Blue Skies!

Before everyone starts to believe that SMA is a rain-soaked town, I should report that Tuesday was wonderfully sunny. Although it began with gray skies, the clouds cleared, the sun came out, the world dried out, and we were able to get out of the house without drowning to run errands, do grocery shopping, and try a new restaurant for lunch.

Rather than spend the money on taxis (they’re inexpensive but using them all the time does mount up) we decided to drive. Consequently we took care of errands on the periphery of SMA. We’re only a few blocks away from the new glorieta near Bodega Aurrora on which work progresses, so connected there with the libramiento that skirts the town, goes up the hill, and connects with the glorieta at La Luciernega Mall, the city administration buildings, and the vast Tuesday Marketplace (another story).

The mall is home to the Soriano grocery store (remember Cabo’s?), Office Depot (one of our favorite stores), the Liverpool department store, a branch of our bank, our vet’s office, and several other shops and the MM Cinemas. There’s even a McDonald’s, but I’ve not tried them out - yet.

Did our shopping, visited the vet’s office, tried Chicago Style – the new restaurant in town – and trundled back home. Chicago Style was very good. With Michael having lived near (everything is relative, eh?) Chicago at one time, he has a fondness for Chicago-style pizza. They do have it right. We ordered slices of pizza, but were treated to cauliflower hors d’ouvres with a creamy Italian dipping sauce as well as slices from their Italian Beef sandwich (which I’ll order the next time). This is opening week for the restaurant and they’re soliciting comments on their various dishes with tastes all around and visits from the chef. All very reasonably priced, too. The menu isn’t extensive so they have time to focus on each dish they offer, a wise idea. They get two thumbs up.

While we’re getting more confident about driving around town (driving the cuotas was a snap), we still drive ‘around’ town, not 'through' town. The thought of taking the van through the little streets in Centro is more than daunting – suicidal seems a better description. Yes, the city busses travel those routes, but even they don’t travel every street, only the larger ones. Downtown it's simpler to walk.

Today – if the weather holds – we should be walking downtown with stops at our mail pick-up place, the TelCel store where we purchased our Mexican cell phones (we keep getting a recorded message whenever we place a call and have no idea what it’s telling us!), and the bookstore at La Biblioteca.

We finally broke down and sent our dirty clothes out to the laundry. All the wet weather had dissuaded us from doing the laundry ourselves. Last week we washed clothes in the kitchen sink and hung them out to dry on the roof top. It will be simpler to send them out. They were picked up yesterday and will be delivered today: washed, dried, and folded. We’ve been living with only the clothes we brought with us for the trip to SMA, adding a pair of khakis and a ‘nice’ shirt for each of us that we needed for the dinner to which we were invited the first week we were here.

I know it must seem that we’re unhealthily focused on the whereabouts of our household, but it’s hard to maintain a ‘What? Me worry?’ attitude for weeks as the weather results of Hurricane Alex hold our goods hostage. Our choice for seating is the inflatable mattress on the floor or the two office chairs we purchased on an earlier visit from Office Depot – oh, and the occasional straight-backed chair (read ‘uncomfortable’) that’s at the dining room table.

A Listero posted a link to the webcams for the bridges crossing the border at Laredo and they seem to be open again. Hope the roads south are soon repaired. I hear there’s a detour for one of the main roads. It’s not like L.A. around here: there’s one road from Point A to Point B and any back-up routes take you way outta your way.

Here's hoping we get our belongings in time to unpack and set them up before we leave for the Santa Fe Opera in August.