August 12

Hello again!

I've been laid low since Sunday by some sort of bug that caused a cold and fever, and today was the first day I've been upright since then.  Wobbly, but upright.  Tonight at dinner I ran into someone from my chorus who told me that several people she knew have been down with this.

So this morning we went to see two houses and saw one -- one owner forgot and the hell with him.  The other wasn't as good as ones we've seen already.  As of now we have appointments to see two more houses and inquiries out to a few more:  we shall see.

Late this afternoon for the first time we went to the Pocket Theater, about two blocks from our house, which shows wonderful films either in English or with English subtitles.  I'd seen their weekly announcements on the San Miguel listserv for months before we arrived.  For 70 pesos, roughly $6, you get the movie, a drink, and a bag of popcorn.  It's a tiny theater with 20 very comfortable seats and naturally a smallish screen.  The source of the movies is a DVD.  Tonight we saw Becket with Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton, which I hadn't seen in years — a great movie.  Halfway through the movie we heard thunder and pouring rain; by the time we got out it was all over.

We decided to go out to dinner since at 7:30 we didn't feel like cooking, and on the way to the restaurant Rick stopped to say hello to someone he knew and another person driving down the street stopped to say hello to him.  Last night, for curiosity's sake, he enumerated the people he knows here in San Miguel by name.  He named over 60 people, all of whom he's met in a month here.  Then he named people he knows on Camano Island, where we've lived nearly five years, and came up with about 20.  Astonishing.

The restaurant we had dinner at is called Hecho en Mexico (Made in Mexico), and it reminded me of a post to the San Miguel listserv I read today.  A woman ate dinner there last night and realized she had left her purse in the taxi that brought her there.  Within an hour the driver saw the purse in the back seat, figured out who had left it, and brought it to her at the restaurant, complete with all the pesos and credit cards.  Walking back home, the street vendors were out, the Parroquia was lit up, and people were out on the sidewalks talking and laughing.

I love this town.