Rubia En Mexico: Independence Day & First Road Trip

19 September

Last Thursday was Independence Day. It was AWESOME! After a lot of back and forth decision making, I ended up staying here in Queretaro and going down to the centro and standing right in Plaza de armos where the government center is, this was a pretty big deal. This is where they do the ¡Viva Mexico! and bell ringing! It was amazing to be part of it!

Here are the incredible fireworks… I LOVE FIREWORKS!!

After the fireworks they was confetti everywhere

This one boy wanted a picture with us, and it turned into quite the photo shoot with just his hat

Friday was spent getting my first Mexican cold and lesson planning so I could go have some fun during the weekend. Life comes down to karma. I laughed at the kiddos the other week when they all told me that they were sick because of the rain (it seriously dropped like 5 degrees and rained for 4 days straight)… turns out there was some truth to that. It’s the sore throat and awesome sinus pressure cold. Needless to say I started taking my daily vitamins again today.

ANYWAYS, Saturday morning Maya and I got up at SUPER early so we could be in the taxi on our way to San Miguel at 6:45am! Once we got there we found Sarah, Luke and Jo and had a quick breakfast and were on our way to León & Guanajuato.

The start of the road trip in the back seat

Our first stop was León, the leather capital of Mexico. I heard that they made shoes big enough for large German women… this was a lie! I still could only find shoes that went up to a size 6 (which is like size 8 US). But I did manage to find a super cute leather purse.

Luke and Sarah found some sweet jackets

After lunch and shopping we were on our way to Guanajuato. The city was AMAZING! It was bigger than I thought it would be, but so authentic. We checked into one of the best hostel’s I’ve ever stayed in! The beds were so comfy and included the best comforter EVER (I was really bummed to find out she got them in CA) and the shower was like bathing under a waterfall. Who knew water pressure would mean so much to a person!

We spent the afternoon wandering the city. We went to Diego Rivera’s old childhood home, the lovers lane, and the University of Guanajuato’s steps.

Because I have amazing friends down here we all had dinner at this Italian place. (I actually wanted pasta in Mexico) This place was interesting, it was out of everything and had kids running around and playing all over the floor.

Here we are at dinner

After dinner we walked back to our hostel and called it an early night. The next morning we got up and had this super delicious breakfast made by Carmen, the lady that owns the hostel. First she brought out watermelon, then it was beans, eggs, ham, and corn tortillas. Then came the quesadilla, it was so good, but we were all so full after. We also met a really nice couple from New Zealand that were on a 7 month around the world vacation. This was there second to last stop, they had one more in CA and then were headed home.

Our day plan was to head to the mummy museum and the giant JC. The mummy meseum was interesting, for some reason I was really disturbed by it all. After that we did some shopping and then headed out to find JC. The best part about not knowing exactly how to get somewhere is you get to do some awesome exploring of the towns your in. After a little detour of trying to get out of town we were on our way to see the one and only JC (for those who don’t know him by his nickname I’m talking about Jesus Christ) It took us about a ½ hour to get up the mountain where he stood. It was similar to CO driving, so I had to take a lot of deep breathes… but I did not have to sedate myself.

We stopped almost all the way up for a quick photo opp

Along the way there was this congregation walking the mountain, it was truly amazing to see. When they got to JC they walked on their knees to His side. All this time they had been singing, it was really breath taking. After some praying and taking in the amazing view we headed back down the mountain and home to Queretaro.