SMA Day 27 of 32 - Wednesday April 14 2010 – Aging Gracefully Postponed

After breakfast, went to get laundry done. Still need 4 days worth until we leave Monday. Cab will take us 90 miles to airport @ 4:30 a.m. Ugh :-(

Anyway, on way to laundry, watched kids at school recess. How I love the sound of kids having fun. It’s like hearing the songs of happy birds. A little way down the street, noticed a sign in a window indicating a seminar had been cancelled. Only the words – aging gracefully and postponed were highlighted with pen. Was there a message for me here? Go figure. I agree though, later rather than sooner  :-)

From there, decided to try to get to train station as I had planned on a walk a few days before. After checking map, thought maybe would take bus there and walk back, knowing I divert from course many times. Bus ride was about 3 miles and we still walked about 6 miles for the day. Not bad for not aging gracefully. Cost, 5 peso or 50 cents each.

The train station does not look like it is in use, but the tracks are used daily from Laredo to the north to Mexico City to the south. Both about 300+ kilometers either way. I have fun just browsing, not shopping. Like to see what is being sold or worked on. There are many things being done here that would be mechanized or automated in the US or Canada. But here, a necessity. Wages low and prices are comparable to what I see in the US – how do they do it I think?

Stopped into a “Bodega Aurerra” store. A Wal-Mart under a different name here in this part of Mexico. How did I know? Well, for one, they have a Wal-Mart Bank inside and the shipping cartons say so. Checked out the clothes washing machines. Like something my mother used 50 years ago. Still better than watching the hand wash near Casa Liza where both clothes and people are washed in outdoor public tubs – about 40 tubs in a public plaza.

The Aurera store was well stocked and loved the variety of fresh fruits and veggies. When on a trip to Costa Rica about 20 years ago, noticed they sell un-refrigerated milk in cartons. Saw this here too. If you can’t afford a refrigerator, how do you keep things from spoiling? One way is to buy what you will feat that day, I guess. Saw a “Chevy” car in the lot. Guess they don’t call them Chevrolet here.

Made brief stop at bus station to see how it is setup. Think next time will skip flight to Leon then 90 minute cab ride to SMA. Trip from Mexico City is only 2 1/2 hours by bus. Will save money and time.

Saw local machine shop in action. Not new equipment, but enough to do the jobs I saw. After a few more feet, was addressed by a man speaking in English – you never get a bad picture here in SMA. After a “short” 45 minute chat with Bill, learned he moved to Mexico 5 years ago. His wife died about 12 years ago and thought he needed a change of scenery from the cold north. He is a health specialist and found he could establish a practice here. How nice to have met him.

By then it was already 3 p.m. Time for a bite. Again, headed for El Pegaso restaurant. Cesar, Fernando Hugo, Cuco and Bennie of staff were all greeting us as we walked in the door. How nice of them to remember our names. It helped to introduce myself on our first return visit a month ago. We found this a nice place to eat, relax and have fun. Plus only a few blocks from Casa Liza. Finished the great meal with a yummy flan. I am spoiled.

Got to meet Santiago, the El Pegaso owner Betto, brother in law. From there, walk back along Recreo street. Carol met a nice dog, with tag that read – My name is Lola. A little further down is our favorite snack shop with with both sodas and wine. As always, we joke with Guadalupe and Juan, the husband and wife that own and operate it – one floor down from their home.

I notice as we got to Casa Liza, A car left in front was “bombed” by the snowy egrets overhead. Decided to relax and read a bit from the wonderful collection of books left in this room by the owner – Liza Kisber. As with most days – a beautiful sunset just outside our balcony.

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Adios – don Mariano

SMA Day 28 of 32 - Thursday April 15 2010 – I Feel Good or God?

From Day 28 of 32 SMA

Saw this metalwork handicraft at the restaurant today. I thought about it and know that James Brown is still probably doing shows “wherever” he is :-)

Did my usual – church with Fray Jose @ Chaplo Santa Cruz. Then some photos as I return back to Casa Liza. Saw a beautiful moth on the stairway. First I thought it a bat trying to hide from the sun. Instead, as I got closer, saw it a moth with big eyes on the wings. Then checked out a pigeon who was hiding from the sun on the bells above the Casa Cultura where art and dance classes take place. In a few more minutes bells will chime and bet the pigeon will quickly exit this noisy place.

As I get down the next flight of stairs, see Fray Jose being helped back to his house down the block. Even with the cane, he is there most days.

Down the steep hill and I am “home” - Casa Liza B&B – 7 Del Chorro – the place where a dog located water for the first village in 1542. I check out the balcony of our room seeing if the snowy egrets have made a nest somewhere on the wall – nothing found. For breakfast, a delicious omelet made by Margarita. Our usual cook, Gloria has the day off. As most mornings, eat outside and am joined by butterflies and hummingbirds flitting around the garden.

From there, off to pick up our laundry. Decided to try another route a few blocks away from usual. Carol finds a home furnishing shop that specializes in items from Morocco and Turkey. The shop name is Inshala – Arabic for God Willing. Have been hearing the word much more because of a book I read – 3 Cups of Tea about Greg Mortinsen. The story is about his rescue by a small village in Pakistan after he became ill and disoriented after climbing K2, the second highest peak in the world, next to Mount Everest.

The story tells of his promise to help the villagers build a school to repay their kindness. Although the village is 700 years old, no school for the children because of its remoteness.

I won’t give the rest of the story away, but will say he has been very successful. He has helped the villagers build 400 schools over the past 15 years.

As we look at items in the shop, start to talk with the lady who is trying to help us. Find out that MariJo has lived in Michigan near us and decided to come to SMA about 5 years ago. As with the many other new friends, am glad to have the opportunity to share stories and experiences.

Next stop before laundry is the library – The Biblioteca. First talk with 2 wonderful ladies in the gift shop; Emma and Leona. I am try to donate a book about Diego Rivera I have at home. They give me some options to make sure it gets to the right place. Next, a stop in the Biblio Café Santa Ana. Meet our usual staff friends, Giovanni and his brother Fernando. We exchange some e-mail info so they can see this blog. Luckily, we have Google translation that allows me to take the English version and quickly make a link that makes it in Spanish – 2 kewl.

Finally , get our clean clothes and head back. As with most “trips, several stops along the way to meet friends and exchange – what’s new with you stuff. As we pass the grade school, notice it is lunch recess and the kids are leaving for lunch or buying goodies from the happy vendors outside.

We almost get to Casa Liza and stop for cold drinks and see Evelyn, a neighbor from a few doors down. We met her a couple days ago while she was sweeping up some broken glass in the street.

After dropping off things in our room decide at 3 pm, time for some late lunch. I pick El Pegaso since I want a fish taco. Carol gets a Nacho. Finish it all off with yummy chocolate covered cheese cake.

Time to people watch, so go a few blocks to Jardin – the park in the city center. Always something new. Mostly people wanting to get photos of the parish church, The Parrochia. The pink colored sandstone spires are the highest building around.

On the way back, check out the tree trimming at San Francisco church plaza that was started yesterday. Wow to think all cut by hand with manual clippers. The do the flat top by trimming top edge first, then lay a ladder on top for support and work way into center.

Get back to room in time to watch another beautiful sunset :-)

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Adios – don Mariano

SMA Day 29 of 32 - Friday April 16 2010 – How do you spell Fiesta?

I would say; f-u-n. Others here might say; S-a-n-M-i-g-u-e-l

We came here two years ago because we heard from a friend, George O. Jackson, that San Miguel de Allende is the city of festivals; both sacred and profane.

We came four weeks ago to experience the sacred festival – Semana Santa – the holy period during Jesus’ passion on the cross and resurrection. The events lasted over two and a half weeks. Like the resurrection, the season of Spring is a time of renewal. Fragrant flowers bloom and fill the air with sweet smells. For me, the sweet smell is pan dulce – sweet bread.

Carol & I started the day with a walk up our side street – del Chorro. It climbs nearly straight up from washer-woman plaza, up to Real Queretaro. The road to the city of Queretaro about 40 miles away. A few weeks back, I said it was like climbing a ladder with 500 rungs. Come to find out it is “only” 327 very steep stairs!

We meandered about looking at everything that will be just a dream or photo in a few days – people, places and the blooming beauty. By the time we are back in Michigan, it should be time to get plants of our own in the ground and enjoy some of this all over again.

As the day came to the dusk period, thought maybe I would walk outside to enjoy the sunset. I find in the washer-woman plaza a 10 piece colonially dressed band ready for? First I thought it a wedding, since several have happened at the Casa Sierra Nevada facility adjacent to the plaza. Come to find out is is another of the festivals – forgot the name, but not the fun. The burro has two backpacks filled with wine bottles. One man is designated as the sommelier and keeps everyone in the group, glass filled with libation.

About 50 of us joined the 5 neighborhood parade to the city center Jardin. Once there, found even more events going on. In front of the big pink parish church – The Parrochia – there were about 200 people doing the “Zumba.” A dance-exercise event lead by a person trained in the “special” moves to work the body and make you smile. I’ll try to get an internet connection long enough to upload a video to show this. From mambos to Irish step dancing – 2 kewl.

Once that finished, there were about 5 mariachi bands stationed around the corners of the Jardin. All trying to compete for your attention. Needless to say, it drew a crowd of thousand to celebrate what else – Friday! TGIF fiesta?

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Adios – don Mariano

SMA Day 30 of 32 - Saturday April 17 2010 – You never take a bad photo in San Miguel

“You never take a bad photo in San Miguel” is a quote I heard from Bill, a new friend, the other day. Guess he never looked at some of mine. Out of focus. Blurry from too slow a shutter speed. Over or under exposure; etc.. All that considered, I will say the sunsets are spectacular. I feel like if I take enough photos, maybe one will turn out good. Maybe not great enough for a magazine, but OK for me and my mind’s eye.

So far the total image count is around 12,000. About 10% of those I have posted to the Picasa web albums. I have been fortunate enough to modify photos enough to still maintain some idea of what I saw and make file review speedy. For those 1,200 web photos, only about 30 megabytes uploaded – for me, that is great.

Speaking of great; another great breakfast. Many mornings, I asked for huevos – eggs. Sometimes I ask to help out with deciding just what ingredients go into the “creation. This morning it was huevos – Anjelica, named after Anjelica and family I added the photo of She is show with husband, Jose Luis and 2 children; Fernandina Louise and Angel. The next few photos show what goes on during feeding time. I just loved to see the new bread rising, getting ready for tomorrows servings. Those 3 loaves will last a few days. Later in the day, I got to smell the bread baking. Absolutely heavenly.

As I left the house, saw a dead baby snowy egret that had fallen from the many nests above. The birds migrated to the little park next to us from the lake about 3 miles away. Heard they came here because of the reduction of trees in that location. People were filling their needs, all but forgetting that God’s little creatures need the trees too.

Carol was just coming back from last-minute shopping. She bought herself a nice jade bracelet. Our conversation was shortened from all the horn honking. Seems like an ambulance had a engine-start problem while going uphill on a one way street. Glad they were not responding to an emergency :-)

From there, spotted this building a few times with several Star of David symbols. Decided to have a more detailed look. Found about 40 different animal carving to include; a pig, rabbit monkeys, rams and other assorted exotics. I could not find anyone who could offer a “reasonable” explanation as to what and why.

A few doors down, a “papiel” paper goods store and met a new friend; Horacio. Found out he is also a tour guide and said he has some trip that are not offered thru the Instituto Allende, we usually deal with. After 30+ minutes of discussing archeology, world history, languages and art, thought we needed to let him be about shop business :-)

From there, more meandering. First to Casa Maxwell shop. The Maxwell family came from US about 50 years ago, well before the mass migration from the north of the past 25 years. The Maxwell family was very interested in helping the local indigenous artisans sell their wares at a fair trade price. This effort continues yet today. We bought a few small items. Have started to run out of space in our luggage.

Next, across the street to La Europea – a wine store. Heard we could find some local Mexican wines. Most places only carry the Chilean or maybe some California vintages. Had some later in the day. Very good. Not too sweet for Carol and not too dry for me. Thinking of wine made me think – food, time to eat the second and last meal of the day.

On to El Pegaso, our regular stop. Checked out the many delicacies we have had during the past four weeks. Do we try something new or? Carol got her usual enchilada. Me, always take the special of the day. Today a sopa pozole – soup with meat and veggies. To that you add shredded lettuce, onions, radishes, oregano and dried chili peppers. Very good for our last meal there, since they are not open on Sunday – time for family they say. We get hugs from the staff:; Cesar, Fernanado, Bennie, Javier and Hugo. We will miss their greeting whenever we stop or even pass by. A smile and friendly wave go a long way.

A few more stops along the way to Casa Liza. Darla shop for maybe a nice pair of earrings? Maybe the Hell’s Angels “art” shop close to where we are at? We stop to say goodbye to Juan and Guadalupe our “sommeliers. Wave to Aldena as Casa Café where we might get café Americano with some sweet treat. I think, also need a drink to take back to room. So see Regina at snack shop just a few feet form Casa Liza.

Wow, here a month and have added about 80 names of new friends. How lucky we are.

Just after getting to room, hear the church bells ring the special “code” - 2 short rings and 30 rapid-fire rings. This signals that mass with start in 10 minutes. We walk up the steps stairs to find we are also part of a wedding! The interior is filled – only 80 seats, so pick the bench just outside the door. What a perfect spot. We are right in line with bride & groom and the altar. Everybody was dressed so nice. Later in the evening we could tell the celebration was in full swing. The fireworks that have been silent most of the week gets our attention. This is followed by a showers of brightly colored sparks dripping from the sky.

As with most days, another beautiful sunset. Maybe not the best photo, but still the best vision before closing eyes for the night.

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Adios – don Mariano

SMA Day 31 of 32 - Sunday April 18 2010 – Wow, how time flies :-)

We leave SMA tomorrow. Our ride to the airport arrives @ 4:30 a.m. So will make the best of today to fill in whatever missing things we think might need filling.

First thing is filling the stomach. Oops, almost forgot. First photo is of the fireworks from late wedding party I showed photos of yesterday. I am sure a good, no, maybe great time had by all.

Breakfast as usual is seeing who will “design” my huevos de dias – eggs of the day. I think they all want to participate to make sure I don’t forget these nice people. Gloria is at the stove mixing things up. Margarita is slicing the fresh baked bread. Anjelica is slicing tomatoes. Maria-2 is squeezing oranges for juice. Maria-1 is discussing making up our final bill. Later in the day we are presented with a bill for $8,000! Whoops that is pesos, not US greenbacks. Just how much is that you ask? Go to the currency exchange. Maybe then you can realize why we stayed here for 32 days with breakfast and many friends included. :-)

I noticed as I am reviewing the photos I uploaded to Picasa site that they are mixed up a bit after photo 10 at breakfast. It shows one of the two houses we visited on today art home tour from the library. I will try to reorder them when I get back to Michigan.

I will keep the words short today and get ready for sleep – need to be up @ 4 a.m.

The photos of the “unusual house was house #2 on the tour; Ranchito Cascabel. The handout description read: “Tim Sullivan’s sculptural concrete home away from home, known to locals as Timmylandia is a sight for sore eyes.” I’ll add more detail later. I think more like something that reminds of you of the drawings in an Alice In Wonderland book. Or, you can go to website: http://flyingconcrete.com/tims.htm

Enjoy the photos. Will write more once we settle in back in Michigan :-)

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Adios – don Mariano

SMA Day 32 of 32 - Monday April 19 2010 – Oow, it’s 4 a.m. And time to say adios :-(

Antonio, our driver for the 90 minute ride to Leon Airport (BJX) was here promptly @ 4:30.   We had a nice chat all the way there talking about how nice a ride it is at that time of the day – no traffic.  Only worry is seeing, or worse yet, not seeing a stray dark colored burro, horse or cow on the road.  Luckily, only had one who was grazing on the side, not meandering in the middle of the road.

This time, no problem with our Aero México Connect flight to Mexico City.  On the trip to Leon, we were “evicted” from the plane.  Were told – although you have a seat pass for the flight, your e-ticket is not valid.  After a few hours of “evaluation” were allowed to board a flight about 4 hours later.  This made our airport stay about 10 hours.  Not too bad considering what I know others have had under situations, like weather and such.

Flight was nice and clear most of the way and got to see the variety of Mexico mountains and farmlands.  Just as beautiful from the air as it was walking around on the ground.  Got a small snack along the way, but found we were able to get a burger and mango smoothie later in Chili’s restaurant.  Looked around the cabin and saw people doing their usual games on handheld devices or watching movies on laptop computers.

Flight out of Mexico was on time and a smooth ride all the way to Detroit.  Made another new friend, Rudy, who sat across the aisle.  We were discussing some of the news from the newspaper made available from flight attendant – The News.  Published in Mexico City but worldwide in news coverage.  Very good. Rudy and his wife were just returning from a short stay on the coast.  Yes, the beaches are nice, but loved the weather and plants we could see at 6,500 feet altitude in SMA.

Got home after son, Chris, picked us up.  Decided though, maybe a stop at Antonio's restaurant for pizza was a nice end to the trip.  Although I snapped a photo of the sunset here, not the same as we left behind in Mexico.

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Adios – don Mariano

SMA Day 33 of 32 - Tuesday April 20 2010 – Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like...?

Spring has sprung here.  Yes, flowers are abundant, but still appreciate all the fragrances of the exotic jacaranda, honeysuckle and bougainvillea of Mexico.  For us it is the flowering crabapple, white and pink dogwood and a variety of ground plants.  How lucky we are to have an extended viewing of all these beauties.

No breakfast from Gloria today.  Instead, cook today, unknown, at Leon’s restaurant.  Got our fill of food, but not of stories and laughs that helped start our day.

Next stop – groceries.  Time to fill the shelves that were left empty on our departure.  As soon as I enter the Kroger’s food store notice a sign with specials.  One shows bagged tortilla chips.  Nope, not as good as we had fresh in San Miguel.  We’ll probably make many comparisons over the next weeks. Special price but not special taste and memories.



You might want to check out comments by other visitors who were on a 4 year "road trip" and spent months traveling through Mexico.  dare2go's America trip from start in Los Angeles to finish in Buenos Aires:


http://www.dare2go.com/mexico01/mx04-1.shtml


Enjoy each day is it were...  The best!

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Adios – don Mariano