In Residence in San Miguel de Allende, MEXICO 2013-2014a

       To all my friends, family and blog followers: my apologies for my long absence from these pages. Life is still an adventure---so much so that I find less and less time to blog. Our six month stay in our new home in San Miguel is drawing to a close and we will soon be back on the road to "El Norte" where we will settle once again into our small cottage on the Oregon Coast for the summer.
     
        Before we leave SMA, I feel an urge to share some of the highlights of this past six months. However,  I have a new challenge. On February 14, at the annual Writers Conference, I was dancing at the fiesta and took a fall, admittedly after imbibing a margarita and a half, and having a joyful time. The result was a seriously broken right wrist which ended me up, after a lengthy visit to the local hospital and some surgery, with a full arm cast, an adventure I would have just as soon avoided. Ah well, adventures do come with their hazards as Indiana Jones reminded us! The consequence of this mishap is that my writing and keyboard abilities have been greatly affected. As I perused the many photos I've taken this year, most with my iPhone, I realized I could share much of this past six months with all of you via a visual adventure. So hang on---here we go!

Viewing our beautiful Peroquia at night

baking in my San Miguel kitchen

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LIFE IN SAN MIGUEL SOMETIME SEEMS LIKE ONE LONG FESTIVAL, GOING FROM "EL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS," THE DAY OF THE DEAD ON NOVEMBER 2 TO CHRISTMAS AND THE MORE IMPORTANT DAY HERE IN MEXICO, "DIA DE LOS TRES REYES,"THE DAY OF THE THREE KINGS...IN EARLY JANUARY, WHEN THE CHILDREN GET THEIR PRESENTS. 

THE three kinks come by horseback--not camels

they gather in front of the parish church to greet the mommunity

 A SPECIAL TREAT THIS PAST NOVEMBER WAS PARTICIPATING IN "LIBROS SIN FRONTEROS" A NEW SAN MIGUEL PROJECT, THE BRAINCHILD OF OUR CONVERSATION GROUP AT THE CULMINATION OF READING FRANCISCO JIMENEZ'S WONDERFUL 3-PART AUTO-BIOGRAPHY BEGINNING WITH CAJAS DE CARTON IN WHICH HE DESCRIBES HIS CHILDHOOD AS A YOUNG CHILD OF IMMIGRANT PARENTS BACK IN THE FIFTIES. OUR COMMITTEE INVITED MR. JIMENEZ TO COME TO SAN MIGUEL TO HELP US PROMOTE LITERACY IN THE TOWN AND THE CAMPO. WE RAISED ENOUGH MONEY TO DISTRIBUTE BOOKS TO OVER 200 CHILDREN AND THEY READ HIS BOOK BEFORE HIS ARRIVAL.  THE PROJECT WAS A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS AND THIS DELIGHTFUL MAN WON ALL OF OUR HEARTS, INCLUDING THE CHILDREN'S. WE ARE ALREADY PREPARING FOR NEXT YEAR'S VISITING AUTHOR, VIOLA CANALES, AUTHOR OF GUSANO TEQUILA OR TEQUILA WORM. 

       special treat this year was welcoming author, Francico Jimenez

Francisco Jimenez

La Calacas are ever present in San Miguel  as are  Monigangas...

 giant puppets who appear for every occasion

THE BIG DEAL FOR ME WAS THE PUBLICATION OF MY FIRST NOVEL. I SPENT MUCH OF MY TIME PROMOTING MY BOOK AND DOING PUBLIC READINGS. SAN MIGUEL HAS A VERY ACTIVE LITERARY COMMUNItY AND OF COUSE, ANOTHER KEY EVENT WAS THE 9TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL WRITERS CONFERENCE...

At the local Organic Market, selling my book--- I'm very proud of my book cover, an image by Fernando Llort, El Salvadoran artist who kindly gave me permission to use his artwork for my book.

here I am with one of the keynote speakers, Canadian author of Life of Pi, Yann Martel 

With my poet friend, Lois Read, after one of my successful readings

There's always something fun to see in San Miguel

People come from as far away as Mexico City and Monterey to have their wedding in San Miguel

 It's fun to support the local crafts people---here, I'm having a dried flower garland made for my hat...

AND THEN THERE'S ALWAYS THE MUNDANE--- WORKERS RE-FACING THE OLD COLONIAL BUILDINGS...OR A MAN ON A STREET CORNER PLYING HIS TRADE, RECANEING OLD CHAIRS...

AND ALL THE WHILE GUADALUPE WATCHES OVER US!

To be continued....be sure to check out my book on Amazon.com, read the reviews, and an excerpt on my new website at sherdavidson.com  HASTA LA VISTA!

Christmas in Mexico: Feliz Navidad

The last three months have been a blur of activity, getting settled into our casa in San Miguel de Allende, re-connecting with friends here and my working on my goal to get my novel published by Christmas. Well, I’m close. The book will be up on Amazon in about a week. Hope you will consider taking a peek and be sure and write a review please. Like the old saying goes, “if you don’t have something good to say, don’t say it at all, but if you have something good, do tell!”  By the way the title is Under the Salvadoran Sun and do check out my new website for more details:https://sherdavidson.com

 Christmas in Mexico: ah, how sweet. We loved watching the decorations going up all over our town, of San Miguel de Allende, then hearing the music at night as people gathered at the local churches. Posada is a big thing in Mexico,  between December 16-24. The tradition is that people gather in their neighborhoods and walk from house to house. One house serves as the host house. At each casa the group asks if they can come in, taking on the symbolic role of Mary and Joseph seeking shelter the night that the holy child, Jesus was born. They sing some traditional songs but are turned away until they arrive at the host house where they are welcomed and everyone celebrates with tamales, hot chocolate. The children gather around the piñata, hitting it with a long stick until it breaks open and dulces (sweets) pour out; everyone rushes to gather the goodies up. Unfortunately we did not participate in Posada this year as we were busy  preparing for our departure to the beach.

Scroll down and read about our holiday in Mexico below the photos! 

Here I am with my husband, Gary sitting on our La Manzanilla patio right off the beach!

Piñatas are a popular part of the holiday festivities

Relaxing on the beach after three months of editing and proofing my first novel. Needed this R & R. 

This is the beautiful entranceway to our casita on the beach, Allegre Mar, owned by our friend, Kate.  

Sunsets here are gorgeous and we love strolling the beach at this time of day

Not a bad life!

The setting sun from Allegre Mar

 On Friday , the 19^th, we left for the long drive (about 11 hours  via Guadalajara) to La Manzanilla on the coast, about 2 hours south of Puerta Villarta.  We came here last year with our dear friends, Penny and Jim. This year, we are so happy our daughter, Tiffany and family will be joining us, arriving on Christmas Day. 

La Manzanilla, formerly a modest little fishing village, is still small, and picturesque with a gorgeous beach on a bay, gentle sea and lots of fun things to do, like kayaking, snorkeling, and just “hanging out” with long leisurely days, slow walks into the small town and beautiful sunsets.  See our photos.

We’ll leave here on Sunday and drive the family to our casa in San Miguel de Allende where we’ll participate in the New Year’s celebrations.  We’re looking forward to sharing our Mexican village with our family and are sure they will love it.  We do miss other family members and friends at this holiday time and send our merry wishes to all for a Feliz Navidad and a Propero Nuevo Año! 

I'll write about other adventures in Mexico after the new year!  Coming up: our trip to Chiapas with friends in March. 

Back in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Hope you enjoy reading about my most recent adventure: driving with my husband, Gary, all the way to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico from Oregon, USA.

After spending two fun months, July to September, at our new cottage on the Oregon Coast, we packed up the car, (check it out here)full to the brim and headed to south of the border.  We left  on September 16th planning on taking ten days to make the 2,700 mile journey.

The trip was long but made shorter by the various stops we made with friends and family along the way in California. Once south of LA it began to take on a more boring texture. Though the weather was not as unbearably hot as we had expected, averaging between 80-90 degrees, the days of driving on I-10E  seemed long and sometimes uninteresting. Listening to an audio taped story helped pass the time. We made picnic stops each day to stretch out legs and fill our stomachs with some good food, resisting the junk food one finds everywhere.  The Arizona scenery was quite beautiful in places with tall flat mesas, red rock and unusual geological formations from Parker on I-10 E  by Phoenix and then through Tempe. We spent the night in at a small inexpensive motel  in Tempe near Arizona State University. 

Arizona scenery on our way  to Phoenix 

Our long highway East 

The next day we continued, crossing into New Mexico and stopping that night at one of our  favorite spots along the way, Las Cruces on the NM and Texas border. We checked into a La Quinta Inn and had time to check out the old historical section, called Mesilla, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner in an old west inn with a lot of history behind it's beautiful adobe architecture.  We strolled the streets at dusk and enjoyed the local sites which surrounded a small square with a gazebo, like we see in Mexico, in front of the typical church. Small adobe shops, taverns and cafes surrounded the central plaza and there was even a shop named after the legendary Billy the Kid.  Supposedly he was tried and sentenced to hang here. 

Bar in 0ld Hotel in La Mesilla 

The old Mesilla Church 

Modern day cowboy with a leaf blower 

Typical NM scenery 

From Las Cruses we crossed into West Texas, expecting the worst part of the journey to ensue. Surprisingly we found much of the scenery quite interesting; the long dry stretches were dotted with some high, rolling plateaus, even some green vegetation from recent rains. Our goal was to get to Marfa, a town which was put on the map when the movie "Giant" was filmed there in 1956, starring Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor and my teenage heartthrob, James Dean. We stayed at the legendary old hotel where the cast stayed while filming, Hotel Paisano. It's been beautifully renovated and created a gentle repast from our last eight eight days of driving.  We enjoyed the quiet broad open streets, no parking meters and a charming bar/cafe where we had drinks on a patio and a delicious dinner. The next day we visited the galleries, and the site of artist Donald Judd's installations. He came to Marfa, escaping the East Coast, NY art scene,and the commercialism, which he hated in the seventies. He  made his mark on this town as well as a number of amazing outdoor and indoor installations. It was fascinating visiting the old Military Fort Russell which he purchased and where his art is displayed with other 20th century installation artists. 

Driving into Marfa, Texas---not too busy!

This is cowgirl country and I enjoyed this poster in the Ladies room at the Gage Hotel in Marathon on Hwy. 90

We had breakfast at this small cafe up the street from the Gage Hotel after we left Marfa and enjoyed talking to a couple who love living in this small town. 

 Couldn't resist incluing this photo of James Dean, which hangs large and prominent in the  small room off the lobby of the Paisano Hotel, where we could sit in big, comfy leather armchairs and watcht the four hour movie, "Giant"--needless to say we only watched a mall portion, but it did bring back memories 

Hotel Paisano  in Marfa, TX, where the cast for "Giant" once stayed 

 From Marfa we took the locals' suggestions and continued our journey southeast by Hwy. 90, a two lane good road through the West Texas pecan growing area, and small rural towns like Marathon, and Alpine. We loved stopping at the old Gage Hotel, in Marathon, now totally renovated and quite posh with it's beautiful collection of western memorabilia. The owner wanted one piece in a museum that was closing and when they said he would have to buy the whole collection, he did, and installed it in the Gage.  Everywhere, we looked there were interesting old artifacts of the West, including several original Remington prints an drawings. Alpine too provided photo ops with its beautiful large murals in the center of this small town, once known for it's minor league baseball team and stadium.  Some of the major leagues even played there.  

The mural in Alpine welcoming to this charming little West Texas town

One of Alpine's beautiful new murals.

From Alpine we drove on to Del Rio right on the border with Mexico, a not very picturesque town. We arrived when it was still light and checked into a La Quinta Inn. We were tired and not hungry, so just fixed a "picnic dinner" in our room. It was important to get up early to cross the border. We were getting a bit nervous about the whole thing. Fortunately, getting a very early start the next morning to cross the border, all went well. We didn't have any glitches and the much feared inspections we were warned by friends we may have where everything can be taken out of our car and placed on the roadside for us to re-pack after inspections, didn't occur.  After an hour and half stop to get our automobile permits and visas, we were off.

Beautiful scenery along the highway just after crossing the border into Mexico

Along the road we often saws goats and their herders, heads covered with old serapes in the heat of the day

We knew we were in Mexico when we saw this at our first small town

The highways in Mexico are very good and we whizzed through small towns with their colorful hot pink, green and yellow stucco buildings, PEMEX gas stations and roadside stands selling junk food. The toll roads were intermittant but the best we could ask for. Few cars traveled  along them  (cost being a factor); we paid anywhere from 90 pesos ($8 US) down to 25 pesos ($2) expensive by Mexico standards.  We made great time on these roads and ended up reaching our goal, arriving at the town of  Matehuela before sundown. Though not fancy, it provided shelter for our car and a good bed to sleep on with bath and shower

Every state has it's welcome sign

The bright yellow flowers gracing the sides of the roads coming into San Miguel de Allende

The next day we made the quick three hour ride into San Miguel de Allende, enjoying the lush green and bright yellow flowers edging the roads. Arriving in our colonial town, rumbling along on the cobblestone and familiar streets to our casa was a good ending to our long journey. We were happy to be back and mostly to find everything intact at our house, thanks to the efforts of our property manager, Benjamin Martinez. Save for a couple of roof leeks that developed during the rainy season all was in order and our pretty patio garden looked well cared for.  We'll stay here until next March when we have to leave the country to return our car. One is not allowed to keep a US licensed vehicle in Mexico beyond a tourist visa of six months. We'll stay back in Oregon for the summer and fall and return late next year by plane.  Living in two countries is fun and stimulating, though sometimes a challenge, remembering what we have left where.

When we saw these signs we knew we were getting close to our destination 

 

 We were glad to drive up to the gates to our little community of six houses, Villas del Tesoro, where we have wonderful Mexican and Gringo neighbors. We were happy to learn that the two houses across the street from us each just recently sold, one to a Mexican family from Leon and the other to an American woman. So we will have new neighbors. Always something new going on in San Miguel.

 For now, I am concentrating on getting my novel published by December. I encourage you all to check out my new website and blog in about a month. This will be my final post on this site. I will let you know when you can visit my blog and hear about my book at my new site, WordPress.org. There you will learn more about the book, launching parties and how you can get it on Amazon.  Hasta luego!

Please Note: this will be my last post at this site. Watch for my new website with the same name. I'll let you know when it's up and running on WordPress.org. I will have an announcement about my novel's publication and plug-in's where you can order it through Amazon, hopefully by December, in time for the holidays.