A Happy Tail

Last Sunday, on a typical balmy late Spring evening in San Miguel de Allende, we walked down from the mesa where we live and stopped at our local Southeast Asian restaurant for dinner and drinks. OKO Noodle bar has outdoor seating with four tables placed apart and we grabbed the last one. Our waiter arrived and we ordered from their eclectic drink menu - a ginger margarita for me and a lychee pomegranate martini for mi esposo. Our neighbors included a table with a Mexican couple and their shaggy terrier mixed-breed doggie, two men next to them that we learned later were a cousin and a brother, and closer to us, a table with four young Anglo women. Like the French, Mexicans are quite indulgent (and affectionate) about having dogs in their dining patios and we noticed a tan, short-haired Golden Retriever mix wandering between the tables looking for scraps and an ear scratch. We had seen her in this mall before, a street dog with no collar or ID.

Sadly, SMA has an overabundance of street dogs that either grew up feral or were abandoned by their owners. They tend to fall into one of three categories: scary wild dogs that can stalk your own pooch when you are out for a walk; shy dogs that will follow but are afraid to get too close; and sweet dogs that are apparently looking for a friend. We have run into all three types but the mix wandering among the tables, who we nicknamed “Blondie”, was definitely a sweetie.

No sooner had we started noticing Blondie than one of the brothers began rubbing her tummy. Our dog, Molly will do just about anything for a tummy rub, and Blondie seemed to possess the same personality. We noticed one of the young women approach Blondie and speak fluent Spanish to the brother. It seemed she was inquiring as to her ownership. We suggested that she should adopt Blondie, and she told us that was her intention! Surprise! She had apparently just moved to a new apartment with a backyard and a balcony and was ready to adopt a stray. She had not expected to get one with dinner.

Everyone was very happy, especially Blondie, and as they paid their bill the four women and the brother brought her over to their car. You could see she liked the idea of her new partner in life. The picture below shows the brother holding Blondie as a treat is offered to help her into the automobile cargo area. What a happy tail!

Trip to Puebla and Cholula, Part 2

On Thursday morning we left for the city of Cholula which is now pretty much a suburb of Puebla.  On the way we stopped at two churches, the most spectacular being the Templo de San Francisco Acatepec.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_San_Francisco_Acatepec  It was decorated between 1650 and 1750 by the Poblano pottery craftsmen who covered its entire façade with handmade ceramic pieces, primarily Poblano Talavera, and red brick.  (Click on photos for larger versions.)

The inside was another masterpiece of Mexican Baroque decoration.  The Golden Altarpiece is marvelous.

Part of the steps have
been excavated

Next we went on to the Great Pyramid of Cholula, also called Tiachihualtepetl.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Cholula The complex is massive and the pyramid is the largest by volume in the world. Interestingly, most of it is below ground, and for a small fee, you can walk through the narrow, low tunnels, something that was hard on my tall husband's back. You can also climb up the pyramid to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies.  

Because it was the Christmas season, there
was a creche set up inside.  The tradition is
that the Baby Jesus is not put into the cradle 
until Christmas eve.

After exploring the pyramid complex, we were hungry and stumbled upon a nice restaurant where we indulged in some alcoholic beverages, and I had a delicious Enchiladas Suizas.

Trip to Puebla, December 17-20, 2019, Part 1

For our first excursion outside of San Miguel, we went on a trip to Puebla and Cholula organized by the local Lions Club. It was a great experience, and I have finally edited the photos.  Since they were taken with my iPhone instead of my good camera, please excuse the quality. (Click on the photos for much larger views.)

Our Talavera vase

It was close to a five hour drive, but we were comfortable on the first-class bus which was only two-thirds full.  Our fellow travelers were friendly, and we enjoyed meeting them at the BYO cocktail party after we arrived at the hotel.  The Hotel Colonial was delightful and perfectly located in the historic center within walking distance of all the major sights including the large Zócalo, the central plaza. Puebla was named a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is known for its variety of architectural styles ranging from
Renaissance to Mexican Baroque.  It is also famous for mole poblano, chiles en nogada and Talavera pottery, and we managed to sample all three.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puebla_(city)

View of Popocatépetl from hotel roof

One of the fun things about our hotel was its view of Popocatépetl which was smoking and actually erupted the following month.  The YouTube video is quite dramatic.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utLSZNb8H_4

We spent all day on the 18th walking around the city and visiting the major sites.  One of my favorite places was the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, founded in 1646 with its beautiful old wood bookcases and pretty tile floor.  It is considered the first public library on the American continent and UNESCO named it a "Memory of the World" as one of the most important places to safeguard the written memory of humanity.

Library floor

The Museo de la Revolución was fascinating.  It was a private home and is still set up that way with furniture from the period, but you can see the bullet holes from the gun battle that resulted in the deaths of the owners.  This event is regarded as the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, November 18, 1910.  https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_de_la_Revoluci%C3%B3n_Mexicana_(Puebla)

One of the absolute "must see" places in Puebla is La Capilla del Rosario, the Rosary Chapel inside the Templo de Santo Domingo.  The plain gray facade of the church gives no clue to the magnificent sights inside.  The main part of the church is beautiful and the altarpiece is fabulous, but the Rosary Chapel is considered to be an astonishing example of hispanic baroque and is one of the greatest artistic/religious creations in Mexico.  It really was breathtaking.

Nave

Altarpiece

The Rosary Chapel

A sad sight

This is our wonderful town square, the Jardin, viewed from a live webcam on Wednesday, May 13th at noon.  Normally on a pretty day, this area in front of the famous Parroquia church is a vibrant place packed with visitors and locals enjoying the ambiance.  There is often music and street vendors selling hats, toys for the kids, and a variety of trinkets.  The garden on the right is always filled with people sitting on benches under the trees and chatting with friends.  Most of the major holiday celebrations take place in this spot including incredible fireworks displays.  We hope the pandemic will pass soon so our lovely city can get back to normal.

Jacaranda trees

Jacarandas are my favorite tree, and San Miguel is full of them.  The purple color is spectacular.  Here are some iPhone shots from a walk into Centro in March.

They do shed their colorful blossoms

Quality time in the bathroom

I've been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately.  No, it is not Montezuma's revenge.  I converted the bathroom next to my office into a sewing room, and I've been stitching masks to donate to healthcare workers and poor people.

Sandy dust in my house

I anticipated various problems before we moved to San Miguel, but high winds and sand in my house were not among them.  We are on a low mesa on the outskirts of town and the wind can be amazingly strong here.  Some of the cushions from the furniture on our rooftop terrace kept ending up down in the empty lot next door, and the furniture itself gets blown across the roof.  One of the tall cacti we have up there was knocked over and the pot broken.

But the thing that really bothers me is the "dust" from the three housing construction zones next to us.  All of the vegetation from the three projects has been removed leaving the bare, sandy soil to blow about in the wind.  Sometimes the dust in the air is so think it looks as if it is raining, and nothing we do seems to keep it out of the house.  Every surface - furniture, floors, rugs - gets covered with white, gritty sand, and it accumulates so quickly I can't keep up with it.  I'm not a picky housekeeper, but this is getting me down.  Here is the top of the buffet about four days after it was thoroughly dusted.