Syracuse to Queretaro Second Attempt - October 12

Here we go again. This time it's a 5:45 departure so I'm getting up at 3:00, showering, taking the dog out to pee and waking up the wife, who has graciously agreed to drive me to the airport again. Smooth checkin and I've got my boarding passes. Up at security, something as yesterday, I've been "randomly" selected for "pre-screening". Random? Really, twice in a row? But I'm not complaining, cause that puts me way ahead of those poor SOBs in the regular line.
This time my flight boards and takes off on time.every connection was precisely on time. At Dulles I had about 50 minutes, just enough time to hustle to the next gate in time to board. Same thing at Houston. I barely had time to wolf down a soggy, tasteless Uno's pizza before boarding. The gate agent said the flight to Queretaro was overbooked and the we're looking for volunteers to give up their seats. So there was no way I was going to look around for better chow. After boarding thye held the plane for some people whose connecting flight had arrived a bit late. I was surprised at this, given it was over booked.
Finally arriving in Mexico, I got my bags, went through customs and found my shuttle ride. Shared the van with two Canadians who were taking the other workshop that Santa Fe Photographic was running concurrently in San Miguel, entitled "The Color of Mexico". I very surprised at how clean this small terminal was. Before departing I had used the "facilities" and they were modern and immaculate.
It was about an hour and a half ride to San Miguel. Mostly on four lane highway. These people drive fast and we all had our seat belts fastened. The countryside was a beautiful desert scene with great visibility, blue sky's and disturbingly bright sunlight.





We passed several large industrial facilities. Don't know what they were for.

The last several miles were rougher two lane roads and then we arrived at San Miguel. The city had been established in the 1500's and it was all narrow winding cobble stone streets. Finally arriving at Posada de La Aldea, we were met by a porter who took our bags and we proceeded to check in. Up in my room met my room mate, Gerry Balnchard.
I can see why they picked this hotel to work from. It has a variety of architectural features and a great courtyard, so no lack of shooting locations right here.





At six, both workshop groups meet in the courtyard where an outside bar had been set up an everyone mingled. There was a mix of amateur and professional photographers, and everyone seemed to mix well. Some had taken workshops together before and renewed old acquaintances. I recognized Dustin Samman, who works for Santa Fe, from the Cuba trip. Nice kid. Then we went in to dinner, which was served buffet style. I was expecting Mexican or TexMex, but instead there was a pasta dish, salmon, beef ; nothing exciting. But that was ok.

After dinner we met with our instructor, Joe McNally. He welcomed us and laid out the general outline for the week. Joe's a really nice guy, very humble about his position in the photography world. He was the last staff photographer at Life magazine and jokingly attributes their demise to that fact.
Finally it was off to bed! It had been a long day and I was glad to finally get my shoes off. But OMG I could not believe what my ankles looked like! I have never seen such swelling. But I was too tired to worry about it and went to sleep.
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