The Resurrection - Mexican Style

Last night I watched an amazing celebration at the San Antonio Church. The plaza in front of the church is large and it was full with families who came prepared with stools for the elders to sit on or for the Mom's who were holding little ones. Around the edges there were vendors selling fast food and others selling candles of all sizes.

When we first arrived the music and prayers sounded solemn like many of the Semana Santa services and processions that I have seen in the last week but suddenly fireworks erupted from the roof and the bell towers of the church.

 

 

Up from the grave he arose;

with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;

he arose a victor from the dark domain,

and he lives forever,

with the saints to reign.

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah!

Christ arose!  

 

 

 Christ appeared with his arms outstretched and his white shroud loosened and flowing from his body. He was carried on a pallet covered in flowers through the plaza above the heads of the crowd. White balloons soared into the night sky, confetti drifted from the roof of the church as more and more fireworks lit up the sky. The music changed from solemn to snappy contemporary rhythms and everyone was singing and waving white pompoms. On the terrace of the church the priest was leading by waving a pompom and jumping up and down. A young man by the priest was like a cheerleader urging the crowd on.

 

We watched this joyful celebration for about 30 minutes and it was still going on when we left the plaza. It was the most joyous and beautiful religious ceremony I think I've ever been to.

 

 

 

 

Dancing in the Jardin

This past weekend was the San Miguel Festival. If you read other SMA blogs or if you are on FaceBook and know anyone in SMA, I'm sure you have seen some incredible photographs of the fireworks, the procession and the Indian dancers. I have made pictures before of the Indian dancers but this time I'm going to show you something else that went on....some different dancers. There was a band in the Jardin and in front of the band were people dancing and having so much fun.



Every time the band would stop, the dancers would clap and call for more.

I love the Festival but I also like to go sit somewhere in the Jardin and look for what is happening that isn't part of the planned festivities.

Weatherproof

The end of the rainy season should be arriving but so far it isn't here. That is okay. We are high desert and we can always use the rain. Especially the rain we have been getting. Mostly a good steady rain for a few hours not monsoon rains that sometimes come. I'm sure the farmers are happy with it.

It is just that it has been so unpredictable. You can look out the window and see sunshine and shadows and by the time you have finished the dishes, dressed and opened the front door, you see rolling clouds and rain to the North in the mountains. Or it could be just the opposite. Rain. So you decide to start a project instead of going out to photograph. Once you are in the middle of the project you look out again and the weather is beautiful…..but you are in the middle of a project and can't stop.

That is the way it has been this weekend with the San Miguel Festival going on. I went into town on Saturday to photography the first communion kids in front of the Parroquia and to wait around for the horses to come in to be blessed although I didn't know exactly what time that would be. When I left the house the weather looked fine. I didn't even take an umbrella with me but the clouds quickly rolled in and it started to rain. I bought an ice cream and waited under cover for quite a while. Finally I decided that I might as well go home because it looked like it had set in for the afternoon. I took this photography while walking home.

When I started walking in the rain I made the attempt to keep the camera covered then I remembered that Olympus claims the OMD and the lens I had on it are weatherproof. Yesterday was the first time I've given my Olympus camera the water test. The camera is still working today so I guess Olympus is right. It is at least rain proof.

Out on the Town

It has been a busy week. I bought an extension ladder and started the change to LED track lighting, may have figured out how to get money into my Mexican account and helped Mujeres en Cambio by shooting portraits of the University Students. None of those things are minor events. If I had time I could write a blog essay about each of them.

I have also been out to dinner three nights. Last night dinner was at Mi Casa at the Instituto. Mi Casa is a fairly small, intimate restaurant. You needed reservations and the place was packed because Doc Severinsen, Gil Gutierrez and Gabriel Hernandez were performing.

I always think of Doc as a Big Star on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and yet here I was sitting about 15 feet from him in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. But next month he could be playing with an orchestra in a concert hall in Chicago. Why would he play in this little restaurant for very little money. The cover change was only $120 pesos/person. That is like $10/person. Why?  He lives part time in San Miguel. It is obvious that he has bonded with the other musicians in the group and they are world class musicians from Mexico and Cuba. But most of all, I think he just loves music and he needs to perform.

There were people sitting in front of me so I had to shoot the video through the side door. The sound isn't as good as I would like. I still haven't learned how to edit video so you might want to skip over to about the 45 second mark.

I am so lucky to live here. Wonderful friends, beautiful town, amazing cultural opportunities.

Doc Severinsen, Gil Gutierrez and Garbriel Hernandez - Amazing Concert

Okay, so the video is crap. My excuse is that I'm sitting in the middle of the Angela Peralta Theatre, in the middle of the row, in a FULL house, with an iPhone. I can't get up and move closer but I wanted you to know that Doc Severinsen may be 87 years old but that doesn't stop him from blowing that horn. Just listen to the Audio. 

 

Last night the concert was amazing. It could have been in Carnegie Hall. But it was here in San Miguel de Allende at a very moderate cost to hear world class musicians. At least half of the musicians, 12 in all, were from Cuba. I've seen Gabriel Hernandez with Gil Gutierrez before. Gabriel was on the piano and keyboard and he did the musical arrangements. He is so amazingly musical. A young violinist from Cuba, Alejandro Cervantes, was also amazing. Adriana Valdez  who won the San Miguel opera competition sang several songs. Her voice is amazing as well. I know I'm overusing amazing but it was a fabulous concert.

 

Mostly Doc Severinsen played a supporting role but when it was time for him to take the lead there was no doubt that he could still do it. What a joy music must be for him to continue to play and to keep meeting and playing with world class musicians, some of whom are less than half his age.   

 

While we were in the theatre there was a rain storm and it was still raining lightly when we got out. I was glad that I had a ride home because cabs would have been hard to come by since it was the weekend and just across the street from the theatre was a Blues/Jazz concert and it too was breaking up. So much to do in San Miguel. At any rate I got home safe and sound and went to bed with the rain on the window and the concert still playing in my head.

San Miguel's Police Force

Last week at the Locos Parade these policemen were stationed on Ancha de San Antonio near the start of the parade. Seeing their uniforms with pockets for equipment, bullet-proof vests, boots and communication gear reminded me of 2006 when we helped a friend after she had been assaulted. The police guys at that time were skinny young men who looked to be about 18 years old. They had pants and a shirt that said "Police." One of them had the stub of a pencil and one tiny piece of paper to write on but that was okay because his ability to spell and write were very elementary.

A lot has changed in eight years. Today, the policemen and women are men and women who look like they can handle themselves in confrontation. This was the first time I had seen them with dogs and these are some serious dogs. Shortly after I took this picture I saw them take the dogs over to a hotel and get a bucket of water for them. The next time I saw them, they had a man with his hands on the wall and his feet spread. Oh my God, I thought, what has he done. They frisked him and two of them were talking to him sternly. Then they stepped away, turned him away from the parade area and motioned for him to go. He staggered away. Oh, so somehow in the crowd they had seen him, figured he had been partying for too long so they sent him on his way and away from the families at the parade.

There are so many things in Mexico that are different from the US justice system and I'm not going to try to explain my understanding of those differences. However if I need the police, I am glad that they look like they have training, the ability to handle themselves and equipment. And I'm hopeful that the improvements will extend into all areas of the justice system.

Volkswagen in Mexico

Before four Volkswagen Beetles arrived in Mexico in 1954 for an exhibition featuring German industry, Mexicans mostly owned big imported American cars that carried big price tags. The small and less expensive Beetles caused quite a stir in the Mexico City exhibition and by 1961 a few hundred Volkswagens a year were being assembled in Mexico from kits shipped in from Germany.

In 1967 Volkswagen opened an auto plant in Puebla and started cranking out the little cars. After Germany cancelled production of the Beetle in Europe in 1978, Mexico exported the car to a number of European countries.

When we started coming to Mexico in the 80's there were a lot of Beetles on the street. Let me correct that because there was not anywhere near the density of cars on the street as we have now but the Beetle was a high percentage of them. Mexico City's taxis were mostly Beetles or as the Mexicans lovingly call them Vochos.

But all good things come to an end. Production of the Mexican Vocho ceased in 2003. But that doesn't mean they are gone. There is a Vocho that lives on the street behind me and it is still a working car.

I think this Vocho that I photographed was a 1993-1995 model because of the shape of the vents on the rear "hood." I'm sure some of you car guys can identify the exact model and year. How do you guys do that?

At any rate, this particular Beetle has seen better days and since it survived San Miguel's cobblestone streets for almost 20 years, it explains why Mexicans loved them.

I Feel Like I'm in Mexico

One of the things that I love, love, love about Mexico is eating in Patio restaurants. The first time we came to San Miguel in the 1980's we ate at two patio restaurants. Those two restaurants could have been what sold me on San Miguel.

The first was Bugambilia's which use to be on every tourist list of "Must Go To" restaurants. At that time it was on Hidalgo in a beautiful old patio. The food was good, the service was attentive and the lights were low. It was so romantic.

We stayed at the Sierra Nevada Hotel and they had a lovely patio. We had lunch there one day with our friends Pat and Tom. We ordered enchiladas and they served them on eight inch plates with straight one-inch- high sides with handles. Pat and I fell in love with the plates. The enchiladas were good but the plates were added to our shopping list. We found where they were sold in San Miguel and each bought six. We would have bought more but that was the total stock. Those "enchilada" plates were the first of my Gorky Gonzales collection of pottery.

The pictures in this blog entry were made last week in Casa Del Diezmo Restaurant at Jesus #36. It is another great patio. It is large and full of plants, hummingbird feeders, sculpture and little bubbling fountains. There is a long portico along one side. The food is Yucatecan and quite good. I had lunch there and I could have stayed all afternoon because I really felt like I was in "my" Mexico.

Waiting for a Haircut

Waiting is boring. Lots of people take along a book to read but when I take my camera I am not bored....not at all.

I was waiting on Jose Marin to cut my hair. I've been going to Jose for......mmm, maybe 10 years. He is great with color and cuts. He has become my friend. I always feel like I've gone to my neighborhood beauty shop. I nearly always run into someone I know when I go. If I haven't seen someone in a few weeks, Jose can probably tell me whether they are in town or not.

Nothing important to write about. I just like the red chair in the image and the reflection in the mirror in the background.

Personal Devotion

Some people have asked me about the magnificent churches I saw in Europe. Ahh, Notre Dame Cathedral, St Vitus Cathedral.....beautiful. Reading the guide books as I walk around and look at the stained glass, the saints, the altars. I'm amazed at the architecture.

Then I come home to San Miguel and walk into the church to the side of the Parroquia and I see this fire extinguisher next to a locked, battered offering box topped with hand-picked wild flowers stuck in a cut-off "Electrolit" plastic bottle. The light turquoise wall bears the scars of many years. I breathe in and hold it, afraid that something might move before I can take a picture.

This speaks to me of timelessness and personal devotion. Here is where I am moved to pray.

This Morning

Looking out the kitchen window at 10 o'clock this morning the mountains are still shrouded in a fog although the sun is shining in town. It is a beautiful morning, clear and cool. A soft rain last night left a wet footprint on the patio and the colors are vibrant. I love my little patio. It was one of the things I fell in love with the first time I saw this house.

There is something so special about the mornings in this house. One morning last week I woke up and looked though the tree foliage outside my bedroom window. The sky was a neon blue. Really, neon blue! Such an amazing color that I was afraid to move for fear it would disappear. I don't think I've ever seen that color in the morning sky before.

I have made breakfast, had coffee, read emails and now, a loaf of banana nut bread is in the oven. It is filling the kitchen with warmth and a wonderful smell that is so comforting.

It was just a week ago today that I returned to San Miguel and the return this September is so different this year than it was last year when I came back for the first time after Ned died. Then I wasn't sure if I would stay in San Miguel or not but within a week or two I was pretty sure that I would. This year there were not any questions in my mind about living here. I truly came home.

Every morning last week when I woke up, my soul was filled with peace and joy but it was not a shout-out-loud joy. It was more like a sense of being in the right place. I do not know what tomorrow will bring but I am so thankful for this moment; the smell of baking bread, my hands in warm soapy dishwater, the view out the kitchen window, the birds chirping away on the patio, Carly napping near by. I am blessed.

A Tasting Dinner

I joined friends and supporters for Feed The Hungry for a tasting dinner in the Moxi Restaurant at the Hotel Matilda. It is the first time I have been in the hotel since it was the Jacaranda. What a change. Very sleek and contemporary but still it felt like a comfortable space. Beautiful lighting and sparkling table settings. It was a lovely elegant evening.

I assume that Enrique Olvera the Chef and Owner of Pujol in Mexico City is still associated with Moxi/Matilda. The current Chef in residence is Alejandro Cuatepotzo.

There were six courses but I'm just showing you four of them. Clockwise from top left:

Tomato and Lettuce Salad from Purisima de Jalpa, worm salt.

 

Mixed vegetables and goat cheese wrapped in corn husks, grasshopper salsa.

 

Octopus "Veracruzana" style, Mexican salsa, olive sauce, coriander pesto.

 

Baby goat from "El Capricho" braised in agave paper, mashed mayflower beans, spiced rub.

 

I have to tell you that I'm finding some of that worm salt. We wondered if it was a typo for warm or if it really could be made from worms. Whatever it was we like the taste so I looked it up when I got home and sure enough it was "worm salt."  

 

I hear that Moxi has a very good Sunday Brunch. I'd like to try it.

 

Good food from taco stands to places like Moxi. Just finishing up a Film Festival and the Chamber Music Festival is about to start. This town is amazing.

The Rainy Season

Rain. Rain almost everyday. This is good. San Miguel doesn't get a lot of rain fall so having rain on most days during the rainy season is very important to all the farmers and ranchers who live in the countryside. It is wonderful to watch the hillsides turn green. If this keeps up we should have a beautiful show of flowers in the campo during September.

Earlier I posted a picture of a sudden rain while I was in the Jardin. But I've also awoken during the night to hear nice steady raindrops falling on the tile roof of the portico. Oh, so lovely to listen for a bit and drift back off to sleep. Or stand at the window of the studio and watch the clouds roll in from over the mountains, then see the first drops splat on the cobblestones of the street. And if I come back in about 10 minutes I'll see the rainwater rushing downhill on the street. If the rain is really hard, it almost cascades over the cobblestones just as it passes my house.

I found this ivy plant all dewy with rain drops on one of my walks. I just stood there looking and enjoying the luscious saturated greens. Then I spent about 10 minutes looking through the viewfinder to isolate little rectangles of green. It is funny how taking the time to see little details can make my soul so happy.

Carry Your Umbrella

Yesterday when I left my drawing class, the clouds were low overhead. Out on the sidewalk a few big drops were splashing down. By the time I was at the Jardin, it was a rain storm. I ducked under the portico along with the balloon and toy sellers and everyone else who had been in the plaza enjoying the late afternoon.

All I had was my iPhone but I pulled it out and made a few pictures of the torrents of rain. I saw these four brave women starting across the street and I made several shots of them. I like this one best because they were separated and their shadows added to the shot. I also like the special light that sometimes happens during a rain storm. When I looked at the image later I saw the boy just sitting in the rain over on the far right. That made me laugh. He could have come over to the portico and been out of the rain but no, he preferred to sit in the rain. I thought that the picture was pretty noisy but when I viewed it in Lightroom, it isn't digital noise. It is the torrential rain.

It was beautiful when I left for my class and I didn't carry my umbrella. This time of the year this is a reminder that I should always carry my umbrella.

Pickles

This post isn't just about pickles. It is about living in San Miguel.

But I will tell you about the pickles because they made me very happy today. Eleven years ago I couldn't find a pickle in any store in this town and if I went to Costco in Celaya or Queretaro I could find one gallon jars of sliced dill pickles but that was it. I used to bring pickles back to San Miguel when we drove back from Texas. Actually I brought back sacks and sacks of grocery items that I couldn't find around here. Here is what I wrote back in 2007 on Billieblog about bringing groceries down from Texas.

I have used up my stash of pickles and when I went into Bonanza today I found pickles. Pickle relish, Sweet Gherkins, Dill and Bread and Butter Chips in regular household sizes. They were a little pricey but since I'm not driving back and forth anymore and I want pickles and I don't want to can my own pickles, I'll just have to pay the price.

When I look back at the things I listed on the Grocery List in the link above, I realized that I can find most of those things here now or I've found some substitute. Feeling like I can cook American or Mexican with the products I can find in a store is a nice feeling.

But living in San Miguel is more than just being able to cook anything I want.

Today I was talking with my financial advisor who has vacationed in San Miguel. He was asking if I still felt safe. I told him that not only do I feel safe but I find that my life is very rich and rewarding. I told him about some of the cultural things going on here. If you don't read Babsblog, click on her post about all the things that are going on here in the next few weeks.

Besides the cultural events, I have lunch or dinner with friends several times a week. I'm in a drawing group and I'm about to start a drawing class. I'm learning to play Mah Jongg. I go to Yoga and to a cardio/weight class a couple of times a week. I'm working with a personal trainer one day a week as well as doing some cardio walking three or four days a week. I'm in an investment/social club. I have my photography and I meet up  with some other photographers about once a month just to talk about what we are doing. Yes, my life is full of activities but most of all is the blessing of having so many friends here.

When I try to think about going back to Houston I can imagine buying a high-rise condo and getting it furnished. I think about seeing my Houston friends and family more often but then my imagination runs out. What after that? Could I find things to replace the activities in San Miguel? And if I did, could I afford them? Would it be as easy to keep meeting new people and making new friends? I don't think so.

And so, with each day that passes, I become more sure of my decision to stay in San Miguel. Although I do realize that there are things that could change that decision, they are just too terrible for me to worry about. I'll just stay in the moment and keep on being excited about pickles showing up on the grocery shelves. Now if Bonanza could just get in refrigerated horseradish.....that would be another red letter day.

My Internet Was Down

Today there was a segment on Sunday Morning News about our dependency on Smart Phones and Tablets. Some people even say they are addicted to staying in touch all of the time and become anxious and depressed when they can't. I can relate to that feeling. This past week I was without Internet for four days. That means that I could not get email, I could not do searches, my Vonage phone did not work. I was totally out of touch with my family. This week there were reasons that I really, really needed to be in touch. Sooo, I was anxious, depressed and angry.

The Internet being out reminded me why it is hard to live here. I can put up with the bells, the roosters, the noise in the hood, the shopping challenges but doing business in Mexico seems terribly complicated and customer service is so far from the US model that it is hard to recognize that it exists.

You can't call the cable company and tell them that your cable is out. Oh, there are phone numbers but no one ever, ever answers. The only way to let them know is to go there, take a number and wait in line. I estimate that the cable company is about 3/4 of a mile away from my casa. I walked there, took my number, waited and reported that my cable was out. They told me that they would check it out in the office and call me in the afternoon if they needed to come to my house the next day. It was two days later when the cable guy showed up at the door but the Internet had started working about 30 minutes before he knocked. He told me it was a system problem but he checked out my modem anyway.

I was ready to switch to TelMex for the Internet and I still may. Some people I know have both MegaCable and TelMex because they do business via the net and they can't be down for several days at a time.

All of this just points out how dependent we have become on technology. When we first started coming to San Miguel there wasn't such a thing as Vonage phones or MagicJack or Skype. And the Internet was slow and not dependable at all. No one had a cell phone of any kind much less a Smart Phone. In fact, it could take you a year to get a phone line in your house. Here we are 12 or 13 years later able to connect with the world. And we expect that technology to be available all of the time or we start to have withdrawal. I think it is stuff like this in San Miguel that just snowballs for some people until they decide to head North. I wasn't a happy camper last week but I'm not heading North.

The image is of shadows on the terrace. I have a new photo toy I'll tell you about in another post.

Contentment on A Saturday Morning

Fruit Vendor in the Jardin - March 2013

In the distance roosters crowing

Patio birds chirping merrily

Cool, quiet house

Carly curled on blanket

Breakfast...bisquits, bacon and eggs

John's homemade blueberry jam
Delightful

Saturday morning

Not leaving the house

Organic market, not today

Piddle with ideas

Photos, drawing, writing
Satisfaction

Cyber travel

Artist's journal websites

Mexico City to New York City

Email connections with friends

Photos from Gary in London

Connected to the world

Enjoyment



Friday of Sorrows

Tonight I photographed some of the Viernes de Dolores altars in my Colonia. If you would like to see some more of the images click here to go to the gallery.

Gaudi

Do you think it possible that Gaudi visited San Miguel de Allende?

A Sleeping Pill

I think I'm doing good. Everyone else seems to think I'm doing good but sometimes, I'm not. I think from now to July I'm going to have some hard days.

The memories of the last times we did something together are so vivid. It is like it is double etched in my brain. The memory is beautiful but it reinforces the loss of never having another day like it with Ned.

The first Friday in March is the day of El Señor of the Conquest. Last year as many other years, Ned and I went into town. We had dinner at Brasserie and I wrote about it here. I can remember the exact table we sat at in Brasserie. The flowers in the fountain. The concheros walking toward us on the street as we came out of the restaurant. The bench we sat on eating ice cream. This year that video was playing in my head, over and over in a loop. When I went to bed, I couldn't read a book. All I could do was toss and turn. Finally at 12:30 I got up and took a sleeping pill. I don't take one very often but ocassionally they are a blessing.