WHO WANTS TACOS?

Who wants tacos? Everybody loves tacos, especially the fresh varieties available here in our neighborhood.


We are lucky because not far from our condo at the corner of Orizaba and Esperanza streets is Taco Ole! The best taco stand in Mexico. At least in our opinion.

Taco Ole! was started about 18 years ago by Adolfo Ramirez and his wife Elpidia. They were married 20 years ago and have three children ages 18, 15 and 13 who also work in the business. It’s great to join them for tacos once in a while.

When you’re out walking around and feeling a little hungry the best way to satisfy that hunger is to have some tacos. You can get chicken tacos, seafood tacos, etc., but the king of tacos is the beef taco. Taco Ole! only sells beef tacos.

How do you find a good taco stand? First, you listen. Why? Because a good taco stand chops and cooks its meat and onions in front of you. The meat is chopped on wood. So, when the meat is being chopped you hear chop, chop, chop. Then, as you get closer, you smell the cooking of onions and meat and see the long line outside of hungry people waiting for tacos.

When you first learn of a taco stand you want to be sure it’s a place you want to eat. Does the owner/staff wash their hands before cooking and serving? Do they wash their vegetables (onions, cilantro, etc.). Do they use purified water to make the ice served in your Coca Cola? You get the idea. Clearly, Taco Ole! seems to meet all of our basic criteria.

Today, after walking around town for about three hours, we stopped at Taco Ole! for lunch. It’s always nice to see the family and chit chat. Today was no exception. We had great tacos, salsa, Coca Colas, etc., and we enjoyed meeting some new friends.

We told Adolfo and Elpidia about our blog. We told them we were going to write about the taco stand and they wanted to help. They explained all the procedures for keeping the place clean and healthy. But, then it occurred to me that we hadn’t discussed the meat. So, I asked Adolfo about it and had some luck. As we spoke, a new shipment of meat was arriving. We went out back and took a look. Sure enough, a truck had arrived. Thankfully, we had our camera and took some pictures. As you can see, we surely know how to pick a fine taco stand. Ole!

P.S. Don’t forget you can click on the photos and zoom in on anything you might find interesting.

OBAMA'S T.A.R.P. DOLLARS AT WORK!

WET AND WILD

THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED ON THURSDAY!

We have traveled throughout Mexico staying in several different cities. We have been in Mexico at different times of the year. We have rented many places. We are now experiencing what it is like to live in a Mexican town where it has been raining for almost 93 hours non-stop.


Many of the homes have beautiful boveda ceilings. A boveda ceiling is a curved ceiling made of bricks. It is a special craft. It defies gravity. Our condo is a penthouse condo, and we have four boveda ceilings. Yesterday, we noticed a small leak in the guest bedroom. We put down some towels and a bowl to catch the water. This morning we got up and the room had several leaks. We contacted the property manager who assisted us in moving the furniture and covering it with giant black trash bags.

Right after we finished that room, we noticed wet bricks in the other three boveda ceilings. We are keeping an eye on them. Hopefully they won’t materialize into leaks. We now have tarps on the roof.

Sam was looking at a site called the Civil List. The Civil List is for gringos. Local information is posted and people can ask questions about a variety of topics. This morning, there were several postings regarding the deep ditches, called canals and the local dams. The police and firemen were looking to evacuate some people in the lower part of Colonia San Antonio near the canal. There is a tienda and several homes that already had water inside. The police stated they had to open the dam. This indeed could cause some major flooding. Thank goodness we are on the other, higher side of Colonia San Antonio.

This afternoon the rain stopped. We ventured out to take some pictures of the lower part of our Colonia. We spoke with some people that told us they have never seen this kind of weather in San Miguel especially in January and February.

We also received some pictures from a friend of a friend that were taken today on the other side of San Miguel, closer to where our house was last March. We hiked over the flooded dam last year. This time of year this area is normally quite dry. Mother nature is truly in charge and you can’t stop her.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=casamayfield&target=ALBUM&id=5434503302543067169&authkey=Gv1sRgCLK1uY7-87nmyQE&feat=email

HURRAY...IT'S FRIDAY MORNING AND THE BEAUTIFUL SUN IS SHINING!

CELEBRATING LIFE

Here in Mexico, the Mexicans know how to have a good time. They celebrate everything from birth to death. Years ago when children didn’t live very long due to illnesses, the parents would have a big celebration for their child’s third birthday. It is also the presentation of their daughter to the church.


This week, we had the privilege of participating in such a celebration. Miguel and Mercedes, the owners of Rinconcito’s Restaurant (where we frequent a couple times a week), invited us to the celebration of their daughter’s, Andrea’s, third birthday. We weren’t sure what we were getting into because we never had heard of this type of special celebration.

For weeks, Mercedes had been making decorations of flowers, angels, bags of goodies, etc. They asked if we would come. The church services would be at 3:00 p.m., at Templo de las Monjas (temple of the nuns). Afterwards would be a dinner, a clown for the children, and live music for dancing. WOW…all this for a third birthday.

We agreed to participate. It was on Tuesday. Tuesday is the only day that Rinconcitos is closed. By this time, it had been raining for 48 hours straight. We would normally walk to town; however, it was really pouring rain. We hailed a taxi. It was the best 25 pesos we have spent in a long time.

Once we got to the chapel, we saw four individual kneelers all decorated in white, along with a little white chair. This service was going to be much more than we anticipated. The chapel was filling up with people, mainly gringos. Later we were told that is because the Mexicans had to work; however, they would be at the party.

Soon, Miguel, Mercedes, and Andrea arrived. They were all dressed up and looked wonderful. Andrea looked like a little angel all dressed in white. The priest met them at the entrance to the chapel. He blessed Andrea and then asked the parents and the padrinos (Godparents) to all bless her. They proceeded to the front of the chapel and took their places at the white kneelers. The priest led prayers and also gave a special sermon about the special life of a child. A child is a special gift from God. It is the parents and padrinos responsibility to ensure that Andrea is raised to have a good life in the church.

For a three year old, Andrea was doing a great job in being very patient. After a while, she was fidgeting with her dress. It was scratching her around her neck. The services finished, we took a few pictures, and it was time for the party. Good friends of ours, Tom and Linda, offered us a ride to the party so six of us climbed into their SUV.

The party was held at Crystal Salon. It is a very nice banquet hall very close to our condo, about two to three blocks away. We walked into the room and everything was all decorated. There were ten large tables all decorated in pink. It was set for 100 people. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a waiter with glasses of wine.

In one corner was an inflatable bounce house for the children. Soon a clown and several helpers arrived. The children were all seated at a special table and hamburgers and french fries were delivered to them. After they ate, there was a face painter. All the children were having a great time.

All of the adults went to the buffet and were served a delicious meal of chicken breast with a special sauce, penne pasta with a light tomato sauce, lightly breaded chicken tenders, salad, fresh fruit, and bread. The wine and other drinks continued to flow all evening long. While we were eating, the electricity went out. No one got upset. The party continued and about 45 minutes later, the electricity came back on. For dessert we had a delicious birthday cake.

Now it was time for the clown. All of the children gathered around the front of the room. Andrea, the guest of honor, was given a special seat. It was amazing to watch this three year old sit in this seat for as long as she did. The clown was very entertaining. Even the adults were paying attention.

Behind us out in the courtyard, a woman was setting up a special machine. We finally figured out that she was going to make cotton candy for the children and young adults or anyone who wanted this sweet, sticky sugar. When the clown finished, the live band began. They played great dance music and everyone got up and danced. After a while, more food was brought out for everyone to enjoy, sweet corn on a stick.

We finally left the party around 9:30 p.m., and walked home in the rain. The party continued until midnight and a good time was had by all. We are thankful to have had the opportunity to participate in another Mexican tradition.

NO SCHOOL - SAN MIGUEL'S VERSION OF A SNOW DAY

Today is Wednesday morning. It has been raining for 65 hours non-stop. The forecast is for rain all day today and tomorrow, with a possibility of more on Friday. At three o’clock in the morning, we had more thunder and lightning.


Yesterday afternoon, we got an email from Dianne who co-ordinates the volunteer English teachers at Los Ricos telling us that school would be cancelled. We usually have about 25 volunteers with five or six drivers. The roads are barely passable on normal days. In fact some portions don’t even qualify as a “road”. Dianne spoke with Lucha, the principal, and both agreed that the road to the school after you cross the dry river bed was “muy feo”…”very bad/ugly”. Dianne was afraid that the SUV’s may slip off the road and down the hillside.

We were so looking forward to teaching. It would be an opportunity to get out of the condo. It feels like we are back in Michigan on a cold, snowy, winter day. The only exception is in Michigan we have central heat. Here, we are dressed in layers inside the condo. We have also lost our electricity a few times in the past couple of days.

It will be a good day to stay inside and do some serious cooking. The only problem, we will need to go to the market. We will have to give that some extra thought. Stay tuned.

WEATHER IN SAN MIGUEL

This was written Tuesday morning after 40 hours of non-stop rain with more thunder and lightning.

Rain, snow, sleet, or hail

We have it all in San Miguel

Some may sit in Michigan and ponder the cold

We are here to observe the untold

People are lured here by the charm and beauty

But no one tells you January weather is no cutie

So far, 2010 has been very weird

To stay warm, Bob is growing a beard

We know the sun will shine again

Until then, we will listen to the rooster and hen

HAIL TO SAN MIGUEL

The weather in San Miguel Allende (SMA) has been very unusual for the month of January. We arrived in SMA on January 2nd from Oaxaca. While in Oaxaca for the month of December 2009, we had very nice warm weather. While taking walks, we were always looking for the shady side of the street.


Upon our arrival to SMA, it started to rain. Rain in January is very unusual. For the next two weeks, we suffered through a very cold spell. Also a very unusual period of time. Then we had some normal weather mixed with some very cloudy days. Then we had snow, the first snow in over 33 years. Well, on Sunday, it started to rain in the afternoon. It continued to rain non-stop.

We had dinner plans with a group of friends at a Rinconcito’s. It is a local restaurant here in Colonia San Antonio. At 8:00 that night the rain subsided and the hail began, we were sipping wine and making idle chit chat at our dinner table. Soon the sound of hail pounding the restaurant was deafening. Sam went over to the window, opened it, and was amazed at the hail on the window sill. One of our friends grabbed a handful of hail and made an ice ball.

Just another day in Mexico. Hail to San Miguel!