last day in Queretaro

Ricardo's parents came the second day we were in Queretaro, and we had a fun breakfast together. Afterward we went to San Miguel de Allende, a nearby City. We saw a beautiful cathedral there. It was kind of cool because a coupld weddings happened while we were walking around the city and one of them the whole wedding party were riding horses and the bride and groom were in a carriage. It was also a very beautiful city, more like Queretaro than Mexico city I would say in how it looked and the pace of life. Uncle Arturo told me that it is a very American city in some ways because there are a lot of Americans that have moved there. We had lunch in a restaurant outdoors that was very beautiful and a band played a lot of traditional music from all over Latin America. I thought it was fun because when the traditional Mexican songs would come on all of the family would start singing--it was really cool to get a good taste of their traditions and songs. We spent most of the rest of the day walking around sightseeing, shopping, and eating churros con chocolate (which is very good). It is really interesting to see how the mexican culture mixes a lot of the spanish influence with a lot of the native traditions. One of these things is "el dia de los muertos." They have these dolls all over Mexico, I believe they are called catalina dolls, and they are skelletons that they dress up in all sorts of costumes. It is really a rich tradition there, and I can tell, both from looking around and from talking to Lulu, that they think of death there in a different way--more humorous and less scary.
Well, one last mention about Queretaro, it is beautiful, and if I ever moved to Mexico I would probably want to go there. I really enjoyed that city a lot and how laid back the people are. A couple more things...Queretaro is also where Ricardo's dad grew up until he went to college. Also, ana laura had the cutest Bassett hound puppies...oh it was tempting to buy one.