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!