In countries less Catholic than Mexico--practically all other countries except for the Vatican--baptism may be an initiation rite into a particular Christian group. Here it's more like an admission ticket into society, so intertwined are Catholicism and Mexican culture. In and around San Miguel there are churches everywhere you look, decorated with statues of Jesus and …
Looking for home
About a week ago an e-mail from a good friend arrived saying she was looking forward to "coming home", meaning she was coming back to San Miguel. The word "home" struck me as a bit strange, for she is not Mexican, not by a long a shot, but a true Texan, who sprinkles her drawl …
Here come the bees, honey
Ready for occupancyUnless the vagaries of Mexican Time interfere, later this week we should be getting a three-pound package containing approximately 7,000 bees, ready to buzz under the direction of a queen bee. The latter is traveling from Veracruz in her own separate little jewel box-like container, while the rank-and-file bees are coming from a …
A very quiet week at the beach
Calling a week away from home a "vacation" is redundant when you're retired and your life has no fixed schedule to begin with. So we avoid the word and call our vacation-like outings "trips."Last week we were on one of our trips, this one to Barra de Potosí, a beautiful beach located in a cove …
Overture to a rain dance
It is ungrateful for anyone in San Miguel to complain about the weather here, which is about as mild and even as you can pray for. No Chicago-like deep freezes or Houston-like saunas. Particularly in the past couple of years, when there have been floods, tornados, blizzards and other disasters in the U.S., our weather, with …
A date with Doña Huesera
Hueso in Spanish means "bone" and in Mexico, a huesera is a healer who works with bones, massaging, twisting and manipulating them in the style of a chiropractor, albeit without the patient information questionnaires, fancy examination tables or insurance forms. After a week of soreness in both of my feet, caused by chronic tendonitis, I heeded …
Chucha the survivor
As soon as we began coming regularly to the land were our ranch was to be built, about three years ago, so did Chucha, which immediately became our most devoted and solicitous neighbor. Hers was not the gradual approach to romancing new friends, or at least that wasn't the case with us. It was more …
Brimming with memories
Half-hidden behind a hedge at a gas station on the way to San Miguel, it was barely visible as we sped by. When I saw it again though, its features were unmistakable even if marred by layers of bad paint and stickers slapped on like makeup and tattoos on an over-the-hill hooker. Particularly cruel was …
McAttack
Not arthritic knees, shrinking hairlines or buzzing hearing aids seem to keep the politically correct expats living in San Miguel from raising a little leftist ruckus now and again, just like in the old days. Barely two weeks ago a debate erupted on the Civil List, the internet sounding board for expats in San …
Metropolis on the move
Mexico City, known among Mexicans as "D.F." (for "Distrito Federal," a jurisdiction comparable to Washington, D.C.) or just plain "Mexico," is tantalizingly close to San Miguel, promising what Stew calls a "big-city fix.""Angel of Independence" on Paseo de la Reforma.Discounted fares for people over 60 are about 20 dollars round trip in luxury buses with …
El Rancho Santa Clara 