Season's Greetings

Christmas morning and we headed downtown to see the action.  Instead, we saw lots of closed shops. The only action seemed to be the wood sellers

the hat and basket vendor

and a paper flower seller

Even the cantinas were closed.

 

San Miguel has a lively cantina tradition and I plan to eventually get photos of them all from the outside.  Women are, by tradition, not allowed inside.

 

The fact that the shops were closed gave me the opportunity to get a closer look at their doors and fastenings.
I love the centipede hinges, the lizard hasp and the handmade padlock on this door.

 

Happy Holidays to you all with best wishes for a joyful 2010.

Oh no! She blogged her bathroom.

I'm so impressed with the beautiful workmanship of our tileman that I couldn't resist photos. Here is what our walk-in shower looked like when we completed the house 3 years ago. It was a flat cement floor along the back wall with a tiled enclosure for the shower.

With the recent cold weather I missed a tub for soaking so after the rooftop project was completed I asked our maestro to create a tub for me.

First he tiled in the entrance to the shower

and then he filled the floor with an elegant tile design and some corner triangles

Keep in mind that nothing in our house is square, including the trapezoid of the shower space. Each tile was individually cut to create the effect that it is a real rectangle.

Now are you impressed, too?

Our New Rooftop

We're building a Tajada! That's a tiled patio cover for a portion of our rooftop so we can enjoy our sunsets comfortably out of the wind that often blows in the late afternoon. This is different from when we had a supervisor for building our house; this time we're in charge of the ordering and hiring.

First the bricks are delivered
then the cement and rebar
then the sand, dumped in our narrow steet
The cement is mixed on the cobblestones in front of the house
and they "fly" it in a bucket to the roof, along with the bricks
on a simple counterweighted pully contraption.
One morning at 7 the carved columns and beam were delivered by Sr. Cruz and his wife. They drove all night from Tzinsunan, near Patzquaro, where we had ordered them from their workshop during our recent trip. They slept in the truck until 7am. Here were are at the unloading, almost awake. The two columns aren't visible in the truck, just the 4 meter carved crossbeam.
I was really worried how they would get the giant beams up the three stories to the roof and not have it fall onto a neighbor's house below while they were constructing it, but these guys are pros.
Here it is all together safely with no mishaps. wired with plugs for the margarita blender and ready for the walls to be painted. There is even a special place for Bryan's giant bbq grill from Texas. Come on over! If you're lucky you'll get a sunrise view like this.
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Surprising Zacatecas

Our quickie Thanksgiving road trip to Zacatecas, 4 hours north of here, turned out to be more surprising than we expected. We toured a silver mine, rode a gondola to the peak above the town and walked the colonial central. But the biggest surprise came the 2nd night when we stood in the plaza of the Ex-Templo de San Agustin watching the sound and light show.

The temple, built in the 17th centry, is under renovation. In 1882 it was purchased by American Presbyterian missionaries who destroyed its "too Catholic" main facade, replacing it with a blank wall.
That night they used the blank facade to tell the history of the church beginning with motifs from traditional Huichol beadwork with a peyote inspired psychedelic look.
This is from an early drawing of the church.
At one time it was a rooming house and a casino.
I loved this stained glass vision.
And finally, an amazingly realistic depiction of how the restored church might look. The only actual details are the carvings on the upper right roofline and the unadorned windows.
As if that world class presentation were not enough, the burro and band showed up,
and we were all issued little cups with unlimited Mescal for all.

Instead of the singing groups of San Miguel, Zacatecas includes folkloric dancers to inspire the participants. Join in and walk along.
We stopped at several plazas where the dancers first showed their skills
and then pulled in the onlookers. You might recognize Bryan practicing his folkloric skills. We were bundled up for the cold but obviously the dancers kept warm by dancing.
As if a light show and a drinking/dancing parade through the streets weren't enough, when we returned to the church tables of hot food had been set up
and more free drinks for all...take your pick
More dancing and drinking ensued and a surprising time was had by all.