Blue Skies and Wind

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The sky was so blue....an unbelievable blue. It was cool in the morning but warmed up very quickly. About 3:00 PM a very brisk cool wind picked up. Just a typical San Miguel Fall day.

My friend Debbie has been visiting for the past week and she is a photographer like me. We have been "shooting" away. Yesterday, we headed out with our cameras, stopped in the Sunday market on Calle Heroes. Then on in to the centro. We walked through the stalls selling sugar skulls, candles and the paper cutouts for Dia de los Muertos. We traveled up Reloj to the mercado de artesanos. From there we wandered though that market and into the vegetable market and finally ended up back at the house in time for a short Siesta before Chris and Laura came to go to Comida.

Chris is the son of my friend Dick and he and Laura are here on their honeymoon. We walked down to Don Quijote and sat in the Patio for a lovely comida, then back to the house for some more visiting over a bit of tequila and wine.

When they left it wasn't late but we haven't adjusted to the time change and we all felt like it must be time for bed. We forced ourselves to stay up a little longer in hopes that soon our internal timeclocks will be on daylight savings time. But it was a lovely day in San Miguel de Allende.

Day Trip - Queretaro

I was going to tell you about the city of Queretaro but when I went to do some research, I found that one of my favorite sites, Mexicanwave had several comprehensive essays about the City and the State so I'll just let you read about it there.

We go to Queretaro about once a month to do some shopping and we have skirted the City limits as we have driven from the Mexico City airport to other points in our journeys in Mexico but from some reason, which I can't remember now, we had never spent time in Queretaro. It is a wonderful colonial city. We went over on Thursday just to go into the historic centro. We explored but I can see that I need to go back many times because we didn't have time to cover all that there is to see.

I've started putting up some of the images from Thursday but it is going to take me a day or two to process them. So please check back to Flickr. The two pictures I've included in this post are from a Graphic Arts School. Just color.....but Queretaro is a very colorful city.

While we were there we ate comida at a sidewalk cafe and had a wonderful cabrito. I had the camera right beside me and had taken a picture of the bread basket and salsa that they served us first but when the cabrito plate arrived it looked so delicious that all thoughts of photographing it went from my mind and I never thought about it again until the plate was clean. So I'll have to order cabrito the next time we go over just so I can photograph it for you. I just hope that the next time I don't forget.

No Photos

I've been reading articles about prohibitions to taking photographs in public places in the USA but somehow I just didn't think I'd find the same mindset in Mexico. However, this week we went to the Leon airport to pick up a friend. I know that in the USA there are signs posted in the immigration and customs areas of the airports saying that you can't make photographs there. So I've never tried to make photographs in those places in Mexico either but I can't tell you how many times I've taken pictures of family and friends as they came out of customs toward us waving...so glad to see us and be in Mexico.

We arrived a few minutes early and I decided to check the camera light meter to see if I should set the camera to 400 or 800 ISO. I pointed the camera in the direction of the closed door from customs area. This is into a space where there are always a few people who are renting cars or checking for tourist information. Almost before I had lowered the camera, a security guard came over and told me, "No photos in the airport." I looked amazed.

"No photos in the airport?" I repeated.

"No" as she stood a little taller and moved a little closer.

"Okay" as I moved away since I didn't want to battle over my camera.

Although there are copyright protected subjects when you read this legal opinion it would seem that you should be able to take pictures in most places. However, I found another blog writing about not being allowed to take photographs of friends in places like Starbucks or outside a movie theatre. I knew it was happening in the USA but Mexico? It just seems so un-Mexican.

Overtime

Have you ever awakened from a deep sleep, disoriented in time and place?

Last night I awoke knowing that Ned wasn't in the bed. My first thought was that it was morning but a glance at the window and it still looked dark. Is it the changing seasons? It is getting darker in the morning. No it is too dark. The lamp is on on the dresser, the light in the stairway is on. Confused. Trying to sort it out. A glance at the clock....12:50. Oh it is the middle of the night.

Suddenly, I began to put it together. I had come up to bed about 10:00 PM because I just couldn't stand to watch anymore of the Astros/Sox game. We had been ahead 4-0, then suddenly THEY were in the lead 4-5. Enough! I had the "Houston" stomach that Doug describes about our sports teams. I looked out the window from the bedroom down into the Sala and there is Ned sitting in front of the TV. I know that the game has gone into overtime.
He came upstairs about on hour later.

"Well?" I asked.

"They lost" he said.

I pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep. I didn't want to hear the details.

Can You Name This.....

If you are from Texas can you name this State Park?

Doug and Susan sent me pictures this week. This is a big event. They have had a big year with having a baby, selling a house and moving. Now they finally have their new computer up and running and are sending me pictures of the children. I'm loving it. The top picture is Doug and his boys although you can't see Dexter in his backpack. And this is radiant Susan and her boys, Maxwell and Dexter.

Now, can you tell me the name of this Texas State Park?

And the winner is.......

Cherimoya

A mouthwateringly delicious, sweet, creamy, subtropical fruit, organically grown in New Zealand, combining the exotic flavours of pineapple, papaya, passionfruit, banana, mango and lemon into one luscious delight. Mmmmmmm.

That is what the website says about the Cherimoya.

I found Cherimoya in a store the other day and bought one just to try it out. On the website it says to let them ripen until they are somewhat soft but if you let them go too long they can start to ferment. So I was letting mine ripen and today when I cut it, I think it might have been on the cusp of fermentation. It had a bit of an overripe smell and some brown spots. This isn't the best of pictures of the cut fruit but you can see that the flesh to seed ratio isn't as good as an apple.

The fruit isn't as creamy as a banana in the mouth but it is mushier. Don't know if that makes sense or not. If you see one in your store, you should just try it for yourself. Let me know what you think of the Cherimoya.

Orchids Again

A week ago I wrote about my orchids. Now one of the white ones is open. It has 2 bloom spikes. I'm as excited as a kid in a candy store every time a bloom opens. I think you can expect to see another picture when the third one's buds start to open.

Camote

Camote is a sweet potato. Maybe not the same variety that you will have with Thanksgiving dinner but this is the one that we are having in San Miguel now.

Wikipedia says, "Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical Americas and were domesticated there at least 5000 years ago."

We find them in the market already cooked. They are enjoyed as a evening snack. In our neighborhood when we hear a calliope whistle, we know the camote man is near by.

One of these evenings if I can get a picture of the camote man I'll do it because a word description doesn't do it justice. He comes pushing a cart up our steep cobblestone street. The chamber of the cart is holding a fire that cooks the camotes. The steam from this is what makes the calliope sing. Sometimes just after he has added fuel to the fire, he has flames licking the sides of the cart.

When you buy one of the camotes, he sprinkles it with cinnamon and adds a dollop of crema. We have eaten them from the camote man. They were pretty good and we are still alive and well. When I am in bed at night and I hear his calliope tooting off on some other street, it kind of makes my mouth water.

I went looking for recipes for Camote just to see if there were other ways to prepare them. How about Dulce de Camote.

A Birthday Party!

I don't guess we can stop the birthdays from rolling around every year so we might as well party. That is what we did today for Ned's birthday. It is the end of the 60's and we thought we would just go out for dinner but son, Gary called and said that he wanted to give a party for his Dad.
Okay, but there is just one little problem. We're in San Miguel de Allende and you are in Houston, 900 miles away. Gary had it all figured out, gather up some friends and go to ChaChaCha just around the corner from our house and have comida.

Oh, we can do that.

Yesterday I told ChaChaCha that we were coming so be ready for 12 gringos. They had tables set up for us on the patio, salsa's on the table, and big bowls of guacamole with lots of chips. In just a bit out came plates of stuffed, deep-fried jalapenos. We ordered from their menu....quesadillas, albondigas, enchiladas, milanesa, arroz, frijoles, ensaladas. Oh my, muy delicioso. The table was cleared and a flan de cafe was served.

I think Ned had a great birthday party.
Muchas Gracias, Gary

GO ASTROS

The Astros won!
And without going to the very last game.

I'm not sure that Ned could have stood the anxiety for two more games. Now he has a few days to recover before the BIG ONE.
THE WORLD SERIES

We stayed home last night so he could watch the game. But it ended up the game wasn't carried on ESPN in Mexico. I don't know how they could think a soccer game was more important than the Astros game. There are lots of Mexican baseball fans. Lots of Mexicans have worked in Houston and in Texas. I'm sure we were not the only ones who wanted to see the 'Stros.

So he had to go to the next option, reading it on the Astro's website. It was so funny, there he sat staring at the computer screen waiting for them to type what was happening. But it was weird too because he had just as much anxiety and "Houston stomach" as if he been sitting in front of the TV watching the guys wipe sweat, scratch and spit.

But the bottom line is, we're going to the World Series. It's been a long time coming.
GO ASTROS!

Toasts

Don't you just love the clink of glasses when you make a toast? The glasses touch, "Ting" and then you smile at the person on the other end of the glass sharing a special moment when both of you are appreciating the same thing. A special shared moment. A commemoration of an event.

We opened a special bottle of wine on Tuesday night. A bottle of wine given to us by our friends Tom and Dianne. They knew they would not be here when our studio construction was finished but they wanted to celebrate with us when it was done. So all the way from their home in Oregon, they brought us a bottle of 2000 Pinot Noir from the Tyee Wine Cellars from the Williamette Valley in Corvallis, Oregon.

We waited until not only the studio was complete but also the tejado on the new terrace. Then on Tuesday night we carried our dinner up to the third floor terrace, opened the bottle of wine. We toasted Tom and Dianne. We toasted the new room, the new terrace, San Miguel, the new moon...now one day older. We toasted each other. We toasted friends. Somewhere in all of that toasting, we also had dinner.

Many thanks to good friends, Tom and Dianne for their thoughtful gift.

Sniff

Sniff....mmmm....smells like stewing chicken. Sniff. Sniff at the window. Oh, Senora Cervantes is stewing chicken. Wonder if she is making sopa and maybe chicken enchilades for comida. Maybe both. Smells good.

Back to the computer. Just a part of my day. Knowing what my neighbors are cooking.

How different than the USA. We have great vents to take the odors from the kitchen. God forbid that a dinner guest should guess what they are having for dinner when they walk in the door. Of course the house is closed tightly with AC or Heating so we never have a smell from the neighbor's kitchen.

But here, I know what my neighbors are having for comida. I wonder what they thought we were having for dinner tonight. I prepared southern fried chicken, cream gravy, rice and salad.

Superama

Superama is a small supermarket on the road into Queretaro from San Miguel de Allende. We have passed by it many times on our way to WalMart and Costco but not today. Today we stopped. What fun! It is like a mini supermarket with quality goods. Clean, well-lit, lots of helpful employees. A nice vegetable department, fresh fish, good meats in cuts that I "know." (oops....We just had dinner on the terrace. Let me add to the "good meats".....not. Definitely Mexican meat that is "firm" and needs to be braised for a while not cooked on the grill.) Wonderful bakery with some great looking breads. A deli with Mexican cheeses but also a good selection of very nice imported cheeses. We were able to get cases of the "inexpensive" Chilean wine that we like at the same price as we got it at WalMart.

It will definitely be our first stop on the way into Queretaro for grocery shopping and hopefully we can get it all there and not have to go on for another 10 to 15 minutes in the traffic unless we need things like the Costco size packages of paper towels, soap, and toilet paper.

Wish I had taken the camera with me for some shots from the hip. Maybe next time.

Oh, NO, not again

We're from Houston and of course we're for the Astros. Last night they went into the 9th inning with a 4-2 lead. They lost 4-5. Ned and I were groaning about all the times that Houston sports team have seemed on the way to WINNING the big one....but they didn't. This morning I had an email from son, Doug who said it all much better than I can. So with his permission, here is his email:

Well, another year and another crushing defeat plucked from the jaws of victory.

It is so hard to be a Houston fan.

You know, when Eckstein got that hit, I got the "Houston Stomach." If you live in Houston you just know what it is. Your heart sinks down low, and you hear yourself saying, "Oh no. Here we go again." With every pitch to Edmonds I was saying "no No NOOO."

I am off the bandwagon. I will not watch any more games this year. I don't know if it's so much that I have given up on them as it is I can't take the pain again. The pain as if your loved one just told you she was leaving you AND taking your Widescreen TV. I don't want to meander around my house for days muttering curses at the &*%$ ing Astros.

About this time, don't you start thinking about all those other times if you are from Houston? The Bills game--when my friend called me at half and said. "Hey! We got one!" and I said, "I don't know. It is Houston." Or the U of H game that left the entire city standing like zombies staring blankly
at the TV for hours. Or the Pittsburg game that started the replay rule. There are a lot more that I haven't listed, but they are probably right there, clear as day in your mind right now.

So I will not be watching on Wednesday. If you are, good luck.
Of course, I will Tivo it......
Just in case...

Full Moon

I told you last night that the moon was almost full. Tonight.....full moon over San Miguel de Allende

Almost Full

Tomorrow night will be a full moon but tonight it was almost full. It was lovely. I doubt that I'll be able to get Ned on the terrace tomorrow night....it is the Astros game, you know. So tonight I took our dinner up to the terrace.

Dinner was filete de res, sauteed carrots and potatoes, and a salad. Nothing outstanding but sitting on the terrace looking at the almost full moon against a dark blue sky that darken down to midnight blue, the lights of the town were twinkling, the Parroquia church lights were on, candles on the table....what a beautiful sight. It made this not outstanding dinner really quite marvelous. Then there were some fireworks from around the Civic Plaza. You would think after all this time in Mexico, the fireworks would be old news but they aren't. Tails of light rushing up into the dark sky and exploding into a thousand points of light. Oh, my God.

I wish I was capable of writing this so that it would touch your soul, thrill your spirit and bring to you this wonderful sense of just being alive that we feel. My glass isn't just almost full, it is overflowing.

Camera Lust

Some of my photography friends keep a "lust list." It is the photography equipment that they are sure they can't live without. So I started keeping one too. The interesting thing about my lust list is that I've found over time some things that are on it have to drop off because I'm just not lusting after them any more. So I try not to buy anything that goes on it for at least three months and maybe even six months. If it is still on there after that long a time....well I probably really NEED it instead of just lusting for it.

My digital camera, a Canon 10D, is about 2 1/2 years old and it is old technology now. It has been surpassed by the Rebel XT and the 20D. And those two have recently been surpassed by the Canon 5D. Back on August 22, I wrote about wanting more megapixels than the 20D offered and if the 5D which was just being announced and offered 13 megapixels was good, I sure would be tempted to buy one.

Well I'm tempted alright but I also need another lens and the lens I'm thinking....lusting about....is the new 24-105, f4L image stabilization lens. It is a pricey lens.

So now I have to decide is the 5D or the 24-105 lens at the top of the lust list. Would I be better off to compromise with a Rebel XT and the lens for the time being? Damn, these are hard decisions when you are in lust.

The Orchids are blooming

I have had three phalaenopsis orchids here in San Miguel for about a year. Two of them bloomed last year but during the dry season from January through May, they struggled. This is high desert, dry and dusty most of the year. Not the hospitably environment of the tropical landscape around VeraCruz. Since there is so little humidity, I finally decided that they could be watered three times a week.

I even had a hard time finding a good place for them. Either it was too dark or too much sun. Finally as the sun moved around this summer, I was able to leave them in the bedroom window seat and they were happy. All of them have put out bloom spikes and one is so happy she put out two bloom spikes.

To me orchids are such an exotic flower that when they bloom again for me, I feel I've been given a very special gift.

Ta Dah....The New Terrace

The new terrace......
Before the tejado (roof) was added it just seemed like a big open space but now the area under the tejado feels like a room. We have gas connections in two places where we can add a grill and a fireplace if we should decided to do that in the future. The floors still need to be sealed so we aren't going to buy any more plants until they are done but we did do some re-arranging of the pots. All of them are small plants and we need some taller ones...after the floors.

We are still looking for furniture for it. Like a wrought iron table instead of a Home Depot plastic table. I do have 4 wrought iron chairs that we can use but we also need some more seating....comfy chairs that you could curl up in to read a book. I'm surprised at the cost of wrought iron furniture here in San Miguel. I have found a table I like but it is almost $300 plus the cost of the glass top. We have gotten several prices for a 12 mm round glass top and it will be about $225.

I love our view from the terrace. The two pictures at the top are looking back into our neighborhood but looking in the other direction, you see the centro. It is a great place to sit and see the lights come on in the town at night.

San Miguel went visiting

Led by these colorful angels, the patron saint of San Miguel, San Miguel Arcangel, was taken from his place above the altar in the Parroquia church to visit the other principal churches in the Centro. Usually we think of the Angels as floating around in white robes but not in Mexico the land of vibrant color.

In most of the processions the saints are carried by men in shirt sleeves but in this procession San Miguel was carried by men in suits. The men in suits were having a hard time with the load. At each of the churches San Miguel would be taken inside and set down in front of the altar. Some people would be in the church waiting for his arrival and others followed San Miguel from church to church. After a brief blessing, San Miguel was again picked up to be carried on to the next church.

Besides the people who walked in the procession with flowers and candles there were also the prerequisite native dancers, bands, shell horn blowers, and conchero dancers.

San Miguel has now been returned to his place of honor above the altar in the Parroquia church. I don't know when he will go visiting again.

It's in the genes

Jack and his little brother, Will, love to play baseball. So did their Pawpaw. That's husband Ned for those of you who don't know. Their Dad was a pretty good player too. Both of the boys are good but Jack has reached the age of being asked to play on some serious Little League teams.

Mike sent me some pictures of Jack in one of his games. I don't know if Mike is the photographer or not but I do know that Jack looks most professional for a 9 year old. Hey, I'm his grandmother and if I say he looks professional, the kid looks professional!

Remember how you saw your grandparents as old. Well, I'm sure that these boys do too. About two years ago when Will was just learning how to catch the baseball in a glove, Pawpaw joined him for some practice in the backyard. In a few minutes, Will came running in, eyes wide, to tell us that Pawpaw could catch the baseball in a glove. Guess the "old man" surprised him.

Roof Garden

We got the car out yesterday so we could go on the outskirts of San Miguel looking for plants for the new terrace. This terrace garden definitely needs to be "landscaped" because we love sitting up there and taking friends up for cocktails. It is time to get this space organized.

Most of the viveros (plant nurseries) are very small and most of them do not have much of a selection of trees. We have one large pot that is about 30 inches tall and 27 inches across. I need a nice size ficus tree for it. We also have a couple of other pots that are empty as well as some that need replanting.

I think we made about 4 vivero stops. I still don't have a ficus tree but I did buy a hydrangea and a pepto bismol pink mandevilla vine. My friend Sharon had several hydrangeas on her covered terrace and I couldn't believe how they grew. They were very, very happy and bloomed prolifically. I'll see how they do for me here because in Houston, I have only had moderate success with hydrangeas.

I don't know anything about the mandevilla vine except I loved the color of the flower and I thought it was some type of a clematis although the woman at the nursery told me it was mandevilla. I just thought that was the Mexican name for the plant. But I have looked it up on the internet and it seems to be a different plant. It is from around Rio de Janeiro and is tender in freezing weather. Mmm...I was planning to have it growing on one of the columns of the new tejado on the terrace and we can get some frosty nights here in San Miguel. So I don't know how long it will last but it sure is pretty now.

Contemporary Mexican

Most of the houses that are built here in San Miguel are Colonial Style. But yesterday we went for cocktails at Anne and Jay's new Hacienda. Contemporary.....somewhat in the style of Barrigan but so beautifully done. Inside the entrance to the house is a water wall and the house goes up from the street through a desert garden. I'm so impressed with everything about the house. They had a wonderful architect who thought of every detail and executed everything to a high degree of precision. The house is contemporary and very modern but it is a very warm modern...not a minimalist modern.

One of my favorite writers about architecture is Sarah Susanka whose first book "The Not So Big House" was so helpful to us when we were building our house in Houston. She writes about thinking about the spaces you use and be sure that every space in your house is used daily. Anne and Jay gave a lot of thought to their house and how they lived. It isn't a small house but there isn't any wasted space. I am going to photograph the house for Anne and Jay and maybe I'll get to post a few pictures at a later date.

They served appetizers from a Lebanese Restaurant which were a delightful treat. We met some new people and visited with old friends. It was a lovely cocktail party.

Walk, Stop, Look

Ever since my sister-in-law fell the first day of her visit to us in San Miguel a number of years ago, I warn visitors to watch where they are walking. The uneven sidewalks and cobblestone streets demand your attention. So if you want to look at the gorgeous colonial buildings or the colorful bougainvillea, STOP walking and look because if you keep walking and you aren't watching your step it is really easy to fall. I really should take my own advice.

Last Friday, Michael and Jean wanted to show us their new casita which was just completed. They live next door and plan to rent the casita. The outside is a rosy terracotta with old green doors....gorgeous colors. We opened the door and I stepped down into the house (You have to step down into a lot of Mexican houses) and I was looking at the playful use of color. The next thing I knew, I was on my knees. The house had TWO steps down instead of one. I really should follow my own advice and watch where I'm walking and then STOP to look.

I survived pretty well. A sore toe and a couple of scrapes on the knees but for several days I've found little aches and pains here and there as these old bones settle back to where they belong.

WALK, STOP, LOOK.....I gotta remember that.

Looking Good!

When tourists visit San Miguel, they probably think that we have found the fountain of youth because there are a lot of youthful looking senior citizens. I have to admit that the mountain air, daily exercise walking up the hillsides, and good food do their part in keeping us youthful. But then there is also the business of youth....plastic surgery.

So many of my friends have had plastic surgery that I'm beginning to feel left out of conversations because I haven't had plastic surgery and can't talk about whether the surgeon in Celaya or San Luis Potosi is better. I don't have any scars to show. And I have baggy eyelids and don't have a nice smooth neckline.

In the last two days I saw one of my friends who has just had a face lift and gone are sagging jowls. He looks thinner and more alert. I was with a friend who is just getting past the bruising when we met another friend who revealed that she had a procedure last summer. I didn't know that! I thought she was so vibrant because she is always bubbly. Even my hair dresser talks about who he thinks does the best plastic surgery.

I googled "plastic surgery San Miguel de Allende" and found 16,900 results. Whoa!

San Miguel seems to be a destination for people from the USA who want to get a face lift but not at the hefty USA prices.

A Hotel that specializes in providing a supportive environment after plastic surgery

A plastic surgery clinic

An online listing of plastic surgeons in the area

Tour packages for a $6000 face lift in San Miguel

A surgeon from Celaya who has operated on several of my friends and they look great.

But there has to be a downside to plastic surgery across the border because google also showed that ABC, Fox and MSNBC have done expose pieces about it. So I guess anyone contemplating a nip or a tuck should do their homework.

I'd like to stay as young as my friends but somehow I always need another lens, or printer or some kind of expensive photo equipment. Maybe next year.

We Found It!

Today we went to Queretaro for a couple of errands with our friends Mike and Jean. I also wanted to find the store where some friends bought granite for their cocina. They have left town so I called the decorator who helped them with some of the things in their house. DeWayne didn't know the name of the street or the name of the store. He did give me some general directions about how to find the Pizza Hut and then turn on the first street that came in from the right and the granite store would be down a little ways.

You know how it is, you hear the directions and it seems simple.........Well, it wasn't quite that simple. The first problem we had was that we were coming out of the large Liverpool parking garage and since we aren't really familiar with the shopping center we came out an exit that didn't let us go exactly where we had hoped to be. So it took some circling around.

Then we weren't sure if Av. Constituyentes would be to the left or the right on Mex 57. We went left and we needed to go right. Then we had to work our way back over to Av. Constituyentes. Now we are on Constituyentes but the directions from DeWayne indicated the Pizza Hut is going to be on the other side of the street so we have to go back under Mex 57 before we get to a place that we can make a U-turn. We are looking for Pizza Hut and looking for Pizza Hut and are about to decide that maybe we have missed it or maybe it was Dominos that we passed earlier.

Finally we see it and turn on the street just before it. After driving down that street a few blocks we stopped and asked a man if he knew where the store was that sold the granitos. He looked puzzled. Then we asked if he knew a store that sold piedras (stones). Yes, he did. Further down the street and on the right. We drove a little further and there it was.

If anyone is looking for granite, cantera or marble, the store is:
Terrazos y Granitos del Centro
Fray Jaun de San Miguel No. 60
3ra. Seccion Col. Cimatario
C.P. 76030
Queretaro, QRO.
Phone 01 (442) 216-0580

The Saleswoman was most helpful and gave us a board of samples of the granite. Yes, there are a couple that I like. The cost is about 1/2 of what I paid for granite in the USA 6 years ago.

Eduardo had given us the name of a couple of restaurants in Queretaro that might be nice for comida. One of the restaurants was just a few blocks from the granite store. We walked over and had a lovely comida.

Queretaro is a big city. I'm amazed that we found both places and we were only lost a little bit.

New Orleans Views

I just keep looking at the devastation from Katrina and Rita. I finally got up enough courage to go look at a favorite photographer that I have bookmarked on PBase, Coleen Perilloux Landry. Her subject matter is her city, New Orleans. I've loved her sultry images from the Perilloux House, of City Park, and all over New Orleans. Today I looked at the galleries she has put up since the storm. It is hard to imagine what people are going through as they go back to their houses, if they have houses to go back too. Her images are very poignant because you can compare today to yesteryear. She has added the "story" at the bottom of most of the images....take a look.

New Friends

We met some people this week and they don't feel like new friends....they feel like old friends.

Several months ago we had an email from Melinda who had gotten our email address from Steve our financial advisor. She told him that they were thinking about coming to visit San Miguel so Steve told her to contact us for more information about the town. Steve has had us on his financial talk radio show to discuss living in Mexico in retirement. In fact, the idea of retiring to Mexico intrigued Steve enough that he brought his family down for a visit to check it out.

Melinda had questions about San Miguel. We exchanged email and phone calls a few times before they arrived so we wanted to meet them. Melinda and Richard and their friends Kay and Tony arrived last Friday. We invited them over for a glass of wine on Tuesday. Although they have never traveled in Mexico before, they love San Miguel and they were adjusting to Mexico. When they arrived, the telephone in the house they rented wasn't working. It took a few days to get it fixed but they managed to laugh about it.

Both couples are from the Baytown area and we heard the story about their evacuation in the face of Rita, they heard about living here in San Miguel, we talked about family and talked and talked as we sat on the new terrace and watched the lights of the city come on.

Enough wine sipping and we needed food but none of us wanted to go someplace so we ordered pizza from Juanitas, the little pizza place around the corner. The talk moved inside to the dining room table. When they left, I knew we would stay in touch. We are now old friends and I think they will be back to San Miguel before too long.

A Weekend of Festivities

San Miguel de Allende has indeed honored its patron saint. Starting at 4:00 AM on October 1, there was an hour of fireworks and bell ringing from the Jardin. It is really impossible to describe this event. I've been before and I should have gone again this year and taken pictures but I didn't.

After processions come in from some of the outlying areas to bring offerings and pay homage to San Miguel, the fireworks begin. From the Parroquia the fireworks are fired across the jardin signifying San Miguel fighting the devil and from the other side the devil is fighting back and also firing fireworks back at the Parroquia.

There is no attempt to have a fall-out zone and the crowds are gathered all in and around the jardin so from time to time you have to dodge a few rockets coming your way. Whatever you wear will most certainly have some holes from the sparks. After about an hour of continually exploding fireworks and all of the bells in the Parroquia ringing constantly, San Miguel wins the battle and quiet reins again.

In the late afternoon is a procession that includes giant floral altars/offerings, called xuchiles. They are made across several telephone poles and are carried by the men for quite some distance up the hill of Canal Street to the Parroquia where they are then erected to stand for a week. This is an amazing demonstration of engineering, strength and devotion.

This is not a solemn procession. The procession includes many native dance troupes in fabulous costumes, more of the conchero dancers, and the Mojiganges. The Mojiganges are papermachie heads on a frame covered with "clothing" that are worn on the shoulders of dancers. They stand high above the crowds and bring much fun and humor to the procession.
All of this is followed by fireworks and castillos about 9:00 PM.

The next day, more processions. This one starts from Ancha de San Antonio and winds about 2 miles through town with the dancers once again dancing without ceasing. Go to my set of photos from these processions, if you would like to see more images from the parades.

Dinner Party for Mel and Joan

Mel and Joan are leaving....going back to California for the rest of the year. I wanted to have them over for dinner before they got away. We also invited Wendy and Mike that we met at Joan and Mel's house a week or so ago.

The menu was simple:
Shrimp Remoulade
Filete de Res
Sauteed asparagus
Polenta with Parmigiano cheese
Chocolate Truffle Tart

There were two items on the menu that took some looking for the ingredients. First of all was the polenta. Last year, I could find polenta without any problems but this year I have been looking for a month and Bonanza and Espinos have not had it. But yesterday at Bonanza, I found it. Not in a carton....they are carrying it in bulk. So glad to know it is available again.

The other item...well actually two items were for the chocolate truffle tart. I needed bittersweet chocolate and I needed mascarpone cheese. Once I had seen mascarpone cheese here but I didn't trust being able to find it locally the day I needed it so when we went to Queretaro last week, I bought some. While we were there I looked all over Walmart for bittersweet chocolate and I couldn't find it. At Bonanza they had three kinds of cooking chocolate bars. One was a white chocolate, another said semi-something and so I bought the last one. It was a dark chocolate although not as bittersweet as I have gotten in the States. It also didn't stay has high in the tart pan.

The other thing I needed for the tart was cookies because I was using a crumb crust rather than a dough crust. I could have used graham, vanilla or chocolate wafer cookies but I couldn't find any of those except at Bonanza and they wanted 44.50 pesos for a box. $4 USA for small box of cookies. No thank you. So I bought the traditional Gamesa wafer cookie for thirty-seven cents and it worked just fine.

We sat at the dinner table until almost midnight just talking. I hate to see Joan and Mel leave but they'll be back to their beautiful house here next year.

The County Fair - Mexican Style

For the first time we went to the Feria (Fair) that is held in conjunction with the Festivities for San Miguel. When we first started coming to San Miguel de Allende for extended stays, the Feria was held on the soccer field in town but now it has moved out on the highway behind the new city administration building. There is lots of parking and room for it to spread out.

It seems to be a combination of the fair that accompanies the Rodeo and Live Stock Show and the small fairs that we sometimes see on parking lots along freeways in Houston. There are lots of rides for little children and then some "scare" larger rides for the older kids. Games where you try to win a prize by tossing rings, shooting moving targets or fishing. Lots of places to buy food. Even some places to get a adult beverage to carry around with you and something that we don't see much anymore exhibitions....shows of the barebreasted alligator woman, the two headed child, and chickens with three feet.

Another long tent held the "food court." Gorditas, quesadillas, tortas, tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers and Chinese food. Yes, you are reading right....Chinese food. There were lots and lots of tables and many different food vendors. It all looked good.

What is really different is that the entry fee is 15 pesos. That includes all the rides but to see the barebreasted alligator woman, you have to pay another 10 pesos.

There were several long tents that held "stuff" for sale. The majority of it was household items, pots, pans, dishes, glasses, cups, the little grills that the Mexicans use for cooking, rugs and blankets. It surprised me how many women were buying these items. Another long tent had sunglasses....lots of sunglasses, jewelry, jeans, t-shirts, children's clothes.

You can see a slideshow of pictures from the Feria here on Flickr.

Shopping at the Galeria

Yesterday we went shopping at the Galeria.....no there isn't a Galeria in San Miguel de Allende. It is in Queretaro. It is about 1/10th the size of the Houston Galleria but it is the SAME. Nice department stores, specialty shops, kiosks, and food courts. It is anchored at one end by Liverpool and at the other by Sears. Liverpool is like a nice Macy's Department store but this Sears is nicer than any I've been to in Houston. And the other interesting thing about this Sears is that it houses other stores within it such as Foley's and Pier One. The clothing area is large and has name brands. It is merchandised really well.

We went shopping because we need to furnish our new office studio. I do have the workstation/desks set up but we want to furnish the other end with a nice seating area by the fireplace. My friend Jan had some wonderful rattan chairs and she said she bought them at Sears in Queretaro. When she told me that I knew that this was not my Houston Sears and I wanted to go see what else they might have.

Both Ned and I had shopping lists. One of the things on my list was to see if I could get my glasses repaired. The frames are really too expensive but I bought them anyway. They are titanium and I have been told that when a piece of it breaks, it can not be put back together. Well of course the metal earpiece broke in half. I had been trying to use older pairs of glasses that I have with me but I couldn't see. I thought we might stand a better chance of getting them repaired in Queretaro than in San Miguel.

We stopped in Opticas Lux in the Galeria and they carried the same frames....and what was interesting they were about the same price that I paid for them in Houston. The only way they could be repaired was to order a whole new ear piece for about 1/3 the cost of the frame...but then the ear piece is about 1/3 of this frameless frame. I was hesitating about doing it but when I said okay, they decided that they could take an earpiece from one of the frames they had and put it on my glasses. They did the job quickly and nicely so now I can see again.

The other objective was to look at furniture....actually chairs. At Sears we found the rattan chairs and lo and behold, they was in the Pier One department. When you buy something, you even get a Pier One shopping bag instead of a Sears shopping bag.

We wanted to buy a pair of the chairs but didn't want the ones off of the floor and they didn't have any in stock. They said we would have to order them and they would have them in 8 days but we needed to pay in full before they would order. Although we didn't like that we decided we would do it but we were going to pay with a Visa card. First of all they only wanted a Mexican credit card but then they decided that they would take the American Visa. The Mexican Bank would not accept the credit card and said we needed to call Visa in the USA. We knew that there wasn't actually a credit problem with the card because we check on line everyday or so to be sure that there are not any bogus charges on the card. Then we realized that it has been several years since we used this Visa card in Mexico. The credit card companies are being very careful about credit cards being used out of the country if you don't regularly use them in traveling abroad.

At this point, we just decided to wait. We would come back with pesos in hand and order them another day. When we check out Pier One on-line, we found that the same chair in Houston would cost about 2/3rds of the cost at Sears. Of course, the chairs are already here in Mexico and we don't have to bring them down.

I had been told that the clothing in the Galeria was expensive. From my quick look at women's clothing, I think the prices are similar to Houston prices but what I didn't see was the racks of "sales" where the clothing is reduced 25 to 40%. So it probably is expensive for Mexico. Still it is good to know that if you need something you can probably find it in the brands you are familiar with. And having places like this Galeria is also an indication of Mexico's growing middle class.

Another item on our list was a replacement pot for the Mr. Coffee maker which we bought in Mexico. The old pot is broken and we have been trying for two weeks to find another one. Walmart didn't have one. Costco didn't have one, Liverpool didn't have one and Sears didn't have one. We may end up having to buy a whole new coffee maker.

It was after 3:00 PM....this had been a full day of shopping and the one thing that we got accomplished was getting my glasses repaired. Time to head for home. Forty-five minutes later we still were just a few miles from the shopping area. A huge truck with a large load had turned over on the exit we needed to take and we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Finally we were able to get past the wreck, make a U-turn and get back on the road for San Miguel. Reminded me why I love to be able to walk anywhere I want to go in San Miguel.

As a note of explanation, all of these images were shot at a high ISO and from the hip which means that the camera just stayed on the strap, hanging from my shoulder and I pressed the shutter release when I thought that there was something interesting ahead of the lens. The Galeria was loaded with security people and I'm sure that if I had brought the camera to my eye, I would have been told no photos....just like I would have been told in the Galleria Houston.

Dia de San Miguel Arcangel

September 29th was actually the Feast Day of St. Michael the Archangel but this town celebrates St. Michael's birthday for most of the week. The big events are held on the weekend closest to his birthday. In the jardin, there are big posters listing "all" of the events for the month but we have found that they don't necessarily cover everything. Ned also goes around to each of the churches to see if they have posted anything about additional events related to their church.

Still there are wonderful organized events that happen that we never see advertised or posted anywhere. Last Thursday is a good example. I walked across town about 4:30 in the afternoon to see Jose Marin, my very talented hairdresser. We knew that the Conchero dancers would be in front of the Parroquia and that a violin concert was also scheduled for about 8:00 PM. So Ned said he would meet me in front of the Parroquia after my appointment.

I got there a little early and saw that a small procession was coming to the church. During these religious festivals the santos from the various churches and sometimes from the homes are taken to visit other churches and to be blessed. This group was carrying two shrines holding San Miguels. Following behind were women and children carrying bouquets of flowers. After them was a mariachi band in white mariachi suits and that was followed by the men in jeans and carrying their straw hats. Two priests in white robes came to the door of the Parroquia to welcome them into the church. The Mariachis entered the church with a flourish of music. I sat there for a while as everyone settled down on the benches, the mariachi music was over and the religious service began then I slipped out the door to meet Ned.

By this time outside the church the Conchero's had two drummers setting the rhythm and in full costume and elaborate feathered headdress they were starting to dance. On the stage beside the drummers, the sound system was being tested by some of the violinists who would be playing later. I have no idea how they could tell if it was working properly over the noise of the big drums.

I photographed the dancers for a few minutes then Ned and I went over to the bar at the San Francisco hotel and sat where we could see what was happening in the jardin through the door. There were fireworks and sirens....not unusual in San Miguel but the bartender and a couple of the waiters were standing at the door looking up the street so we knew that some procession would be along soon.

It was a procession of taxis decorated with bouquets of flowers and red and white balloons. In one of the Mixta taxi's....Mixta taxis are pickup trucks that carry passengers and or cargo. We have used them to deliver pieces of furniture to our house. Anyway in one of the Mixtas was the fireworks man. He put the rockets in a metal tube sitting on a base and then lit them to soar into the sky and explode. These were substantial exploding rockets. The Mixta was about the third vehicle in the parade and the rockets along with the sirens of the police escort announced the arrival of the taxi's.

The procession must have included more than 1/2 of the taxis in San Miguel and there are a considerable number of taxis here. There were also a couple of drum and bugle corp groups in the procession. Even when the taxis started around the jardin, I could still see them all the way up the hill of Calle San Francisco to Salida a Queretaro.

The drummers and conchero dancers are still occupying one side of the square. The violinist are still testing the sound system. A mass is going on in the Parroquia which faces the jardin and now we have rockets, drum and bugle corp, sirens, AND all of the taxi's are blowing their horns or letting their car alarms go at full blast. Some people in the jardin are watching one or the other of the spectacles but many of them are sitting on the benches eating ice cream and chatting, children are playing chase across the gazebo, men are getting shoeshines, completely oblivious to the commotion around them.

The taxis circled the jardin and in a very orderly fashion lined up in front of the Parroquia to be blessed. How do you find out about these events. We have been coming here for years and we don't have a clue. But you can almost count on something happening at the jardin.

We didn't stay to see the blessing but headed back toward our house. We had a late comida so we stopped at Hecho en Mexico and bought an order of guacamole "para levar" to go. We took wine and the guacamole to the new terrace and it was a beautiful twilight. The sky was just turning to deep blue. The Parroquia's lights we on and there were lights twinkling across the town. Although we are about 3/4ths of a mile from the jardin, we could hear the music of the violin concert. We nibbled on the guacamole, drank wine, listened to the music and talked. And people ask us what we do in San Miguel. I don't think reading or hearing about this can convey the pleasure we find here.