Saturday, February 14, 2015: Happy Valentine’s Day Sam! Bittersweet being so close yet so far. We had to flip a coin between where to hang out, Leon or Queretaro. Queretaro won this time and I have to say, Queretaro is a beautiful city. You know a city has it going on when it’s raining off and on and it’s still beautiful. I don’t think there is one pothole in the entire city. It’s so clean. People are completely chill here.
One of my friends has family members who had access to box seats for the Queretaro soccer team and was able to score a few tickets to the Queretaro v Cruz Azul game last night. That was amazing Sam. I thought the atmosphere at the Xolo game was crazy. And it is. Queretaro fans kicked up crazy a couple more notches, even in the rain. This box was right behind one of the goals and under the balcony which gave us cover from the rain. No matter, the game was a sellout. Nobody cared about the rain. I noticed a barbed wire fence behind the goal. Interesting. As I would soon find out, at various times during the game, fans would kick up the rowdy and climb the fence and just hang out on it to try and help distract the opposing team. Once in awhile the police would come through our box to try and call down to over-excited fans from above. To no avail as the police were immediately pelted with full cups of beer and whatever else people could get their hands on. What was lost in all that excitement, Cruz Azul won this game 2-1.
Since I had another day in Mexico I was told that about an hour or so away from Queretaro is a place called San Juan del Rio. That too was a cool town. Great people. Great food. Good times. Which makes this situation even sadder than it is because we should be enjoying these things together Sam. I often wondered if you can sense whether I am close to where you are or not. There is no way for you to know I am there. I am curious, when you actually read this, what was going on from your perspective.
Anyway, the people I was with had friends and family out in San Juan del Rio and welcomed me with open arms. One of the places they took me to was a place you are probably familiar with called La Pena de Bernal. I bought one of my favorite coffee mugs from there. At 6,200 ft (1,900 m) San Juan del Rio sits higher above sea level than any city in the United States. La Pena de Bernal sits even higher at 8,230 ft (2,510 m). La Pena itself is one of the tallest rock formations in the entire world. It is 1,150 ft (350 m) tall. People actually climb/hike La Pena all the time. Sadly, I did not bring climbing shoes otherwise I would have given it a try. The town of Bernal itself is beautiful. The food there was amazing. I cannot remember the name of the band, but a Mexican pop music group was filming a music video in Bernal when we were there. It was a “boy band”, perhaps you will know who I am talking about. I would know them if I saw their pictures. They were cool, letting us hang out to watch the production as long as we did not distract them. Amazing experiences Sam. As always I wish you were here with me. I LOVE YOU BEAUTIFUL!
