Sunday in San Miguel
Saturday was a blur of plane flights, immigration lines and a long bus ride. Sunday was relaxation and walking. Our B&K (Bed and Kitchen) is very typical for cities in Mexico’s central highlands. It is rectangular-ish in shape with rooms on either side of a central courtyard. All walls facing the courtyard are windows and doors with metal frames and lots of glass. The kitchen, laundry area and bathrooms are on one side, the bedrooms on the other. The court yard is full of trees and vines. Bouganvilla, avocado, lime. Butterflies and birds frequent. Yesterday I saw sparrows, grackles and some form of Flicker that I have yet to identify. Possibly the typical Northern Flicker, possibly a different species. It seemed to have more orange on the head than I remember.
We had breakfast on the square at the main Jardin. Dixie had huevos mexicanos and I had huevos especialidades rincon (basically, the house special). The eggs had some sort of sauce which seemed to be mole with a seafood taste, perhaps mussels or something like that. Sometimes it’s good if you don’t quite understand what you ordered. While we were eating, and indeed any time we have been in that part of town, we were approached by panhandlers. I guess it is one of those things we thought was more common to American cities, but it is prevalent here as well. The one difference I can see is that it appears to be the indigenous population (Mestizo? not sure) that predominates. Some sit in one spot and sell dried flowers and other crafts. These seem to be operating more like a business, something I would expect to find here. The others wander around dressed in traditional garb and carrying a plastic bag slung over their shoulder full of cloth dolls. I didn’t look too closely as I have developed an aversion to panhandlers in general and a technique which involves not looking them in the eye and quickly rebuffing them if they approach and especially if they actually tap you on the shoulder. These women approach, say something unintelligible and show you three or four of these dolls which they clutch in one arm. There was also a child who would tug on your sleeve and make a sad face while extending her empty palm. The only time I saw someone give her some money was when one gringo apparently gave her a quarter. She looked at it as if contemplating whether or not to bite down on it. She was probably wondering if the two pesos she could possibly get for it was worth the trouble.
These panhandlers would wander in and out of crowds and restaurants. I watched to see the response from locals and other Mexicans. If anything they were more abrupt than I, wagging a finger and grunting “No!” without even looking at them. I felt somewhat better, but I’m still wondering if I should invest in a doll. At first glance they appeared to be very cheap and possibly mass-produced as opposed to any sort of ‘folk’ art, but I may select one any way.
We walked around a lot yesterday. We explored Parque Juarez twice. The second time we brought binoculars and my teleconverter in order to better identify some birds we saw the first time around. We also met some fellow norteamericanos from Oregon who pointed us to a nearby park where we found a winding road coming down a hill from a very old church. It was interesting, but not as interesting as they had made it sound. I think they also mentioned a large area full of cactus which we never found.
We also explored some side streets and alleys. We found one ritzy part of town with huge mansions. The gringo areas are what would pass for middle-income homes in the states, primarily purchased by retirees and located in enclosed subdivisions. These are the same people who compile lists of items they wish they had access to and then present them to the local grocery store managers. But these mansions in town go to rich gringos and Mexicans alike. We passed one real estate store with pictures and prices on the window. A few can be had for a mere $350,000 but you can pay over one million if that is more to your liking.
After all the hiking we came back to our room for a siesta and a shower. I was a bit surprised by how hot it felt. I had expected less heat based on the forecast. I checked the weather and it said the current temperature was 73. I’m sure it was hotter than that, but perhaps being farther south and at a higher elevation maded it *feel* hotter. By 5:00pm the courtyard began to cool and I downloaded photos and video to the hard drive. We finally made it out for dinner and found many of the hole-in-the-wall places closed. We had intended to check near our casita first and then take a taxi to downtown if we found nothing. Instead we tried to find a few places just one ‘block’ off the main street and ended up finding where all the locals hang out. I thought of walking into their little plaza and getting in line for food but I would have felt very conspicuously out of place. By this time we were near the Jardin, so we missed out on yet another opportunity to take a taxi and save our feet. We kept going and sat down at the cafe where we had eaten breakfast that morning. The waiter kindly informed us that they were cerrado for the day. It was 8:50pm, they closed at nine.
This left us with no choice but to eat something from one of the many vendor carts around town. If we were in New York City we wouldn’t have hesitated, but supposedly even the locals don’t drink tap water down here and that is likely what the vendors use. We felt brave yesterday afternoon when we got ice cream from one. We were relieved when there had been no ‘eruption’ of turistas by afternoon. But now we were giving in. It was all-or-nothing time. We shared a large corn on the cob which had been slathered in mayonnaise and coated in cheese and chile powder. We then walked back to the casita, looking for a vendor with something besides hamburger or fried pork to eat. About half-way home we found a popular vendor cart who was having difficulty keeping up with the orders. We ended up with six small tortillas filled with chorizo topped with onions and chorizo for about $3.50. A perfectly delicious last meal for the day.
As we walked on from there we began seeing flashes of light in the sky. My first thought was fireworks, but I quickly determined that it was lightning. We stopped for a soft drink and a couple of cigars at a convenience store and as Dixie read in bed I prepared to enjoy my cigar in the courtyard. As I started to sit down the first drops of rain began to fall. But I was determined. I waited out the storm and then sat on a vinyl placemat covering a soggy seat cushion, leaning in to avoid water dripping off of the umbrella. I had my cigar. Then I went to bed and slept the sleep of the undead.
In case you are wondering, the following is what you would be reading if Dixie were writing this journal. This is her report from yesterday:
“We walked. We walked on cobblestones. We walked some more. We were hungry, but we kept on walking. We had ice cream twice. “
Pictures, videos, etc. to follow!
3 years ago