Lest you begin to think that all we have in San Miguel is weather, a few notes about goings-on:
We have a friend who started a hostel. The owner of the building wants more business, but puts the kabosh on every idea our friend thinks of. Grrrr....
We have another friend who hosts a twice-weekly program in English about San Miguel happenings, who has done so well that he has recently been given a Spanish-language weekly program!
Another friend has recently met someone who lives in the South Pacific and is trying to figure out how to make it work out.
Yet another friend wants us all to go on a weekend-long retreat in the hills above Puebla.
Drama, options, frustrations!
Michael and I were supposed to attend a birthday party in 'nearby' Léon for the mother of a friend of ours who was celebrating a momentous birthday. We were unable to reach the owner of the puppy farm to board the dogs, so I stayed home with the two dogs. Michael enjoyed the partying; the dogs and I enjoyed the quiet.
Yes, 'two' dogs, not 'three.' Coca's health had been sliding and it was time to release her on the Thursday before the weekend of the party in Léon. She now presides over our entryway from her rather nice, ceramic urn.
Our 4th of July dinner party was held on Saturday, July 6th. Local groups held fundraising events on the 3rd and 4th. Why not a dinner on the 6th? We had planned on branching out and adding an additional person to our little group of stalwarts - and had done so. However, she cancelled at the last minute to support an old friend who was ending a difficult relationship. Guess we'll see her when she returns to SMA. We may even have finished the leftovers by then! [Note to self - Don't make so much! We finished one batch of ribs last night, but there's another in the freezer plus the rest of the Baja Chicken and side salads.]
Yesterday Michael and I went to see the facilitator who is helping us with our visa renewals this year. We would probably have done it ourselves (like last year), but there have been changes in the laws and our visas come due while we will be out of the country! A bit of help was needed. So we met Eduardo in his 'office' in the courtyard at Starbucks in the Centro Historico. Gave him a lot of information and will return to see him on Thursday to sign papers and hand over the government fees that will be due.
I must say, it will be handy to have someone else do the running around for us (government fees are not paid at government offices, but at local banks). We only had to get the necessary photos. [Accomplished a few days ago in the rain!] And since the renewal of our visas will most likely not provide us with physical visas before we need to leave the country for our annual visit to Santa Fee for the opera, Eduardo will handle getting us a temporary exit/entrance permit. So we'll be seeing him a few more times in the next week or so.
After leaving Starbucks, we picked up some more Controy at La Europea and began our walk home. Stopped for lunch at Hecho en Mexico - yummy as usual - and noticed a huge black cloud south of town as we walked along. Decided that if we wanted to be home before the rain reached us we would need to take a cab or bus, we opted for the bus ride (5 pesos vs 30-35 pesos). Riding the bus is always an adventure - and the bus was crowded when we got on it. Eventually snagged a seat and bounced and jostled along the street towards home (Michael bravely stood the whole way). Those topas (which double as crosswalks) are murder on a bus with a poor suspension system. The bus finally stopped at Mega (the big store we live near), so we hopped off and quickly walked the two blocks home - just in time to avoid the first drops of rain from that storm cloud.
Boy, did it rain! Not much thunder, but lots of rain and wind. Found out that the french doors in our bedroom are not impervious to wind-driven, slanting rain. And one of the windows in the cupola at the top of the stairs to the third floor even leaked a bit on the stairs leading up to the rooftop terrace.
If you're on FaceBook, Michael posted some pictures he took of the water shooting out of the bajantes de agua that drain rooftops and the huge puddle (read: lake) that formed at the bottom of our street which marooned a pickup truck (water up to it's windows). About an inch-and-a-half in less than an hour and our street slants downward so there's' lots of run-off. We need rain, but that was a bit much. Perhaps a lot of it will run off and end up in the presa??? There has been rain (usually with a lot of thunder and lightning), but it's been lighter precipitation-wise. Even today there continued to be light rainfall throughout the night.
Oh, and Fiyero was at the groomers in the afternoon, so Michael got to carry him around the local lake on the way home.
So, I managed to sneak some weather in this post, after all!
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