Celebrating Semana Santa

This week was Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Mexico, and it's an important holiday with lots of events both in the community and in all the churches.  It's also a big time for vacations which meant that I only had 2.5 days in the office this week and spent a lot of time with my host family talking about culture, traditions and the different meanings for words like sueño which can mean both to sleep and to dream.  

The famous Querétaro sign!

 Decorations out for Semana Santa

View from park bench while eating ice cream one sunny afternoon.

Local church with well manicured trees. 

View of winding streets on a rainy day. 

One of many beautiful buildings downtown.  For my cultural adventures this week, I got to know downtown Querétaro, went to a service with my family at their Catholic Church and attended the Procesión del Silencio with fellow volunteers.  The procession was quite the event and is a large display of different groups expressing great sorrow for the death of Jesus (including walking a long distance in a robe and hood with a large cross, no shoes and chains on the ankle).

Waiting for the procession with fellow volunteers

Table with a view!

Images from the procession below.

I also tried out new foods including tacos filled with mashed potatoes, corn on the cob with lime and salt, lentil soup with hot dogs and bananas (I know it sounds a little odd but it was really delicious) and pancakes for breakfast (those are exactly the same as at home!). After a hearty pancake breakfast today, my neighbor and fellow volunteer Natalie and I headed out to visit the Cerro de las Campanas which was a beautiful garden with a historic building where the emperador Maximiliano de Habsburgo was executed. Also there is a GIANT statue of Benito Juarez with a lovely view of downtown. 

The BIG statue of Benito Juarez. 

There are several museums in Querétaro and I made it to two of them this weekend: the Museo de Arte de Querétaro and the Museo del Calendario where we could see A LOT of cats on the neighboring roof, along with all kinds of interesting art.  Both buildings were beautiful and images are provided below for your viewing pleasure.

How many cats can you find in this tree? 
We counted 20 cats on this rooftop but only a few are visible here. 

View from the museum rooftop.

View from the museum rooftop.

My Spanish continues to slowly improve and I continue to feel very lucky and blessed to be able to embark on this adventure and to be a part of such an awesome family of both Mexican people and Peace Corps volunteers!