The Great American Reach Around - Texas and Mexico
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Querétaro, Colonial city founded in 1531, cradle of the Mexican Independence, as well as the city where the Constitution of 1917 was drafted.
The city is now one of the Mexican cities with he highest living standards, and is (for the moment) considered one of the safest cities in the country, due to it having a low drug-related activities (even if that may change in the future, as the demand for drugs may be transforming it from just a place where it went through, to a place where the is consumed).
Querétaro is famous for having beautiful colonial architecture, baroque churches ( a LOT OF THEM) and having some incredible 19th century houses, the old part of the city is literally the heart of Querétaro, containing several parks, churches, and assorted business places, as well as the Municipal Palace, and being in general the best part to visit in a nice afternoon (even if all the interesting places are not open after 9 pm.).
The city's inhabitants are also for the most part, conservative and religious, and thus, the city is now a PAN (Partido Acción Nacional, National Action Party) area, formely being a PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, Party of the Institutional Revolution) state, the other important party (PRD, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, Party of the Democratic Revolution) doesn't have much power in the state.
The traffic in the city is getting worse and worse, due to bad street planning, and more people getting more cars, fortunately, it is still in manageable levels, and most of the people depend on public transportation, the buses are... Well, they are not very good, even the newest ones, but they could be far worse. Most of the time they are filled, every seat takens, and with a lot of people standing, sometimes more people standing than people sittng.
The roads are not designed at all to deal with the raining season, if it rains, they basically become rivers, no matter how little rain it fell. They also gget pretty much destroyed (or atl east the pot holes multiply) whenever it rains.
The feeling around here for Americans is a bit contradictory. There is animosity towards America for the sale of more than half of the Mexican Territory in the 19th century, and the economic differences. It is generally felt that the government figures do whatever it is asked of them to please the USA, even if that means damaging México, but at the same time, most people here want to go to the USA to get a better life, more chances, and to have to deal with less corruption.
If you are a foreigner, you'll get treated quite nicely, it seems like we here in Querétaro we have a bit of an inferiority complex, and are eager to please the foreigners far more than our own people.
