August 2010 - a slice of time in SMA

Here in San Miguel it is probably the best season of the year -- the rainy season. Rains go from about late June - Sept, but tend to be heavier in the first two months. Everything turns green (from the gold brown of an arid climate) and there are an abundance of wild flowers. Trees shoot up in height, the tall rose colored grasses wave in the breeze and in large fields look like a pink lake. Bougainvillea of all colors flow over or up walls and our lime tree is heavy with fruit as are the local fig trees. The temperature is perfect...cool at night and in the seventies or eighties in the day, depending on the amount of cloud cover.

San Miguel is hurting though … like most of Mexico. With all the intense negative media regarding the border states, the damage is done to the whole country. San Miguel is as safe as Squirrel Hill, but tourism is critically down. This is one of the high tourist seasons, but restaurants and event attendance is terrible in general. Several of the old institutions here … like the library …are in jeopardy. This is also due to the global recession on top of the real but grossly exaggerated depictions of Mexico's instability. Despite all of this, the overall economy in the country is relatively strong and the people demonstrate an incredible reliance.

The bicentennial and centennial of the Mexican Revolutions is coming up and the heart of it all is right here in the state of Guanajuato. Preparations have been going on for well over a year with infrastructure improvements from paint to highways! Road signs read, “Ruta 2010” indicating that the revolutionaries followed various roads and paths during 1810 and 1910. It seems like everyone is gearing up for a month of celebration ... flags high from houses, events in the Jardin (town's center) daily, fireworks, historical reenactments, etc. Mexican’s need very little incentive to have a fiesta so you may well imagine that this is going to be a happy place. It is wild and crazy and lots of fun.

Last Sat. Mike took an impromptu evening walk into Jardin in El Centro. The square was packed with people and we saw the Centennial Queen of San Miguel pageant and crowning followed by the most fantastic light show projected onto our beautiful church ... la Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. The light designer is French and designed similar shows for 4 other colonial historical towns in honor of the revolution celebration. It was an incredible display with highly technical computer generated and drawn images flowing up and down and across the splendid architecture of the church.

Everyone is hoping that the bicentennial celebrations will bring in tourists. It really is a time of excitement, celebration, and enchantment.

Closer to home, we are both cruising into a more committed Mexican life, or should I say San Miguel life … as much of what we do is with expats and not necessarily Mexican. Hopefully that will change and we can be more and more part of the real Mexico … especially when our Spanish improves. But in the meantime, there is an abundance of riches to take advantage of everywhere one looks.

Personally I went through a week of post-retirement angst ... who am I? ... where should I put my focus and energy? ...what are my routines? Those worries were put at bay somewhat while the wonderful Gould family – Court and Sherri – Ben and Alli - shared a week with us here. After a delightful week with them, I sought the soothing comfort of meditation to help both ground and direct me. That and the dear voices of my sisters have helped me to stay calm and take time to let things evolve. It's like building a new house...taking time to build a strong foundation and look before I leap into any commitments that could bog me down.

So I've decided to focus on getting back into physical shape first. Despite walking in Pittsburgh in the park occasionally, I'd been pretty sedentary. Coming here at 6500 feet and trying to do Zumba (a fast paced Latin exercise class) or climbing our practically vertical hill, I got winded, nauseous, etc and had to take breaks to catch my breath, or stop altogether after 20 minutes! So now I'm taking a movement class called NIA (combo of Latin dance, modern dance, yoga, and martial arts) several times a week, yoga, Sunday morning hikes, and walks to and from town or next door in ‘our’ magnificent Botanical Garden. I can see and feel the difference already and I'm happy.

Learning Spanish will take the form of home study with our multiple resources for awhile. Eventually I'll take a class at the local university. My Mexican friends are now trying to talk only Spanish to me to help force me to use what I know.

There is a lot happening in terms of medical infrastructure development here and I'm getting involved with that work from many angles. I'm working with a group on a resource directory that will cover all elements of care access and treatment here including living wills, end of life care, practitioners both conventional and alternative, and insurances etc. Also there will be many trainings here for emergency care from basic life support to ACLS for OB etc. We will be having Emergency Medicine fellows from the US come and help set up cardiac protocols for pre-hospital as well as in hospital services. Much is happening in this arena and I'm looking forward to seeing where my skills can best be used.

We've met tons of interesting people and our social calendar is more than adequate, but that is how it generally is in a place like this. There is no shortage of interesting people and social opportunity, but again the balance of personal time is important to maintain.

Today I'm off to the big Tuesday market for clothes as well as food, then to bring nurturance in the forms of food and massage/therapeutic touch to a friend who is post op. And as I look outside my window, another beautiful San Miguel day greets me.

Love to all and stay in touch,

Bev