There are many places like this around the city where people have coffee and visit or eat a meal. This one happens to be a couple of blocks from my house in the plaza in front of Santa Rosa. The evenings are lovely and cool. People here seem to think it is cold because they wear jackets, sweaters, scarfs and hats. Maybe in the middle of winter, I might be bringing out my sweater, but I'm lov'in it now.

Every evening I discover something going on somewhere in El Centro. This is a music group playing in Jardin Zennea which is the biggest and most popular plaza. Some people sit and listen, some people dance. There are lots of families with small children running around, old people, young people ---- everyone seems to be out and about in the evening.

The past week, Aurora came over one night and we walked together through El Centro. As dusk approached she took me to visit the hotel of her friend Inez. They both lived in Tequis years ago when their children were growing up, and each has a son named Santiago who were friends. This is the view up Calle Pasteur from the lovely little bar on the top of Inez's hotel.

WALKING AROUND

I try to get out everyday and explore and take pictures. David Wells, my photo teacher, gave me some great advice. He said, if I'm spending at least one hour a day studying Spanish, I should be spending at least an hour a day practicing the other language I love - photography. So here's a photo gallery for today.

SCOTIA BANK -- MY NEW BEST FRIEND

So I returned to the Amex Travelers service at 4:30, and found that it was just a travel agency. ... wasn't really set up to help Amex card carrying travelers in distress. BUT the lovely woman did direct me to the Scotia Bank whose ATM would take Amex cards AND the Scotia Bank was a block away. Halleluia!! Hooray!!! Whoopee!!!

So on the way home, I treated myself to an ice cream and found some wonderful shopping at a Telavera shop on my own street at the other end where I hadn't walked before. But, though my pockets were filled with cash, I didn't buy anything. Just feasted my eyes and made note of its location for my future visitors.

And I returned home to put my passport and cash in a safe place. By the way here is a picture of my house -- it's the big yellow one.

HOW IT GOES

Today is Friday. I have been taking classes in spanish all week, but decided not to include today because I wanted to have a free day to do chores and some errands.

The big errand was to get some cash. Citizens Bank has still not sent me my new card so I don't have access to the money in my bank account. I called Amex and arranged to be able to use my gold card in an ATM to take money out of my bank account. They told me the only bank in QRO where I could do that was HSBC. So I figured out where that bank was and walked over there today. Lo and behold!! my card wouldn't work in their ATM. So I checked with the teller ( I think my espanol is getting pretty good until I try to talk with a bank teller) and she sent me clear to the other side of El Centro, in fact outside Centro, to a big modern building where there were several banks.

Well, the card didn't work there either. So, thinking that this might happen, I had called Citibank last night to see if I could use my Mastercard to get money. They said I should be able to go to a bank here with my card and passport and get money, and to try Banamex because they USED TO have a relationship with them. So there was a Banamex in this very modern sleek building, so I went in with my MC and my passport in hand to try that avenue. But they couldn't do that there. The person said go back to their main bank where they should be able to help me. That bank is pretty close to where I started out.

As I was leaving that very nice building, I noticed across the street, wonder of wonders...... an AMERICAN EXPRESS sign. Unfortunately, that was a money exchange place that just took Amex travelers checks. But she directed me a few more doors down the street where there was an American Express travelers aid office. Eureka!!! But when I got there, it was closed with a sign saying they would be back at 4:00 .... it was at that moment 2:45.

So I came home (not too far from there) to have some ice coffee and write. So anyone want to place bets on whether the people at the Amex Travelers Aid office will be able to help me? I'm not real optimistic. I'm down to about $70 in pesos which actually will go a long way here, and Ceci in Tequis very kindly said I didn't have to pay her right away.

And so it goes .... very humbling and exhausting.

MORE PHOTOS OF QRO

The photos I post with my writing never quite get located where I want them.  So here are some photos of Museo de Arte.

Walking around on Saturday

 
Finally yesterday I went out to explore again.  I realized that I had not been doing anything alone since the robbery.  Aurora had invited me to go to Tequis again for the weekend, but she agreed that I needed to "get back on the horse", so to speak, and begin to explore Qro. again on my own.

So I went to the Museo de la Ciudad to see an exhibit of photographs of "dansantes" -- indigenous dancers and to the Musea de Arte to photograph that spectacular building.   I also hung out in the plaza in front of my favorite church, Santa Rosa.

Every evening, in this plaza and in others Capoeila groups perform for an hour or so.  Capoeila is a form of AfroBrazilian dance fighting.  Google it... it's fascinating to watch.  

My Photo Exhibition: El Paisaje de Vermont

Last Thursday evening was the opening for my photo exhibition.  I had hung the photos the week before, but this was the formal opening.  Silviah took care of all the preparations:  buying the wine, renting the wine glasses and having a large copy made of the artist's statement I had written in Spanish ( luckily Kikey edited it to correct all my mistakes) to hang on the wall.

Kikey and Silviah and Aurora and Javier invited all their friends and La Casa de la Cultura posted some publicity so there were a good number of people there.  Everyone was very friendly and very complimentary about the work.  A couple of photographers even came up to ask what program I used to work with my photos --- they knew AdobePhotoshop but not AdobeLightroom.

It was a lovely, festive evening thanks to my friends who made it all possible.

P. S. I just tried to upload some photos of the opening that Kikey sent me but it didn't work....wrong format or something.   I did take my own camera, but had forgotten to reload another memory card.

CULTURE SHOCK

Yesterday, I confided in my friends, Eric and Bill, that I wasn't doing so well..... that I was wondering what possessed me to leave family, friends, my garden, my home to come live in Mexico for what was suddenly seeming like a really long time.  I was feeling lonely, incompetent and very much an outsider.  Bill reminded me about CULTURE SHOCK.  I was experiencing the second stage of culture shock.  How could I, as a mental health person, have forgotten about culture shock, you ask?  Well, I think I have suffered from pride ( the kind that comes before the fall) thinking that I have travelled so much and know so much that I would never fall prey to robbers or to culture shock.  My son, Morgan, calls it being a "pollyanna".

The first stage of culture shock (look it up in Google -- it's quite well documented )is excitement and wonder -- the the new culture is so colorful and interesting, much better than the home culture, etc.  It usually lasts longer than mine did, but I think the robbery kicked me suddenly into the next stage.  According to Bill and Google, learning the language is my ticket to the next stages.  And I start that in earnest this week.

Anyway, it helped tremendously to be reminded that what I was going through was a normal process and that things would improve with time.

Una nota a mis amigos Mexicanos:  Gracias por vuestra amistad y ayuda!!!

MORE PHOTOS OF TEQUIS

Photos of the plaza in Tequis, the colobri in the backyard and Aurora and Javier in front of their house.

My Time in Tequisquiapan

My time with Aurora and Javier was very relaxing and rejuvenating.... excellent company, wonderful food (Aurora says she doesn't like to cook, but she makes wonderful meals), and a beautiful little town.  As we sat down to a late lunch on Wednesday, their very good friend, Jorge, stopped by and, of course, they persuaded him to eat with us (very Mexicano, eh Mario).  Jorge has a silver workshop in the neighborhood and invited me to visit next time I am there.

Earlier in the day, Aurora took me to meet her friend Ceci who, along with many other things, teaches "full emersion spanish", a method she learned in Oaxaca.  So, since I had fallen in love with Tequisquiapan, I made a plan with her to go to Tequis on the 28th, live in the lovely little bungalow on her property, have 3 or 4 hours of instruction each day, and share meals with her and her husband (including learning how to cook al moda Mexicana).  It will be a little more expensive than classes here in QRO, but vale la pena.

TODAY I AM IN A DIFFERENT WORLD

Yesterday, my friends Aurora and Javier took me away from Queretaro to their lovely casita in the small town of Tequisquiapan (Tequis for short) about an hour away from the big city.  It is very quiet here and Aurora has been feeding me wonderful comida.  Aurora cooks and Javier washes the dishes.  They are spoiling me.  They felt I needed a respite from all the experiences in QRO.

In Mexico, people eat breakfast whenever they get up (today it was 9:30!) , have the big meal of the day at about 3:00 and then a small meal at around 8:00.  I have gotten accustomed to it very quickly.

Last night we walked to El Centro to see the Independence Day celebration at 10:30.  On loud speakers , someone read the story of Hidalgo and El Grito del Independencia and then everyone  -- a very large crowd -- sang the national anthem, many verses.  Some runners arrived at 11:00 to deliver the torch of Delores to begin the fireworks.  These runners had traveled by bus to San Miguel Allende at 5:00 in the morning and then ran back to Tequis through many villages delivering the light of independence along the way.  When they arrived at Tequis, the fireworks began on El Castillo,  a tall tower that had been constructed in the middle of the plaza that held pictures of the heroes and words.  When lit it was quite spectacular!  The fireworks were set off from bombas, big wooden tubes that held them.  The fireworks went off from around the plaza right over the center so we were looking straight up to see them.  It was all quite impressive!

A really, really bad experience

Well, I am officially a stupid tourist.  I was robbed this morning as I was walking care free around El Centro.  I had a lovely breakfast at Restaurante Archangel and then decided just walk around for a while before going home.  It was very cool and families were out walking with their children.  As I passed San Antonio church (I think one of the oldest in QRO) I went to look inside, and I felt something wet dripping down my arm.  I felt my back pack and there was some brown liquid dripping down it.  I thought a bird had pooped on me.  A young man came toward me from the church, saying let me help you -- you have something bad on your back -- come into the church so we can wipe it off.  He and a woman had some tissues and were helping me wipe off the pack.  One of them distracted me to hand me more tissues and evidently the other one reached in my pack and took out my wallet.  Then they disappeared.  I didn't even realized what had happened until I had walked 2 blocks or so toward home to change my clothes.

I smelled my hands that still had some brown stuff on them and it smelled like salsa.  So I wondered where would salsa come from in the middle of a plaza in front of a church?  Then it hit me -- it was a very clever plan to rob me.  I checked my pack which still had my spanish book but not my wallet...... my wallet with all my credit cards, my debit card, my license, my checkbook...todo.  Gone.

And I feel very stupid, because I know better than to carry all that stuff around.  Up until today when I walked around,  I had just brought with me in a pocket what money I thought I would need and nothing else but my camera (which I had with me today, but they were evidently not interested in stealing a camera).  But this morning, I thought I would bring a book with me to read at breakfast, and though I thought about taking the wallet out of the backpack, I didn't.  I think I have been feeling so comfortable here like a resident not a tourist, but forgetting that I still LOOK like a tourist.

So once I discovered the wallet missing I walked on to Aurora's and Javier's house and luckily they were there.   I don't know what I would have done without them.  Javier called the police who came to the house, and I tried to go online with Aurora's laptop to alert the credit cards but that became too complicated because it was not my computer so I couldn't access my accounts.  Javier found the Amex number and I called them -- luckily I have that credit registry so they blocked all my credit cards.  Tomorrow we have to go to the Police station to file a formal report and supposedly Amex will moneygram me some money to Walmart of all places.

So I learned a lesson the hard way -- a lesson I already knew, but didn't honor -- never carry anything of value with you in a bag.  And unfortunately, be suspicious of everyone.

Hopefully, this will turn out ok, but it feels terrible right now.

P.S.  The police said this has happened to several people recently because the Mexican holiday is coming up and outsiders have come in to take advantage of the many people coming here to celebrate.

Saturday Stroll

This morning I finally finished the computer work I needed to do (more on that subject in another post), and decided I would finally take my new camera with me to walk up to La Casa de la Cultura to see if the office was open.  It wasn't, so I continued up the street from there because it looked like a street where Lynne and Eric and I had found a very nice jewelry store and a lovely big store that sold Mexican crafts from all over.   

I was right.  The same jewelry store is there, so I browsed thinking to myself "Hmmm, I could make that, and that ... "   Made me miss our jewelry class.  I walked on up the street, and there was the same craft store, Quinto Real, owned by the same people.  The young woman said she remembered me from several years ago --- but I think she just knows how to please her customers.  They now have a little cafe, and I was starving so I sat down and let her bring me some limonada, the best pecan sticky roll I've ever had, and a really yummy ham and cheese sandwich.   There were several people at another little table talking English -- I realized how nice it was to hear familiar words.  I can understand why north americans who live here often group together.  And I think the food tasted really good because it was familiar (also because I was very hungry.

I walked home through several jardins.  There are five big gardens in El Centro where people gather and visit and eat and shop.  Here are some pictures.

THE MEGA

Thursday, when I finished the financial business with Jorge Luis, I asked him where I might find a regular grocery store (una tienda para comprar la comida) , he kindly gave me directions to one very nearby.  He offered a ride but I said I would go later and I wasn't going to get more than I could carry.  So far I had only come across small "Oxxos" where they sell mostly beverages and snack foods.  I wanted to buy some eggs and milk, some fruit and yogurt and cheese.   I do know where the big traditional mercado is over by La Cruz, but it is a bit far, and more than I wanted to take on right now.

So I set out expecting to find a little grocery store, but I found THE MEGA.  Wow!!!  At first, I thought I was in the wrong place because the first things I saw were clothes on racks, but, no, there were groceries too  ----- and bicycles, refrigerators, school supplies, clothes, TVs.  It is sort a cross between Price Chopper and Costco.  They have everything, but in regular quantities, and quite a large selection.  Plus there is a whole section where you can buy fresh tortillas and good looking food to go.   I plan to go there tonight to get my dinner.

And imagine my delight, Becca and Brooks, when I found Hellman's Mayonnaise! (Family joke).

First Days in Queretaro

Today is Friday, viernes, and I am settling in to a morning routine which is more or less what it was in Burlington except that I turn on CNN in English.  I never watched the news on TV at home.  I would read the newspaper.  Granted it was not a great source of news, but I enjoyed it.  In the evening I sometimes watched TV news.  I'm interested to find here that there is much more news about the world -- floods in Turkey, strikes in India, and, of course, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the fact that Argentina may not make it to the World Cup.  Maybe I didn't watch the right news channels at home --- I will remember to check that out when I return.  But my impression is that we in the US tend to think of ourselves as the most important and interesting country in the world.  We know the rest of the world exists and things happen there but it doesn't have much to do with us.   I'm sure I'm overgeneralizing, but I am struck with how much more aware I am here that we are all on the same planet.  And maybe these are just the ramblings of a new temporary expat.

Yesterday, Thursday, jueves, I spent the morning hanging my exhibit of Vermont fall landscape photographs at the Casa de la Cultura.  Silviah loaned me some nails (claves) and a hammer (martillo) and I began to work on my own to arrange how to hang them.  After hanging the first 2, I was realizing how difficult it was going to be to hang all 13 without someone to stand back and say whether things were even,etc.  And then Armando appeared and offered to help.  He teaches sculpture at Casa de la Cultura and had a very good eye.  He was also very patient with my Spanish and had about as much English as I have Spanish so we did well enough together.  He also advised me about how to price the photos and what the Mexican conventions are for what information to put on the labels for each photo.

That accomplished, I made my way walking back to mi casa by way of Jardin Guerrero hoping that was where my favorite gordita place was next to Restaurante Archangel.  Buena suerte, it was!  So I bought a gordita de queso para llevar and a soda poured into a plastic bag with a straw and got home in time for my meeting with Jorge Luis to pay my rent.  $12,000 pesos for 2 months and $235 pesos for a month of cable TV.

The most wonderful thing about this house is how central it is to everything.  I can easily walk to whereever I want or need to go.  

Retrospective of the trip to Queretaro

I haven't written since I was sitting in the airport in Albany on Tuesday and now it is Thursday in Queretaro.   That is because I was conserving battery power on my laptop because I didn't have my power cord.  Of course, you are wondering WHY I did not have my power cord.  Well it was because it was in my wonderful new Lowepro CompuTrekker rolling camera case which was LOST somewhere in the Continental Airlines baggage world ( or as I feared, in the trunk of some dishonest baggage worker's vehicle).  And you are probably thinking, "What idiot would check her entire collection of photo equipment in baggage".  Well, I didn't check it.  This is the story:

In Albany, our flight was very, very late leaving.  The desk personnel somehow thought I would still make my connection in Newark, but he told me he backed me up on a flight leaving at 1:45 if I missed the 12:00.  I, of course, missed the connection in Newark, and when I checked in with the desk personnel, she was puzzled to find that the Albany moron had booked me on a 1:45 flight THE NEXT DAY.  Consequently, I was last on the list of standby passengers for the 1:45.   To my surprise and great delight, I did make it on to that flight to Houston which would give me plenty of time to get to my connection to Queretaro.  HOWEVER, as I was about to step from the jet way into the plane, they informed me that there was no more room in overhead compartments.  In fact, they were bringing off bags of people who were already on board.  And they said they needed to close the doors of the plane in 1 minute.  So I had 30 seconds to decide if I entrust my bag to the baggage people or decline to get on the plane and thus miss my connection to Queretaro.  At the time, the first option seemed to make the most sense.  I asked that it be just checked to Houston where I would pick it up and take it with me to my next flight.  Since this was a large jet, they don't just do gate checks like the small planes, they send the bag with regular checked baggage.

       

So I went to baggage and was there at the chute when bags from my flight began to emerge, and I waited and waited...... and waited and waited.  No bag.  Went to report lost bag and they were as puzzled as I how my bag could have been lost between 1 stop and another.  A lovely young man, a Mexican born in Mexico City named Marcello, was very, very nice and assured me they would find it and to think positively.  When I finally decided I needed to get to my plane whether or not I had my bag in my possession (originally I declared to them "I'm not leaving until I have that bag!!"), he escorted me back through security, on to a shuttle to a different terminal,  and reminded me how important it would be to think positively.

I did arrive in Queretaro at their brand new arrival zone where things could not have gone more smoothly.  All 3 of my checked bags arrived unscathed and intact, and Silviah was there to meet me.  I told them there about my camera bag ( I had hoped that it might show up there after all) , and the young man helping me expressed his surprise that they had given me no paperwork or a reference number.  I was surprised at myself that I had asked for that  --- but I remembered that I had been in a somewhat altered state at the time.  He looked it up on the computer, found the information and gave me reference #s and telephone #s etc.

To spare you the details of my ongoing anxiety, I'll get to the happy ending.  I had actually finally come to realize that everything could be replaced (except the wedding pictures I had just taken) because I had insurance.  It was a sort of Buddhist decision to let go of attachment.  By yesterday afternoon, the airline confirmed that they had found my bag in New Orleans (?????) and that it would be on the flight to Queretaro that evening.  Sure enough, at about 9:45 pm a very nice airport official delivered by bag to mi casa at 98b Pino Suarez.  Everything was in perfect shape, nothing missing or broken.  Hooray for Lowepro.

Travel woes

I THINK I'm on my way to Mexico today, but so far a lot of stress.  When Diana dropped me off at the Albany airport with my 3 very huge bags,  a nice skycap ( or whatever these airport helper guys are called now) carried them in for me on a cart and weighed them for me.  Turned out 2 of the were overweight, one of them by only 2 pounds so I had to move 2 pounds worth of stuff from that one to the other overweight one.  In the process of doing that, a zipper broke on the bag I was loading up so I had to put all the stuff from that compartment and the extra stuff into the main compartment.  So now I'm worried that that zipper will.

Now I just heard that my flight out of here is so delayed that I probably won't get to Newark in time to make my connection to Houston.  I will have to decide if I want to take a chance or make a reservation for tomorrow.