Mexico 2023: a Return to San Juan del Río

Early early on Liz asked “when can we go back to Mexico?” and I loved it. We got a Thanksgiving trip in our heads, and then got it into our heads to invite Mom and Dad with us. And guess what? It all worked out! We went to Mexico for Thanksgiving!

But first…Liz and I had to drive to Chicago! Along the way we stopped at the Lincoln Oasis rest stop.

And then we made our way up to Bob Chinn’s Crab House in Wheeling to meet up with Mom and Dad after their temple shift had ended. I hadn’t been to Bob Chinn’s in 25 years and it was a favorite of Liz’s family during their Illinois/Wisconsin days so it was awful good to kick off our trip with a nice meal there. AND to get some new souvenir cups!

Then the next morning we were up nice and early to catch our flight to Mexico!

Goodbye Chicago!

Hello Mexico!

From the airport we picked up our rental car and then hit the road because this Mexico City trip was different from all the others (so far) … this Mexico City trip was going to start with a trip to San Juan del Río, Querétaro, a “small” town that was my second area on my mission. I cannot say the drive up was very familiar.

For dinner we stopped at Los Cochinos right outside of San Juan (we had considered another place but the owner had recently been execution-style murdered and weren’t feeling so crazy about it because of that…plus they mainly served lamb) for a wonderful porky start to our Mexico eating. What a porcine wonderland it was!

Back on the road for a bit…

Mom had found us a little hotel right in the middle of downtown San Juan del Río and it was absolutely perfect. The most wonderful little place to call our home base. After settling in a bit we had a nice walk around the main plazas and streets of the city, places I was very familiar with from back in 1997.

Perhaps this would be a good place to insert a little color re: Brigham & San Juan del Río c. 1997? I received my transfer to San Juan on (I believe) December 30th, 1997, just as I was starting to get comfortable in my first area, El Molinito. Molinito was a WILD place to start a mission, the easygoingness and general safe feeling of San Juan a welcome change. And San Juan del Río is flat! Molinito was very hilly. I lived there in a house with 3 other missionaries and worked with 3 companions. It had its ups and downs, but on the whole, it is easy to remember San Juan as a peaceful and happy part of my mission. And, in 2023, San Juan del Río proved to be a peaceful happy place still.

The next morning I woke up a lil early (as I do) and walked around the plazas and Main Street and side streets down to the river and back, wondering if I’d maybe find the old church building, but I didn’t know where exactly it was so I did not find it. But I saw a lot of great stuff and really ate up the feeling of the town waking up, people heading off to work, buses starting out their routes, all that great stuff.

Then we all met up at the hotel’s little restaurant for a breakfast that just hit the spot so hard. Probably one of our absolute favorite meals.

And then we all took a nice long walk to the river and back, but with a different route than all the other walks.

And then, holy smokes - we ran right into a parade! Turns out it was Revolution Day! It was quite the parade, we only saw a little bit of it before continuing our walk but still saw a lot.

Something you need to know about downtown San Juan del Río is that the sidewalks are all paved (tiled?) with this tile.

We kept on heading down to the river, admiring the beauty of San Juan as we went. On the other side of the river we visited a cool cemetery, then headed back up to the hotel.

And then it was time to leave San Juan del Río! It was such a nice little trip, so good to be back. On the way out I drove kind of blindly through the city kind of trying to figure out where I used to live but just wasn’t recognize BUT we did pass by a new, big SUD church and it’s nice to see the San Juan del Río saints got themselves an upgrade from the house they met at during my SJdR days.