“When all’s said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it’s not so much which road you take, as how you take it.” Charles de Lint

Querétaro Day 1……we started on a new SOB adventure with a four-day tour to Santiago de Querétaro, the capital of the state of Queretaro, (Spanish pronunciation: [keˈɾetaɾo]), one of the 32 federal entities of Mexico and its smallest state. It’s divided into 18 municipalities. It’s located in North-Central Mexico, in a region known as Bajío and is bordered by the states of San Luis Potosí to the north, Guanajuato to the west, Hidalgo to the east, México to the southeast, and Michoacán to the southwest.

We’d signed up with a Lakeside tour agency and had a nice group of 13. The 4-hour drive was on great Mexican toll roads that took us through a rich agricultural landscape. It reminded me of California’s great Central Valley for growing the nation’s produce. The city is located at an altitude of 6,000 feet and is a UNESCO designated city due to its beautiful colonial preserved city.

Our hotel is perfectly located in the middle of the Centro Colonial. It’s an old convent beautifully converted and situated on an important, historic plaza. We arrived at lunchtime and as always, David researched restaurants within walking distance, so we hit the first one on his list…Tikua Sur-Este, specializing in southeast Mexican cuisine (Yucatán, Chiapas, Campeche and Oaxaca).

Great meal: Sopa de lima (lime soup in rich chicken stock) and dobladitas – folded corn tortillas stuffed with cochinita pibil pork, covered in a luscious tomato sauce, both dishes Yucatán in origin. And sopa de crema de frijol negro (Yucatán) and a black mole Tlayudas (a cross between a tostada and a pizza of blue corn tortilla topped with black mole, mushroom, cheese, and avocado (Oaxaca). We left the restaurant satiated and ready for our afternoon sightseeing.

The walking tour through downtown was accompanied by stories of the writers of the original Mexican constitution that was signed in Querétaro in 1817 … the places where it happened and seeing the astonishing colonial architecture. There was free time to explore on our own and a recommendation to try one of the famous local treats ……. lime-flavored shaved ice with a healthy splash of vino 🍷 Tinto! Though skeptical at first, after the first sip, we’re now believers – it’s very refreshing after a long, hot day (the upper 80s).

Finally, we were stopped in the plaza by 5 students in their school uniforms asking us if we could help them with their homework – a study of foreign visitors to Mexico. We gladly participated as they quickly mixed English and Spanish questions; we answered back in both languages. We were being taped at the same time….. afterward, we found out they were ninth-graders and this was their class group project – a combination of visual and oral. They thanked us for our time, as we wished them an A+. They were very respectful and big smiles throughout. What a wonderful impromptu surprise.