Letter from San Miguel de Allende

August 8, 2007

Hello Everyone,

It has taken me almost two weeks to write for a few reasons. First getting Internet access is a challenge for me. Though Mike has his laptop and can piggyback off our neighbors’ access, I find it easier and more fun to go to an Internet Café and have a delicious café Americano and croissant while I do the e-mail thing. This requires a walk downtown, which is no problem, but when I choose to do that there are many other wonderful things to attend to down there and the day flies by.

Since we are supposed to be working on the house, studying Spanish, socializing etc, my days lolly gagging around el centro are limited. Second, this trip is different in character than previous ones. Usually the experience is all wonder, excitement, and opening doors. This time, with the focus so much on the house, and much time spent up in the confines of our space, I’ve felt a little disoriented. The usual self definition issues, tasks, relationship vies a vie husband in house, structure of time etc. kind of got to me. Aside from walking and depending on Mike for transportation, my mobility is kind of limited. That puts a crimp in my style, when I’m used to going and doing what I please and when I please. Strangely enough, these kind of weird adjustments clouded my usually upbeat mood when in San Miguel. But as this letter attests, my mood has shifted back to one of enchantment.

The house is looking wonderful. When I first got here with our friends Ana and Remy, who came to San Miguel and Mexico City for their honeymoon, the roof still leaked and we had thunderous, dazzling, spectacular storms. Up here in the mountains above the town, the rolling thunder reverberates and multiple vertical bolts of lightening dance across the horizon. It’s like being in Disney Land or some fake fantasy place putting on the show for the spectators. The consequence of such power was very wet floors all over. Fortunately our erstwhile architect came to the rescue and solved the problem. Now we just have to fix the leaks under the doors.

Mike has done a fabulous job on staining the floors and building cabinets from old Mexican wood. He also created hanging lights out of Pennsylvania stained class pieces which he encased in wood. The house is definitely getting the Mike and Bev feel with rustic, hand made, colorful, and funky, the evolving Gestalt.

While you all are cooking and/or sweating up in the states, the temp here is a cool 50’s in the am and evening and 70-80s during the day with the intermittent hard rains, usually at night. Consequently the entire area is green, green, and green with wild flowers everywhere. You would think you were in the midst of West Virginia. The Botanical Garden, next to us has a canyon with the water rushing, causing torrents, waterfalls, and whitewater cascading over and around the rocks. From our roof you can hear the sound of the turbulence bounding toward the “Presa” where Mike has taken his shell to row. It is now at least twice the size it was the last time we were here and he has been having a grand time rowing his home made shell in the beautiful space. There are black and white ibis, white herons, and pelicans sharing the space with him. Also kids ride along the shoreline on horseback, gawking and laughing at the strange dude out in the water.

I took my first flamenco dance class and realized I could never be in this kind of dance---too bow legged…The teacher is one of the dancers from a great group we saw the other night. It’s fun to try different styles. Tomorrow evening, Mike and I will have our first salsa dance lesson with our friend.

This is getting too long, so I’m going to stop. More later, I hope.

Love to you all and hope you are well and not too hot.

Bev (and Mike)