Up on a hill stands a man

Last Saturday was a sunny day and I thought it was time to head downtown to see if I could discover a little bit more about the city of Querétaro. I asked my husband to drop me off somewhere closer to town. When we reached University Street and the traffic started looking bad, I just got out and wished him a good day, so he wouldn't be too late for work. I wasn't sure of were I was or where I wanted to go. Just wanted to see if I could gather some more information about the city and its history. I have learned with age that the less I plan my day, the better it gets, this is why I hadn't looked up anything beforehand. Less expectations, less disappointment...  
I just knew that it would be warm and sunny, so a museum could be a good idea. We are here for quite some time, so it's good to respect the power of the sun and not abuse of it. I looked around and started walking when I suddenly saw a head of a big statue up on a hill, so I decided to go and figure it out. 
After a good 20 minute walk I finally reached a fenced area  and wondered how I could get in.

I patiently walked around it until I reached the entrance. There was a small entrance fee to be paid and it was stated that one could buy tickets to the museum at the same place. Bingo! "Dos pajaros de un tiro" as the saying goes. I prefer the Swedish version however. "Två flugor i en smäll".

(if you have to kill two things in one shot, make it flies...not birds)

I learned that I had entered what is called Cerro de Las Capanas (Hill of the Bells). An important spot in the war of Independence, as it was here the emperor got defeated and sentenced to death in 1867.  

The chapel was a gift from Austria, of all countries. 
And the statue that I had seen from the distance, was this one...

It is of the president Benito Juarez. His parents were indigenous, who died when he was only a young boy. He was raised by his uncle and turned himself into a well-educated lawyer and politician. He became president of Mexico in 1857 and stayed in office until his death in 1872. He is a symbol of Mexican nationalism and his birthday that is coming up in exactly a month (21st of March) is a public holiday. He is the most honored Mexicans of all times. 

My walk in the park was nice and peaceful and I made it to the museum where I got to learn a bit more about the history of the city. It was good practice for my Spanish as there was nothing written in English. I'm finally getting some use of all the efforts put down at McGill University learning this beautiful language. I learned a lot from my visit but I think I walked out with more questions than I came in. That is the thing with history, there is often more than one side to its story. What I found funny was 3 noisy teenage boys. There was a spot where you could dress up and play the role of the 3 main characters during the conspiracy that lead to the war of Independence, one of them being the lady I wrote about in my other blog post, Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez. The boys were playing the roles dressed up, laughing and yelling and having a great time. I thought it was such a wonderful thing to see anybody but especially teenagers have that much fun in a museum.   

It certainly spiced up my visit. As for what I learned about the role of the indigenous people and how it all went down when the Spanish came here ... well let me take in some more information, digest it and translate it in my head. It's not good to jump to any hasty conclusions.