Andy visits!!!!

Andy was to arrive on Saturday the 19th, but didn't appear in Queretaro until Sunday. He had been traveling so much oversees recently that he overslept and missed his very early morning flight out of Cincinnati. This would cause him to miss his connection to Queretaro out of Houston also and the next flight was full. Oh well, a day of rest did him good. But, it caused us to have to hit the ground running when he arrived! We picked him up from the airport, he changed into a short sleeved shirt in the car and we were off on our way to Pena de Bernal. Little did we think that this was Sunday the 20th of March and the entire country was celebrating the summer solstice! This means they make pilgrimages up pinnacle, pyramids, temples, anything like that.

We drove immediately to the monolith to climb up it with Andy and thousands of other people. Dang! As we climbed, Andy began speeding ahead of us. We informed him that because of the altitude, we would be going at a slower pace, but that he was welcome to go on ahead. Most people were all dressed in white making their way up to 'the sun'. Bernal itself is said to have healing powers. So I guess this combined with the solstice makes it 'the place to be' on this day. We enjoyed the sites and the scary passing of other people on extremely narrow passages and smooth rock faces. People were on the sides of the pathway making small shrines and chanting prayers. As we neared the mid section of the climb, we saw there were guards blocking the climb to the top. Andy said that it was just as well, he was feeling the altitude and felt he should not be going much farther anyways. OOps, that is what we get for not letting him adjust for a day, or him racing ahead of us!! He informed us we should really get to know the affects of altitude sickness. We knew, he learned by experience!

We climbed down the Pena much more rapidly than up and made our way to the 'cute little town' that I adore so much. We managed to find a parking space, but my 'little town' was bustling with people. It was difficult to even look in a shop let alone find a place to eat, but we managed. Sad day, they do not serve margharitas and no longer serve beer....WHAT???!!! We had a traditional lunch and decided to leave and return with him on another trip.

Home, we did not go. Oh no, it was Sunday and the only day for Andy to experience the market downtown in Queretaro. I wanted him to find a soccer jersey that fit. I had such a time at before guessing what would fit him. Well, in Mexico, where I am TALL, finding a shirt for Andy proved to be difficult. As he stopped by the stands and asked for a goalie shirt large enough for him they basically laughed! We decided to make it our misson for his week's trip. We ate green meat taco's at a little stand for a snack and went home. We had tired out Andy.

At home we enjoyed margaritas and snacks and got ready for another day.

This is a photo of a cactus flower that was on our hike up la Pena de Bernal