Queretaro

A beautiful ride across cities and places named World Heritage by Unesco, through a splendid protected natural area and ending in a surrealistic garden by artist Sir Edward James. Just keep reading...

The ride starts in Queretaro City at 5,970 ft above sea level.

Queretaro is a colonial city founded more than 500 years ago and named World Heritage by Unesco in 1996 . It's located in center of country two hours North Mexico City. Nowadays it has become one of most dynamic cities in Mexico due to surrounding industrial parks where many international companies are located.

The first stop is just 45 minutes away: "La Peña de Bernal" (The "Rock of Bernal"). We are talking about third biggest rock in world and highest in Mexico. At its feet a quaint little town were you can stop for a soda, lunch or spend night. You can also find nice little souvenirs. Whatever you decide to do, this place is a must.

If you like rock climbing, you are in right place too!

The road to Bernal doesn't present any major challenge, most of road is straight with just a few extended curves... but just after passing Bernal it starts to get fun!

Surrounded by an arid landscape due high content of lime in soil, you start with a very interesting section of twisties, one after another, up and down, a technical road between mountains for about 30 miles. The landscape changes a bit as you advance and a few miles later you are in middle of a semidesert.

After this twisty section you then continue on a straight part of road. A few more miles down route and you find a military checkpoint... Don't worry about it, they are normally courteous people just looking for arm and drug smugglers.

After control point curves and fun start again. As you get to "Peña Blanca" ("White Rock" in English) - by way if you need gas, this is place to stop and fill it up - you start climbing mountains twist after twist.

I love this part: most of ride you can clearly see three or four turns in front of you, and as it is a low traffic road, you can enjoy yourself taking best lines (always keeping it in safe side if you know what I mean!).

After climbing for a while you notice how things start to change and suddenly what were rocks, sand and cactus are now pine trees. It's beautiful.. You feel change of temperature and then you reach "La Puerta del Cielo" (The Door of Heavens") highest point in this ride.

We are now at about 9200 feet above sea level... The turns continue but now you are going downhill. Remember to adjust your riding to that fact. Unfortunately I have seen more than one forgetting about it that and paying consequences.

As you start descending you ride through a small town called Pinal Amoles... descend, turn turn, descend turn turn, descend turn turn... I love it! About 10 miles after Pinal de Amoles, weather starts to change again and gets warmer. The vegetation also suffers a sudden transformation.

You keep devouring road and you cannot help but getting marveled of landscape around you... Just remember to keep your eyes on road! Turn, turn... You are in middle of Sierra Gorda protected area and home of multiple plants and animals.

With Japanese gardens, what you see is not all; surface of things is mere reflection of psyche of an ancient culture. One really needs to be literally "cultured" in this direction to best appreciate value of this art. (which I myself was not at time of my visit! And it was a pitty as I did not know what to look for and what to analyse better!) One can speak of a philosophy of gardening coming from ancient Japan. Japanese gardening is an art fetched beyond arrangements of vegetation, water and stone but is full of symbols:

* Koko - veneration of timeless age;

* Shizen - avoidance of artificial;

* Yugen, or darkness - imply mysterious or subtle;

* Miegakure - avoidance of full expression

The perception of nature is different in Japanese culture from that of European one. Instead of viewing nature only as something to be subjugated and transformed according to men-made ideal of beauty, Japanese developed a close connection to nature, considering it sacred, an ally in putting food on table and an ideal of beauty in itself. That is why Japanese gardens are synthesis of nature in miniature instead of correction of nature as with European gardens.