A Nice Week In San Miguel

Helping to cook

 Larry has been pretty regular in attending his Spanish conversation class (five days a week for one hour), and has really enjoyed it.  His fellow classmates have changed over time, but his teacher, Marco, has been the constant.

The class is pretty free form and unstructured, but is usually fun and it has helped to improve his Spanish. Marco really enjoys eating out and sharing favorite restaurants with his students, and he always makes sure to invite spouses, friends, and others from the school.

Folks at the party

Last Friday, Marco organized a trip to a new bar/restaurant a few minutes outside of town--a botanero, something akin to a Spanish tapas restaurant.  One of his Mexican students, Susie, works at the restaurant.  What a fun experience.  We were the only clients, but everyone at the restaurant made us feel most welcome, including Paco, the owner, and his right hand man (and Susie's husband), Sergio.

Paco, Sergio and other partiers

We were treated to a special house tequila and chaser upon our arrival, and then all who wished were invited to the help in the kitchen with the preparation of the chiles en nogades, a traditional Mexican dish of stuffed poblano chiles, smothered in cream sauce and topped with pomegranate seeds...a close to two hour operation, but worth the wait. While we waited for the chiles, we were served with two different caldos or soups, chicharron (pork rinds) with salsa and more beer, wine and water (can't take too much afternoon alcohol).

Our English language students

After the the meal, Paco and Sergio who also sing and play in a mariachi band, feted us with traditional Mexican ballads, accompanied by the karaoke jukebox. Our Mexican colleagues often sang along with them.

A few of us also felt comfortable dancing along with the music as well, but come three o'clock, we had to leave to get back to town as we had to be ready for our English class at 4:00, which meets every Monday, Wednesday & Friday afternoon.

We have so enjoyed this class; our lack of teaching experience is evident in every class, but our students--both young people and more mature adults have been so much fun to teach and get to know. We laugh at their struggles with English and our struggles with Spanish, but "poco a poco", or little by little, they are learning a bit of English and they are teaching us more Spanish.

We have even gotten them to understand how important it is to do your homework. Unfortunately, we will be unable to continue with the class after next week, and we have not yet been able to find someone to take over from us, but we are still hoping.  The students have made a lot of progress, and we want them to continue.

Boveda Mason

Sunday we joined one of the Library or Biblioteca's regular Sunday afternoon house tours, which can attract 75 or more participants, mostly American and Canadian visitors.  The Bibiloteca is an expat social and service magnet and offers lots of cultural programs.

The house tours, which include two or three houses of some architectural note, are offered every Sunday. The proceeds from the tours and the Library's other programs are used to fund after school activities and scholarships for hundreds of children and adults in San Miguel.

Boveda ceiling under construction

Our friends, Mart & Bob, love the tours and go almost every Sunday--we  go only occasionally, like this past Sunday when they were featuring homes with "boveda" ceilings and providing a demonstration of the building process.

Boveda ceilings are almost gravity defying, arched roof constructions used in many homes in and around San Miguel.

It was a lot of fun seeing one being built and listening to the builder and the mason explain how they do it.

Our table at Paprika

Returning from our house tour, Mart & Bob and we joined some other friends, John and Martha Birney, Paige (a language classmate) and  Jackie, a lovely woman from Atlanta whom we just met on the house tour, for a great jazz lunch at Paprika, a sweet restaurant that has recently become one of our favorites.

We like going to Paprika on Sunday afternoons because, in addition to the great food and nice garden setting, we can enjoy jazz performed by Mary Gouty, a young woman from Canada, and her combo. They play mostly American songbook selections, just our kind of music!

Mary sings and plays the trumpet--an unusual, but very effective combination. Unfortunately, she has decided to leave San Miguel and return to Canada--we ask ourselves why, especially in February. We will miss her and her music, but are so grateful we stumbled upon them a few weeks back, and hope she will be here again when we return next winter.

One outdoor hot spring pool

Larry lunching at La Gruta

Wednesday, on a lark, we decided to visit, La Gruta, a hot springs spa, that is about five miles outside of town.

The low key, but very relaxing resort, offers a number of pools for swimming and relaxing, including the "grotto" for which it is named.

The grotto (cave) or "la Gruta" features a very warm pool and a four inch pipe that delivers a stream or shower of even warmer water on the hour.  You can stand under the stream and let it cascade on top of you.  It is like getting a water massage.

Wednesday was a perfect day with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 80's. It was more crowded than usual--there might have been 50 people of so soaking in the pools.

But how nice it was to lounge in the warm water and then sit in their lovely garden restaurant and be served drinks and delicious food. The excursion, including taxis there and back, entrance, and lunch, probably cost us $30--an affordable luxury.

In a Cantina with the owners

Just last evening, we participated in another Library sponsored tour--this time, a Cantina Crawl.  For three hundred peso each ($20) we were provided a guided tour to four local cantinas.

There are perhaps more than 50 cantinas in the city--many of them more than 50 years old and steeped in history and legend.  The cantina was traditionally a saloon for men only--no women or dogs were allowed through the swinging doors.

Today, men and woman, but still no dogs, are welcome in any cantina.  They serve mostly tequila, mezcal, and beer--no white wine spritzer, please. Our tour included a beer or a shot of tequila or mezcal at each of the cantinas we visited.

 It was a nice way to finish the week, and we know we will want to return to some or maybe all of them.  We have come to really appreciate tequila, which can be as smooth and mellow as any fine whiskey.