ña
colada in one hand and novel from her famous
reading list in the other, sitting
on the terrace working on her tan, maybe asking the housekeeper
to dust our collection of Mexican handicrafts that she shops for
in between cocktails. And Scott, relaxing in the hammock
during siesta (noon til 6:00?), sombrero pulled down over his
eyes while strumming his Michoacan-made guitar, serenading his
mujer. We think our regular readers probably know this
isn't a totally accurate picture, but thought we'd put
down in writing how we spend our time on a typical day.
Today, Scott rose early to
go retrieve our van from the dealership in nearby Querétaro, an
easy one hour bus ride from San Miguel. Although we just
bought it, we've already had some problem with the power
steering system, which is of no consequence to the rest of our
story (if you'd like to hear more about it, we can direct you to
the dealership). So after dropping the van off last
Monday, we got the call telling us it was ready to be picked up.
At 9:30am, Scott walked the mile or so of poorly cobblestoned
street up the hill to the outer ring road where he could wait
for the bus heading to Q-town, as the locals call it (okay, they
don't call it that). Arriving just in time, he paid his 40
pesos (~$3.50USD) and sat back for the economical yet
comfortable 2nd class bus ride. Hopping off at the bus
stop by the (very nice, American-style) mall, he hops into the
front seat of a waiting cab that will take him the next mile or
two to the dealership. A little Spanish practice ensues
for Scott, as he gets to discuss the massive influx of Mexicans
coming to Querétaro to work. Please note that the cab
driver was a proud Querétano who has lived there his whole life.
The dealership was quick and efficient, and Scott was able to
hop in the van and drive right off within minutes.
Unfortunately that sound it was making when he brought it in had
not gone away - so back to the distribuidora he went.
After some false but nice-sounding face-saving explanations of
what that sound was, he discovered he'd need to leave the van
there for another three hours while they checked out a couple of
things. Scott had his book and no where in particular to
go, so agreed that he could let them have it right that instant.
While he began his wait, one of the 20-year old employees at the
dealership wanted to get a little English practice in with the
rarely seen gringo in his midst. He used up most of his
English asking questions like, "Do you like Mexico? Do you like
Mexican food? Do you like Queretana girls? Do you like to
dance?" reminded him of his days in Señora Webster's Spanish I
class. When Scott explained to him that gringos can't
dance, the young English student's eyes lit up in disagreement,
as he explained that "the gringas can dance!", then proceeded to
dance about and pretend to lift his shirt up while shouting,
"Spring Break!". Scott was glad to see that young Mexicans
are knowledgeable (and appreciative) of American culture and
customs.
Scott decided to head into the lovely historic center of
Querétaro (a UNESCO world heritage site) about two miles north
of the dealership while the van repairs were made (Ojalá -
God-willing). The site-seeing included strolling through
the many well-kept plazas in town, getting his blood pressure
checked by a woman studying to be a nurse, some coffee & reading
time on the main square, some fresh squeezed orange juice - of
course, and a walk through some huge markets selling shoes and
clothes that he'd like to return to some time. Upon his
return to the dealership, the van was indeed fixed (gracias a
Díos!), and Scott was ready to take care of his American-style
shopping list for Querétaro, including a printer cartridge and
binder at Office Depot, towel bars at Home Depot, and some
swiffer sheets & light bulbs at Wal-Mart. By 3:15pm, he
drove the Golden Gancho (the new name for the van that we'll
have to explain some other time) triumphantly back into San
Miguel without a single leak.
He returned to find Caroline busily planning away our upcoming
trip to Europe. With about 80 days on the European agenda,
it takes some work to make sure you'll get to see the things you
want to see, stay in decent places, and not spend a mountain of
Euros doing it. But with the van back in action, we were
able to head back out together to take care of some of the
business we've been meaning to catch up on. First stop,
pick up our new custom cafe table and chairs from one of the
iron-work shops in town. They turned out beautifully, by
the way, and fit perfectly on the terrace that they will now
call home. The next stop was the Michoacan-style artisan
furniture shop on the outskirts of SMA to see if they had a
chair available in the color we were looking for. Seeing
none, we decided we'll have to return to their other store in
town next week for yet another custom-ordered piece of furniture
(allow 3 weeks).
Next was our second iron shop of the day. This one,
however, was truly the 'shop' where the work is done. An
outdoor, dusty, gritty Mexican kind of place, where the workers
smoke and drink 40's of Corona while welding away. Part of
the covered area of the shop also housed 5 or 6 concrete
stables, one of which included a mama horse with its newborn.
We found Juan, the owner, by the stables to explain to him the
specs of the barstools we're looking to have made for when the
kitchen remodel is done (Ojalá). Just like the ones in his
'showroom' downtown, where we met his mama loca who gave
us directions to his place, only shorter.
Our workday complete, we spent an hour trying out our new
terrace furniture. We consider spending some time out
there every night, as the evening weather has been perfect.
The past few days we've taken to heading out for a walk around
7pm or so when the sun is setting and the warm breeze starts
blowing. Our terrace-sitting and re-hydration complete
(never ending task that you must consciously take care to
perform), we headed out for dinner. We'd heard
recommendations for an Italian restaurant located just east of
town in an old hacienda, and we decided to give it a try.
We've been back in Mexico for almost two weeks now, and have
hardly eaten out since our return, so we were looking forward to
a nice Friday night dinner out.
It took us a minute to find the restaurant, even after parking
in their lot. You had to walk around one hacienda, through
a garden, by an ancient looking chapel where there was some sort
of all men's Friday night service going on, and over to the
building that appeared to be the restaurant - judging from the
two people sitting on the patio drinking wine. We also
took a seat on the patio, since it was a perfect evening (yet
again) for dining outside. It's definitely the slow season
in San Miguel, and we were the only customers there for some
time. This must be why there was no menu... after the
owner came over and introduced himself, the waiter simply
recited a few of the items they could make for us tonight.
After starting with the zucchini ravioli, which was served to us
right out of the pan, Caroline went with the veal, and Scott
with the beef fillet in mushroom sauce. Both were quite
good, and we left very full and vowing to return.
So there you have a day in our lives. While almost every
day is busy, the thing we like most is that no two days are
exactly alike. Probably the most unusual aspect about
today was the long hours spent apart, as we usually spend nearly
all of our time together. We'll check back in with you in
8 days, when our bar stools should be complete, Ojalá.