slowly she turned

^I think there is a garden behind these doors. We would find that there were often beautiful surprises within plain outside facades. The sign translates to “The Snails” but I don’t know what C.S.O.A means.

I knew that there would not be much open on Monday, so I ordered breakfast at our hotel, which our host cooked and served in the courtyard. Again, there was confusion over the time. We sat down at our appointed time, when she politely told us in Spanish that breakfast would be at 8:30. I looked at my phone which said 8:30, so we continued to sit there and eventually she served us a giant breakfast. I also scheduled a couples’ massage for us at 11:00. We waited until 11:15, and I went to ask the host about it. She said that our appointment was at 11. She sent me a message in WhatsApp that our appointment was at 11. Finally at 11:30 I went downstairs and asked her if something was wrong. The massage therapists were coming in the door and I was again told in English that our appointment was at 11. I showed her the time on my phone that it was past 11:30, and THAT’S WHEN I found out that the phone was an hour off. It was pretty embarrassing but it explained so much.

I googled it. The time zone was correct, but the auto-update on the phones got the time wrong. In October they did away with daylight savings time in most of the country.

And the massages were fantastic.

That afternoon we went to the oldest shop in Querétaro, according to the current owner, who is the latest owner in the family business: Sombrerería La Popular, more than 100 years old. He sold hats, and we enjoyed talking with him. We didn’t bring our traveling hats, so we bought a hat for each of us at the dark old fashioned counters. Sandy really rocks his new Panama hat.

We explored some more shops, antique stores, another street market, and the Templo y Exconvento de la Santa Cruz at the top of the Plaza de Los Fundadores. I wondered why so many vendors were selling and processing thorns. Later I found out why. Here’s the history from this site: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico/northern-central-highlands/queretaro/attractions/templo-y-convento-de-la-santa-cruz/a/poi-sig/1149080/361574.

“One of the city’s most interesting sights, this convent was built between 1654 and about 1815 on the site of a battle in which a miraculous appearance of Santiago (St James) apparently led to the Otomí surrender to the conquistadors and Christianity. Emperor Maximilian had his headquarters here while under siege in Querétaro from March to May 1867. After his surrender and subsequent death sentence, he was jailed here while awaiting the firing squad.

“Today it’s used as a religious school. You must visit with a guide – you wait at the entrance until a group has formed – although tours are in Spanish. The site’s main legend is the growth of the Árbol de la Cruz, an ancient tree in the convent’s garden, whose thorns are in the shape of crosses. This miracle was the result of a walking stick stuck in the earth by a pious friar in 1697.”

These are some very wicked thorns, by the way. I bought a magnet and the vendor inserted a thorn in the package. I use thorns in my art work sometimes, so I was happy to get one.

We ended the day with a meal that was not so great but this local English brown ale from a brewery called Hercules was one of the best I have tasted. The hat is from the shop, and my hair would soon be chopped off.