Miercoles en San Miguel

Our plan to visit Guanajuato today has been postponed, as one of our group isn´t feeling up to par. This gives us a chance to do some laundry, catch up on post-election news, browse the internet, and do other things here in San Miguel.

The picture shown is of Carmello and me with the great mirror frame he created for me. It won´t fit in my carry-on, so we will be visiting the nearby shipping office.

Yesterday was a special day for me. On Halloween night I sat with the family of Juan and Christina, and their mother invited me to visit their home. Juan met me at the Jardin and we took a taxi. We could have gone by bus, but I could tell the chance to ride in a taxi represented something special to him. I knew he lived out a way from the main city, but was surprised at just how far out it was.

The second photo shows kids holding pictures of Frank and me from last year

The taxi took us onto bumpy dirt roads, through very poor neighborhoods, and finally to some sparsely populated cinder block compounds. But the view and open air were lovely. The room I visited had two beds, a night stand, a table top hot plate, and a refrigerator, which appeared to serve as storage for clothing. I am not sure if their home also includes some of the other buildings, but at the moment there were 2 women and eight children, all under the age of 10. But, oh, the smiles, love, and happiness in that room! They showed me family photos, we sang and played some silly games (do you remember Button, Button, Who´s Got the Button? We played it with a small wrapped candy.) I recorded them singing me some songs in Spanish, and we took lots of photos. Finally it was time to go, and Juan, Christina, and I walked to the bus stop. It was on the bus that I realized I didn´t have my cell phone. We returned to the house to look, but couldn´t find it. It may have slipped out of my pocket in the taxi. With over 600 taxis in town and no main office or lost and found, I guess it is a goner. But I realize it is a small thing, compared to so many problems and crises people face everywhere. Seeing the family in their home makes me realize once again how blessed and fortunate most of us Americans are.

Back in town the kids and I had lunch, and they weren´t too shy to order huge milk shakes with their meal. They then said something about crayons and tablets, so we visited a store and bought spiral notebooks and sets of colored pencils. Those kinds of things are rather pricey here, so this made them happy. They were angling for 2 notebooks each, but at $3 each I had to say no.

They returned to school today, after the 5 day holiday around the Day of the Dead, so I should be able to hang onto some money! :)

We went to a nice restaurant for dinner last evening, but we all agreed the large group of arrogant Americans talking loudly really were a distraction. We don´t want to hear their comments and boasting, but would prefer the quiet interaction of the Mexicans, trying to pick out the few words in Spanish we can understand.

We´re going to head up the hill for the steep climb to El Mirador, the best viewpoint for seeing the entire city. If you didn´t receive the link to my previous blog, you can continue below to view older postings.

Hasta luego, amigos.

Gayle and las gringas