Another Round of SMA

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

(I could tell by the overwhelming number of comments and responses that you enjoyed the article I posted the other day regarding our president 😎  That said, it does raise concern among many Mexicans as well as ex-pats and it is something people should be aware when coming to Mexico.)

I'm sitting here tonight watching "The Bells of Saint Mary's" with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman as I write the blog.  I'm home alone.  Not so good news this week.  Juan's niece passed away at an early age from a blood clot in her knee.  he took the bus home last Saturday night.  He then went to school to sign his work release permit and they have decided to audit all the classes and teachers.  Now he won't be back in SMA until the 18th.  Such is life.

Before he left, we were in the city market downtown having a snack.  A couple walked by a couple of times and the second round Juan gave them the thumbs up on the food and they joined us.  We'll call them A&B for now.  They are from Quebec and came for a short visit.   We hit it off and we have done some sightseeing together.  This week we went to Atotonilco and Dolores Hidalgo, and they had me over for a wonderful pasta and sauce dinner at their VRBO.  We have seemed to hit it off.  We have many things in common.

Tomorrow we will take a tour of the Fábrica Aurora which is the old textile mill.   Mostly antiques and art galleries but they do have the original equipment and the halls are lined with old photographs of the textile mill.  

The pictures below were taken at the church Sanctuario Jésus Nazareno de Atotonilco also known as the Mexican Sistine Chapel.   All hand-painted ceilings and altars it has a history dating back to 1740 and founded by Father Felipe Nero de Alfaro.  I picked up a book there years ago, written in Spanish, that tells the story of the priest and the church.  A lot of history in such a small town that is really made up of the church and a few small shops.

We drove on to Dolores Hidalgo, the cradle of Mexican Independence.  We didn't have a lot of time but we did tour the main plaza, sampled some ice creams, had a nice lunch of enchiladas suizas (chicken enchiladas covered in a creamy tomatillo sauce and covered with swiss cheese) and a quick look at the museum.  I know I've posted about these places several times before but they are of great interest and for me, it never gets old.  I could do this every week.  I like showing people a bit about Mexico.

It looks like we will be here for Christmas and I will be looking for some semblance of a Christmas tree, something small, a few lights and decorations.  

I have also had the pleasure of spending time with our friend Barbara, happy hours, grocery shopping and doing odds and ends.  It's been fun and I think I would like SMA as a home base.