Lake Juriquilla, Queretaro, MX

Today is Sue Reid's birthday and we celebrated by having cake and ice cream before dinner. Then four of us picked up Rock, an ex-banker, and headed for Lake Juriquilla, Queretaro, MX. The town of Juriquilla is small and forms the northernmost part of the city of Querétaro in Querétaro, Mexico. "It was founded originally as a hacienda in the 18th century, and fractioned into a golf course and residential area in the 1970s."

Wikipedia says that Juriquilla has always been known as a residential area. A ten minute drive from downtown puts Juriquilla far enough to avoid the city common problems, such as traffic jams, but close enough to enjoy all of the city's advantages. During the last decade, Juriquilla has slowly been recognized as an investment opportunity area, due to the prices of the land and the arrival of many people from Mexico City. However, Juriquilla's population has grown enough as to suffer from traffic problems when inhabitants leave their homes for their jobs, which are usually located in Santiago de Querétaro or El Marqués, or when returning home. There is a lake in Juriquilla, formed by a dam and five or six different restaurants sit right on the little lake. You cannot see them from the parking lot of the Centro Nautico but once inside you can stroll along an interior boardwalk and find the one that suits y our appetite and pocketbook.

We chose first to have a drink at the Rattle Snake. You sit just above the lake and attentive waiters bring your bebidas drinks and free appetizers. Then we went down some stairs to the lake level and dined at Porto Buzios, a seafood and lobster restaurant. The five of us ordered drinks. It was happy hour or two for one if you chose cervasa beer or tequila. Then we ordered salmon, blackened salmon, mahi mahi, oysters Rockefeller and mussels. y salmon was grilled and came with puree de papa mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. The food was good, but wasn't the best I've ever had. However the atmosphere was wonderful. The lake was calm and we looked across the dam to Querétaro. Around the lake were spendy houses. It reminded me of Lake Oswego.

All the way to Juriquilla, the clouds built. Huge white clouds that seemed to reach effortlessly into the sky. We knew what was coming. As we ate dinner the sky turned almost black and lightning started to appear in the distance. Drops of lluvia rain fell as we reached the car for the drive home. Then all the way to San Miguel the most spectacular, brilliant lightning flashed across the sky. As we neared the city fireworks filled the air. They were awesome, but didn't compare to nature's fireworks.

That's Rock. From all of us, Happy Birthday Sue.

BTW Dinner was 1592 pesos plus 300 peso tip or about $130 for the five of us. One more thing, it is easy to get lost looking for the lake. Watch for the signs to Juriquilla.