Still in Queretaro

We’ve been talking about the Death Penalty, Texas vs. California legal system, 3-strikes, Mayan curses and kharma for hours. I’ve had a 48 hour fever and Pike had the same but it only lasted 24 hours. No other symptoms other than wicked aches and headache. Pike seems to have recovered well but I’m still wondering. Our appetites haven’t completely recovered and Typhoid is always in the back of our minds. Ever since Jamie got Typhoid he has been terrified any time that someone mentions an upset stomach.

We haven’t done much the past few days; I’ve been in bed for two of them and Pike was in bed all day yesterday. We are really loving this area; there is a small town up the road from us, Santa Rosa J and it has an absolutely gorgeous celeste-colored bell tower on it’s church. I think they are tiles. Against the mountains it is incredible. The town seems to specialize in carnitas; the entire main street is covered with one after another. We found a different type of tortilla there; the tortilla is made (in front of you) with queso in the middle and then fried as you wait. Ellen and Sissy could not eat enough of them. Next time we head into town I’ll have to take some pictures. The town is small enough that it doesn’t count with a supermarket and I didn’t see one abarrote, but did find a wonderful agua purificada store. We took our garrafónes of Electropura and Crystal and had them filled there for less than 1/2 the price of the water at San Miguel’s Gigante.

We found the Costco in Ceyala (or is it Celaya? I ALWAYS get it mixed up) and also found it is appartently the cajeta source for Mexico. Fabrica after fabrica of cajeta, but we’ll remember it for Costco. I ordered my contacts and they’ll be there by the beginning of next week; meanwhile we still have a LOT to occupy us here. Guanajuato, San Miguel (Jamie has changed his mind and LOVES the town), Santa Rosa, lots of balnearios in the immediate area and three in San Juan del Rio (about 60km from here); it is a wonder that we’ll be able to leave, but then again, we’re not thinking about it. The boys are desperate to be with Andrew and Sissy and Ellen miss Sara, Becky and Catie (and Aunty Chris) desperately, but Mom and Dad are in no hurry. The kids are really enjoying the area also. They LOVE Guanajuato and we found a wonderful playground/park in San Miguel that we go to each time we visit. Jamie rides almost every day and we found the station that broadcasts Le Tour (TV Azteca) so we might find it hard to find a reason to leave. Oh, and I got a year’s worth of vehicle insurance, so we’re sitting pretty.

We did, however, receive a solicitation to caretake some property in the Ozarks; a ranch with horses and the girls are drooling at the prospect. Not sure how we’d fit that into visiting Drew et. al., but I’m sure we’d figure something out.


We got electricity today; our nightly bill goes up to 70 pesos/night (from 40) but buying gas for the generator was costing about 27 pesos every two nights and we’ll be able to use electricity any time now. The kids really balk at turning lights off.

I heard something on the news yesterday about a tropical storm Fred hitting Veracruz and another headed towards Guerrero and other Pacific states. There is simply nothing on the TV news about it so we hope to get to an Internet café and see what we can find out. Luckilly we’re very much inland and should not be bothered by any hurricanes or storms, though we did get some much needed rain last night.

It is absolutely luxurious having full hookups; water, sewer and electricity. Amazing to flush the toliet with the toliet instead of a bucket and wash in the sink. The girls are looking forward to a bath tonight and Jamie and I may even SHOWER!!! The shower at the hotel, well, lets just say it leaves a LOT to be desired. There is water and it is hot, but it trickles out miserly making the shower experience somewhat frustrating and lacking.

I’ll have to post some pictures later… Pictures are of Santa Rosa Juagerui (something like that) and our second favorite town in the area.