and then came the aqueduct

The statue of the man surrounded by the dogs in my last blog post, is Juan Antonio de Urrutia. He is the man behind the most spectacular landmark of Querétaro. It's an enormous aqueduct with seventy four arcs, over a 1,2 km long and up to 28 m high. A really beautiful and impressive sight in real life. I had seen pictures and videos of it, before coming but I was really impressed to finally get to see it live. Unfortunately for the picture, it wasn't a sunny day. 

It was nuns who requested the Marquis Juan Antonio to build the aqueduct in order to bring clean water to the residents of the city as the old canal and pipes that supplied the city water back in the 1700s led to dirty and unhealthy water. The work was finalized on October 1738 after 12 years of work with a total cost of $125 000 of which the Marquis donated $88 000, a sum that came from the wealth of his wife. I thought that was an interesting little detail. I like the role women have played in the city's history. That gives me more enthusiasm to read more.
During my walk on this cloudy day, I was looking around at the buildings and the people. It's winter here so locals walk around with winter boots and winter jackets. On a cloudy day it actually feels a little cool but a light blazer and sneakers is in my opinion enough as the temperature still is a good 19°c. Evenings are close to 10°c but I can't still understand the need for winter boots. This is summer for us in the Nordic countries. This would be considered a good summer, because most days the sun does show up and takes the temperature up to 25°c. 

I really like the old part of Querétaro. It's Cosy and artsy but clean and safe.  

I'm trying to get a better feel of the role of the indigenous people here as I keep bumping into the subject. You see them on the bills, statues  and then I happen to walk right into a traditional dance festival of some sort. I was sitting on a bench in one of the many parks you have here, reading a book by Richard Wagamese: a first nation writer from Canada. He is, or more so was a splendid writer that opens a magical window to the life of indigenous people of Canada. Often very sad and touching stories. I was swept away in one of his stories when I heard weird noice and decided to follow it. It started with what sounded like shooting of fireworks or something. It was noon so I couldn't understand why somebody would be shooting fireworks at this time. When I came closer, I started hearing the drums...

It was really spectacular to see so many people dressed up, dancing and playing. I have tried to find out their story, why this event, how often these events happen etc but without luck so far. 

The only thing to do is to go back and figure out more. I will have to go and visit this statue again and see if he can clarify some things for me...