MEXICO

 I went to Mexico with Brynne.  We visited Queretaro - her mission for 8 months.  It is a very clean city and the Centro - a collection of old churches and plazas - is truly a wonderful place.  There were always lots of things to look at such as markets, shows, art, food stalls.  Brynne's companion Elizabeth was with us for the first day (Brynne was there longer than I was with Elizabeth).

Queretaro has this amazing Roman-style Aquaduct that runs for miles and has like 84 arches or something like that.

She had to point out to me that this Starbucks has valet parking!

And I thought it was awesome to find an Irish pub in the middle of Mexico.

This is el Pueblito - the suburb where Brynne served her mission.

It's home to the piramides - the ancient pyramids

One of the many churches - this one in El Pueblito.

My dear friend Julia joined us for the second half of the trip.

 We drove to San Miguel de Allende which is a city I have long wanted to visit.  It was lovely but a little too touristy for me.  Good to know.   My favorite part was probably the flower-arched doorways!

So then next day Brynne suggested we hike the Peña de Bernal (a pineapple shaped mountain next to the town of Bernal).  First the hike - it was solid and afforded the most amazing valley views.  And then Bernal...oh my heavens.  Bernal is the Mexican town you want to visit.  So sweet and beautifully kept and fully of yummy and inexpensive tacos.  We found gorditas de nata which are basically the best dessert you could ever wish for.  We ate them in La Paz and only in Bernal did we see them.

Queretaro has 2 million people and that means lots of freeways.  Google was only partially helpful.  It was crazy.  But the driving itself was more like the U.S. than La Paz had been so it worked out.  Queretaro is not as dry as I was expecting and there are some lovely green valleys.

This is a place that I would definitely love to return to with Josh and the other kids.  It felt like the real Mexico.  The people were friendly.  The food was so good.  The cities were well-kept and full of beautiful buildings.