MaSaRa

Four nice days in Queretaro. Only checked email once (trying to sell a jon boat) and the only TV I saw were the soccer games involving Mexico, but there were three of those, they won two.

Queretaro is around 450 years old; Dallas, not so much. I spent all my time in the Centro Historico. I generally think of Mexico as fairly traditional, but with a couple of revolutions under it's belt it has seen some upheaval.

The historic district reflects the changes that have occurred. There are churches and convetns and monasteries every few blocks. Qro was the center for missionary education in the Americas, sending priests and friars from California to Argentina. So, as the town grew the streets had religious names (Calle de la Natividad, etc.)

Eventually, however, Qro became a central player in the rebellion against the vice royalty. (Short version: most of the descendants of the Conquistadors were happy being top dog. Some weren't, and so Spain sent an Emperor type guy. He and his friends became top dog. The rest became nationalists and overthrew the Vice Regent.) The revolution, lead by libs like Juarez and others, separated church and state. As a result, the convents etc. had to give up lots of land under La Reforma, and Qro got a bunch of nice plazas that used to be church grounds and orchards.

The new guys also renamed the streets, so that after 250 years the town was suddenly crisscrossed by Cinco de Mayo St and Juarez Ave. and Calle 16 de Septiembre .

Kinda like changing streets to JFK and MLK. History gets written by the winners, what else is new.

posted by quash @ 5:47 PM