeons, and the kids loved feeding them. Another family came by and fed the pigeons. A couple pigeons climbed into my lap while sketching! I sketched the pigeons. That was until I felt something on my back. A pigeon pooped on the back of my shirt. I decided that meant it was time to go back to my hotel room.

Parroquia de Santiago

I stopped by a cafe where they knew a little English, and picked up a sandwich and this for dessert.

Queretaro, Mexico - Day 4

On Day 4, I headed out to an overlook of the city, where you can see the famous aqueduct. In the spot I was expecting to sketch, there was a crew filming a movie I assume. I moved over to the Pantheon of Illustrious Queretanos, and sat there to sketch the aqueduct. So, if you see a movie shot here, look for a sketcher in the background :) 

From there, I went to sketch what I think is a convent, very close by. Some policewomen stopped and rattled off in Spanish to me and then handed me a brochure. It was a brochure on being aware of your surroundings to prevent crime. The El Centro area of Queretaro feels very safe though. I never felt uncomfortable, even at night. There is a large police presence in the area.

In the afternoon, my friend asked if I wanted to check out a brewery that is popular in the neighborhood of Hercules. We got there and found the brewery was closed for a private staff party. So, we wandered around the neighborhood for a while, checking out the murals and stopping for an ice cream - I got a pine nut flavored one.

Sketching above the movie.

It was fun watching them work on this very windy day.

Turns out Queretaro has a Camino

Queretaro, Mexico - Day 3

I planned my stay in Queretaro so that I'd be able to go sketching with their urban sketching chapter. I met their 3 admins, one of who spoke good English. The group was very welcoming, and I loved sketching with them. It's a great way to meet people when traveling. They were doing a postcard sketch exchange with a chapter in Tokyo and gave me a postcard to contribute. It's very interesting as the sketching demographic is so different from what I see in the US. There were many men, and many young people. They had 30 sketchers for this meetup. After sketching, a large group of us went out to share pizza and pass around our sketchbooks.

After the event, I headed out to the calendar museum in town. It also has a beautiful courtyard. There was a Christmas play being put on outside, so I got to listen to part of it.

I find food here a little challenging. It's very meat based, and I don't always understand the menus, even with the help of Google Translate. In the evening, I walked out of the El Centro district to a large grocery store. I do love to visit grocery stores in other countries to see what kinds of things they offer. This grocery store felt very high end - like being in an upscale shopping mall. I almost felt like it could have been a store in the US. But I did find a new type of fruit to try, and they did have Pulparindo, a tamarind candy I discovered earlier this year in Texas.

Sketchers sketching near the Fountain of Neptune

Passing around sketchbooks over pizza

We stopped here, and I got some Taro ice cream.

My next stop was the calendar museum

Plaza near my hotel. It's very lively every night.

At night, I walked out of the El Centro district to a grocery store.
I'm always looking for interesting things to try.
This is a type of passion fruit.