Mexico, Flood, and Thanksgiving

You might be wondering what Mexico, a flood, and Thanksgiving have in common.

On October 18th Jerry and I returned home after a fantastic vacation in Mexico to find that a $10 toilet supply line in an upstairs bathroom had failed while we were away, causing extensive water damage to the downstairs music room:  the ceiling was dripping, the walls were wet, and half of the wood floors were ruined. (It looked like we had been taking on water for 4-5 days.)

I freaked out. When my home, my inner sanctum, is torn apart I feel torn apart too. I was in a funk for a few weeks.

As Thanksgiving approached I decided that it would lift my spirits to throw a small dinner party onThanksgiving Eve for 12-15 out-of-towners who were here for the main event the next day at our friend's house. Somewhere along the way (with Jerry's help/meddling) that dinner party morphed into an Open House for over 100 friends and family.

This blog is about several journeys: our physical journey to and from the town of San Miguel de Allende, our house's journey back towards wholeness, and my emotional journey towards joy as we celebrated a balmy Thanksgiving Eve with a broken/wonderful house full of friends and family.

(I spend a lot of time on the San Miguel portion. If you're not interested in the travelogue,  skip to Parts Two and Three. They are much shorter.)

Part One: San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende is a historic colonial town about 170 miles NW of Mexico City.

We took a direct flight from Tijuana to Queretaro on Volaris Airlines. Getting a ride to Otay Mesa and walking over the bridge to the TJ airport was easy. The flight to Queretaro took about three hours and then the drive to San Miguel was a little over an hour. (Jerry had pre-arranged a driver to take us from the airport to our condo. Nice move, Jerry)

Jerry and I traveled with our "sister in law" Geri Sander. Since both of my traveling partners sounded like they had the same name, I called Geri "Gigi."

Art and Architecture

From the minute we hit the streets in San Miguel we could see that this was an eyes-a-poppin' arty town. 

Weird Doorknob

Murals at La Biblioteca Gift Shop

Mural at La Sirena Gorda Restaurant

The Ceilings in our  Condo

Then there is the architecture. The iconic landmark is the Parroquia (Parish Church) of San Miguel. Jerry found us a condo two blocks away. We would come to this area at all hours just to feel like we were in the thick of things.

The  Parroquia at night

Mariachis in the Town Square

Balloon Vendors outside the Parroquia

Jerry Paid for the Kids' Rides 

We walked and walked and walked some more. You have to watch out, though, as the sidewalks are narrow, cars are close by, and the driveways make little dips which can catch you unawares. 

Typical sidewalks look like this.

Before long we discovered the rooftops. Lots of them give you fantastic views of the city.

A view of the Parroquia from the rooftop of the Rosewood Hotel

Jerry on the rooftop of our condo

Gigi and I thoroughly enjoyed our Historic Walking Tour led by our knowledgeable and interesting ex-pat American tour guide Saul. We visited all of the historical landmarks in the center of town. He gave us a play-by-play of the beginnings of the revolution against Spanish colonial rule. (This revolution began in 1810 when the cry of freedom "la grita" was first heard about 20 miles away in Dolores.) One of the instigators of this revolution was Ignacio Allende, a native son of the town. (Prior to the revolution the town was called San Miguel El Grande.) The good news for Allende was that after the revolution the town was named after him - the bad news was that he literally lost his life for the cause. 

Our Day Trip to Guanajuato 

Guanajuato

We had an adventurous day in Guanajuato with our tour guide Pablo. Gigi first struck up a conversation with him the day before at the Mercado Sana (an organic market and ex-pat hangout).  He was a winning combination of chocolatier and tour guide,  with enthusiasm and good English thrown in.  So we hired him to take us to Guanajuato the next day in his van.  (Just to remind you, Guanajuato is over an hour away by car.)

A Gold and Silver Mine - L to R Our Guide, Jerry, Gigi, and Pablo

Gold and Silver and Gigi and Jerry in a church, also a venue for the Arts Festival (notice the piano)

Guanajuato was jumping as it was the first day of an Arts Festival. Despite the throngs of people all went well until about 5 PM - we had seen the gold mines, the church, the mercado, Cervantes museum, old town, and the university. Pablo even found us a nice place for lunch. (In hindsight, I should have suspected something when after lunch he opened the hood and pounded on the engine with a sledgehammer to get the car started. )

At @5PM Pablo left us waiting on a street corner saying he would walk to the car park, get the van, and pick us up - half hour tops. After 45 minutes, no Pablo. I called him. He sounded desperate - his van wouldn't start. He was working on it - he would call us right back. Meanwhile, I was starting to get nervous - no Uber in this part of Mexico. No public transport back to San Miguel either. How were we going to get back? 

Meanwhile, during our vigil waiting for Pablo, making calls, probably looking worried, we drew the attention of a man who was also hanging out there too.  (Early on this man had asked me if we needed help but I said no, we were just waiting for our driver.) When Pablo called back to say he had to  stay in Guanajuato with his van that night, we went into action. We approached the man (name of Hector), asked him if he was a driver (yes), could he take us to San Miguel (yes), and how much would it cost (a reasonable price.) So we made it back to San Miguel that night after all!

Who was Hector and why was he standing there, you might ask? It turns out he had been hired as a driver for the Arts Festival  and was just hanging out waiting to drive celebs to and from the venues and after-parties. His price was reasonable because he was actually double dipping - the Arts Festival and us. No harm, no foul.

When we got home Pablo called to make sure we made it back safely. He was still with the van in Guanajuato. One point for Pablo. We never paid him, nor did he ask, for the rest of his fee.

Food and Chocolate in San Miguel

Here are pictures related to some of our dining experiences.

Street Food at Night

Gigi Fell in Love with Chiles en Nogada!

My Favorite Panaderia for Breakfast

Sugar Treats for Day of the Dead

Gigi and More Street Food

Now we come to the subject of chocolate. Gigi is a bona fide chocolatier. You should see and taste some of her fantastic creations!! 

Here's where Pablo fits into the picture again. Since our ill-fated day in Guanajuato we had stayed in touch - his van was fixed and he was back in San Miguel. Gigi originally befriended him. after all, because he was a chocolatier and she wanted to take a chocolate class with him. So we hired him to teach us how he makes his ayurvedic chocolates. We had already tasted them: they were delicious -  not very sweet, lots of grainy chew, and very low in fat content.

Pablo at the condo

We used whole cocoa beans which we toasted and shelled. We used toasted and ground nuts and  cocoa powder to bind it all together. Gigi could give you the exact of everything. We had a blast!

Lightly Toasted Cocoa Beans

The Two Chocolatiers

Ground Seeds

Cocoa Powder

The finished product before rolling into balls

Rolling into  Balls

Dem Balls - Yum!

Music and Entertainment

We tried to catch as much live music as we could. (If you go consult a weekly local paper called Que Pasa!) My all time favorite was listening to the band Media Luna at a little restaurant called Paprika.

That night they were joined by an older classically trained violinist who was awesome - he took wild exciting improvisational flights into the stratosphere and back. He seemed to energize and inspire the younger guys you see here. It was a wow!

My other favorite entertainment was a girl band outside a church on Sunday afternoon. 

Their Brass and Rhythm Sections Were Hot

Before long these mojigangas started dancing

Our Last Day - 

Tuesday October 17th was our last day and we needed to get to Queretaro to catch our early evening flight back to Tijuana. Here comes Pablo again.

We hired him to show us around the town of Queretaro. Since we had plenty of time he took us to his friend's  eco resort center near the stone monolith Pena de Bernal. 

Pena de Bernal

The Eco-Resort Kitchen

Los Tres Amigos - Adios Mexico!

Part Two: The Flood

As I said before, we returned early on the morning of October 18. Around 10 AM I went downstairs to meet with my piano student Karen. I heard the distinct sound of drip, drip, drip. 

The connector on the  $10 supply line cracked

Our downstairs was taking on water - it looked like about 4-5 days worth.

Thank heavens our contractor Robbie and his assistant Victor were out back working on stairs to our lower deck.  Robbie called a plumber who came out right away. Then Robbie and Victor helped us mop up, movie the harpsichord aside,  and take our huge area rug outside. I called the insurance.

It took over a week to dry out

After the haggling with the insurance we are finally cleared out and ready to go. Things are moving along.

Thanksgiving Eve

As I mentioned before after we came home from Mexico I was feeling a bit out of sorts. The house was torn up and I felt torn up.

I started popping  pills!

Thanksgiving was just around the corner and I was starting to get my mojo back - the pills might have worked after all!

I decided to host a dinner party for 12-15 people on Thanksgiving Eve - primarily the out of towner's that were coming the next day to Jeff and Lydia's. We did this last year and it turned out great.

About ten days before the event I was thinking about the menu, talked to Jerry about it, and asked Lydia to invite her out of town family like last year.

Then I got an email from a local friend RSVPing to our dinner party on Thanksgiving Eve. What the ? ? ? It turned out Jerry invited ALL of the people on Jeff and Lydia's guest list (not just the out of towner's) and the numbers for our party were close to 40. I hit the roof!!

Jerry felt bad.  He sent out another email cancelling the event. Unfortunately, it wasn't to the SAME email list of original invitees. 

So some people get UNINVITED to a party that they were never invited to in the first place. It was very confusing. 

Meanwhile, I could see Jerry still wanted to have a get together at our house that night.   (You remember he had a heart attack last September.)  I softened up and agreed to let him go ahead if he handled EVERYTHING. I also told him I may or not show up. 

He was planning on making it a pot luck and calling out for pizzas. He said it would be a breeze. I call this Jerry's Magical Thinking. He started sending out invites. People who were uninvited before got confused.  

By Saturday before Thanksgiving he had invited the entire San Diego Symphony and staff.  He was getting RSVP's from our friends in Australia and Spain. 

By Sunday morning before Thanksgiving I was very upset - how was I going to boycott a party at my own house with all of these people coming? I was dreading Thanksgiving Eve. I was afraid it would be a disaster and I didn't want to be a part of it. 

So Sunday morning around 7 AM I told Jerry that the only way I was going to show up for the Thanksgiving Eve Party would be if he had it fully catered ("turn key"): tables, chairs, tablecloths, drinks, plates, utensils, glasses, servers, you name it. I wasn't going to "lift a finger." Only then I would I attend. He heard me loud and clear. 

By noon on Sunday Jerry had it all arranged to have Girard Gourmet cater a party for 100 people!

One very nice gentleman got invited because he must have been on a guest list for another party that we had been invited to last summer. Neither one of us had ever met him before. 

We had such fun! Girard Gourmet did a fantastic job. Neither Jerry nor I lifted a finger so we got to relax and hang out with everybody. Jerry set up a ping pong table in the garage for the kids and families.

Here are some beautiful pictures that our friend Alberto Lau took of the party. 

The party in full swing

It was a balmy evening

The food was delicious

People seemed to have a good time

Jerry and I got to enjoy our guests

(I apologize that some of my dearest friends didn't get invited. Since I didn't get on board until the last minute I had never given Jerry my wish list of friends. )

As I said before at the beginning of this blog, all my journeys culminated on Thanksgiving Eve. The house was healing and so was I.