I suspect some of the attendees at the lecture last week by Francisco Cantú, author of "The Line Becomes a River," a memoir of his four years as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, may have left the packed auditorium, at the Centro de Bellas Artes, somewhat disappointed.They may have expected a more evangelical presentation about …
Author: Alfredo Lanier
My husband and I live on an off-the-grid ranch outside San Miguel, along with the challenging but dear company of four off-the-street dogs and three cats. My interests lie in politics, writing, photography and sundry forms of spirituality.
San Miguel is a-buzzing. Really.
Some jealous expats, stranded in outlying parts of Mexico, regularly hiss, scoff, snort and make other unpleasant noises at the mention of San Miguel, dismissing it as a Disneyfied space station, any more lacking any feel of the "real Mexico," whatever that is.There's some truth to that. As a result of San Miguel's explosive, and …
Is it time to worry about San Miguel's air quality?
Retired people have a lot of time and tend to compare worries with one another, mostly so they can worry some more. Among the local retirees, I'd say healthcare is at the top of the worry list, as in who-died-from-what, and who is the best doctor for whatever ails someone. That's followed by money concerns, …
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Local gas shortages just a symptom of what ails Mexico's state-owned oil monopoly
When Stew and I left for San Antonio about ten days ago, trepidation was in the air and in our minds. San Miguel's gringo babblesphere buzzed with reports of severe gas shortages throughout Mexico, heightened security problems on the highways, and delays of up to twelve hours at border crossings in Laredo, the latter caused by …
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When the male ego clouds the judgment of political leaders
Crossing the border from Mexico to the U.S., about a week ago, we found each country facing crises caused in large part by the male bravado and arrogance of its leader.When Donald Trump, in 2015, announced what at the time seemed like a hopeless bid for the presidency, he vowed to build a concrete wall …
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Gas shortages in Mexico fuel dozens of theories
2019 greeted us with a shortage of gasoline, resulting in four- and five-block-long lines at the few stations still operating, and conflicting explanations from newly-elected Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, various newspapers and my dentist Dr. Jesús Herrera. A couple of consumers I spoke with, standing stoically in line for an hour or more to fill …
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What books tell you about your life
My joy-inducing book collection. After the painters got done, shortly before Christmas, I expected that putting the books back on the shelves would be a mindless task but then, as I slowed down to dust off each one— and briefly think back why I had bought it and kept it—it became an unexpected exercise in introspection. …
Gears of Mexican justice grind on. Very slowly.
As we head for the Christmas holidays, when the Mexican government practically goes into hibernation until the Feast of the Three Kings on January 6, we paid a visit to our lawyer to discuss the status of the litigation over the piece of land someone is trying to steal from us.It was mostly good news, …
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Putting wonder and wandering back in retirement
When we first moved to Mexico some 13 years ago (!) Stew and I used to be far more adventurous. On weekends, or even weekdays, we used to leave town and point our car to wherever, in search of whatever. Sometimes there were quaint towns, tumbledown churches, markets selling weird stuff, stunning landscapes or, sometimes, …
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It's 11 a.m. Do you know where your car went?
Crime in Mexico is a topic expats would rather not talk about, particularly when visiting the U.S."Aren't you afraid to live in Mexico?" we're asked frequently, and annoyingly. Perhaps it's a matter of pride, of not wanting to admit that yes, we're often afraid, or worse, that we sometimes wonder if moving down here was …
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El Rancho Santa Clara 