Chili and Charity

Yesterday was the big Chili & Charros 5th Annual International Chili Cook-Off benefiting El Centro de Crecimiento on the grounds of the Hotel Real de Minas.  There was a big turnout, as might be expected.  There are lots of Texans here (they avoid both the cold winters and the blistering summers) and lots of interpretations of what chili should be.

In addition to judged placements of chili and charros, there was the popular People's Choice winner which is determined by popular vote of those attending.  Anyone can join as a contestant (there is a minimum number to qualify as part of the International Chili Cook-Off organization) and there were individuals, restaurants, hotels, et cetera who sponsored entries - about 40 of them altogether.

Besides a small pot of their particular chili for the judges, most entries also furnished tastes for the multitudes to enjoy.  Upon entry to the grounds each individual was presented with a small bag containing a small styrofoam cup, a plastic spoon, and a napkin (there was also a coupon for a 2-for-1 drink/beer at a downtown restaurant, and some other leaflets) with which to taste as many chilis as you felt capable of consuming.  There were nearly 40 to choose from, and we did our best to try them all.  We did arrive about halfway through the festivities and some were out of chili already, but we still tasted about 15 and voted for the Winner's choice.  Just as we arrived a bit late, we also left a bit early so we're still in suspense over whether our choice won the contest.

In addition to the chili and charros there were drinks to be had and a good-sized silent auction offering services, paintings, silver and tin works, objets arte, et cetera to the highest bidder.  We should hear in a few days how much money was raised for charity.  And the top three winners may proceed to the Grand Finale to be held in Houston soon.

Charities are a big deal in SMA.  There is so much need and many of the expats who live here are involved in one or more charities to raise money for everything from building and staffing school kitchens to provide hot meals, building simple homes for the folks on the campos who live in shanties if they're lucky, to educating young children with libraries, additional classes, providing computers and training to kids, and scholarships for high school and college, cleaning up the local reservoir, providing a no-kill alternative to the local animal pound - you name it!

The Chili & Charros benefited El Centro de Crecimiento (Center for Children with Disabilities), an organization which offers opportunities for children with disabilities to improve their physical condition, eduction, and self-esteem so that they can become contributing member of our community.  The Chili Cook-Off isn't the only fundraising event of the year, but a very popular one!

And in honor of the Chili Cook-Off, we're preparing a Chipotle Chili in the crockpot downstairs.  The aroma drifting upwards to our office are quite tempting - maybe lunch?

No Hay Nieve en San Miguel

There is no snow in San Miguel, though it's occasionally a bit nippy (hace poquito frio).  We read the weather forecasts posted automaitcally on our internet home pages and see daily temperatures for Reseda, CA; Santa Fe, NM; and Houghton, MI (Michael's hometown). 

While Reseda is noted for summertime temps into the 110's, Houghton gets quite cold up der in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) this time of year, with a forecast for today of a low of 4F and a high of 5F!  There is snow in the UP!

Santa Fe's weather tends to be closer to ours though it has snow that we don't.  Last year there was a sprinkling of snow on some nearby mountain tops and everyone was agog.  Although the longitude and latitude differ, Santa Fe and San Miguel are both hill towns at about the same altitude (6500 - 7000 ft range).

We're hoping that we're past the cooler weather here.  Although temps now dip into the 40s at night, once the sun rises things start to warm up, usually into the high 70s or low 80s.  Our homes, though, are made of concrete and brick and take some time to warm from the sunshine.  Some rooms in our house (like the entire first floor) stay remarkably cool at this time of year.  Well, they stay cool in the summer, too; it's just more noticeable at this time of year.

Although we have heaters, they are electrical - and electricity is a bit pricey SoB.  So we've been shopping for gas heaters.  So many choices (not really): portable, portable with a fan, or wall mounted, but that's about it unless you want to consider portable with a tank or one that connects to the household gas supply.  [Like most homes in Mexico, we do not have central heat/AC nor do we have any fireplaces in our current home, with or without gas logs.]

And since we didn't pick up a gas heater earlier in the year when the choices and prices were better, they are now fewer.  We may just bundle up and wait until next year - who knows, we may be in a different house that has gas heaters!

Our next event should be the rainy season: Hay lluvia en San Miguel!

Survival

Well, here we are on January 1st, 2011.  We've survived six months in San Miguel, our first calendar year in SMA, our very own power outage, and the end-of-year holidays.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.

You've read about our first six months earlier, so I'll skip to the more recent happenings.

The power outage began the day before New Year's Eve day.  It had been pretty windy with gusts in the 30-mile-per-hour range when our lights began flickering.  If we're running too many appliances throughout the house we sometimes suffer from a dimming of all lights, but this was worse. 

The TV in the living room simply turned itself off and then eventually back on.  The kitchen lights were dimmed even when no other kitchen appliances were being used.  The exhaust fan wouldn't exhaust. The light next to my computer took several tries to turn it on.  The bathroom heater would only put out mildly warm air.  And to add insult to injury, the microwave's turntable would revolve, but it wouldn't cook anything!

Then we couldn't reach our Pedro by telephone and the electric company (CFE) wasn't answering their phones, either. Michael later walked into Centro and found the office was closed.  [The observation of holidays in Mexico is a whole other subject.]

Luckily we located a number for an electrician who had been recommended to us by friends (husband of our friends' maid) who was available to come take a look at things.  He brought two helpers and they called a service emergency number for CFE, so we had four people and a CFE truck here who discovered that the tree growing in our entry garden (it's now tall enough to reach above the second floor terrace) had a branch that pushed against the electric wiring that feeds the house and had broken the cable that supports the wire.  The wire then stretched without the supporting cable and broke the grounding connection. I suppose we're lucky the house didn't go up in flames or something, but they fixed the problem, advised us to replace the connections for the meter (that's another story), and we promised to trim the tree - or at least to tell our landlord of the need.

That left us free to enjoy our NYE dinner at a local restaurant.  The menu was quite tasty; we chose mushrooms with garlic, cream of poblano soup (which was outstanding), and the rib-eye steak with roquefort sauce and sides.  The steak came out on a sizzling platter that would put Ruth's Chris to shame.  Even the veggies were sizzling hot.  And the roquefort sauce (which was served on the side and looked more like gravy) was excellent, too.  The meal was accompanied by as much wine as you cared to drink, so over the three hours we were there (had to wait for the ball to drop, right?) we managed to drink quite a few glasses.

At one other table was a group of three chelangos (folks who live in Mexico City) who were a bit rowdy, but one of the three spoke fine Spanish, French, and English and we not only kibbitzed between tables, we ended up joining them after dessert for a few more glasses of wine!  We all had a great time!!  [There was something about meeting up at four o'clock this afternoon at another restaurant downtown, but I'm not sure we're going to make that!]

So great a time that the owner of the restaurant discreetly sent his son on his motorcycle to follow us as we walked home to make sure we made it safely.  Guess he felt that we needed to cross a sketchy part of the colonia to reach our home - which we did, safely.  Of course folks were out on the streets (not really well lit in some areas), and it was reassuring to have company!

And by only ten-thirty this morning I somewhat resembled a human being again.  It reminded me of a recent time when we met a couple at a party where the wine flowed freely (one of our friends is a sommelier) and then we stopped at La Azotea for a few rounds of margaritas on the way home.  One of the guys did not survive the night unscathed.  [We did see them a couple of days later in Centro and were invited over to see their home, so all is forgiven, I guess.]

Thus we made it through the holidays in one piece.  Unless they're very anglicized, most Mexican families give gifts to their children on January 6th, the traditional date the three magi arrived in Bethlehem and presented their gifts to the Christ child.  I'm guessing hoping that should be a fairly quiet occasion.

And speaking of quiet, last night was pretty quiet compared to Christmas Eve, when the dogs were really bothered by the fireworks.  We were able to sleep through the night with no barking, so it's just as well that we cancelled our plan to send them out to the kennel in the country.

Here's to more frivolity in the new year!  Feliz ano nuevo, amigos!!!