Blogs from San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico, North America

It’s another misty morning. We are up and packed by 10am ready to go to the bus station. Edgar has turned up and has kindly offered to drive us to there. He is such a sweetie. At the bus station we check in with no problem - today our seats are allocated. I go off in search of brunch as we don’t know what we will get on the bus. I choose a small pizza and chips from Dominoes, wrongly assuming that it will be fast food. It turns out that the guy behind the counter is not only responsible for taking the orders, but also making and cooking the food. I see my pizza made from scratch and half an hour later it is ready! We wolf our food down as there is a long ... read more

Not all fears are irrational. Like pain tells the body that it needs attention or stop that you idiot, fear acts as the emotional cue to fight or flight. It is a way to protect ourselves from danger and the possibility that the next step in the process could be injury and pain. When I was a small child, little fingers drawn to that hot stove, there was no fear of pain, for there was no experience with stoves. Mothers warning that it was hot meant nothing. What does hot mean? In later years, when sitting around a campfire, I used a long stick like a surrogate finger to poke at it, proving mastery over the hot thing. What other reason is there to stab at a fire? It needs no help from me to burn, ... read more

For some unknown reason, I find that the idea of eating chicken and eggs at the same meal is barbaric. Separately I enjoy them both very much. Together it feels as if I am wiping out an entire species. Do they taste good together? I can not even contemplate it. The breakfast buffet at the hotel where I live serves both, so it is apparently culturally acceptable. To me it is nothing short of poultricide. (Yes, I made that word up). There will not be any war crime tribunals at the Hague though, and no chickens carrying their accusatory picket signs through the hotel lobby, shouting for justice. “We are not just meat! Find something else to eat! Our young are not over easy!” they would shout. Of course they are just that and so much ... read more

To pass the time and improve my health, I have decided to use the workout room at the hotel. Exercising in my room has not worked, and I know that I need to lose about 15 to 20 pounds around the equator. It was one of my goals when I came to Mexico to lose some weight and exercise more, so I head off to the hotel gym with the best of intentions. The first obstacle encountered is the location of the room. It is on the second floor of the hotel. I would have to climb stairs to access it. Stairs! Don’t they have elevators in Mexico? I decide that tomorrow would be a better time to exercise, and I walk 2 blocks to the party store and buy a package of white powdered donuts, ... read more

There is a local theatre group in San Luis that has, as part of its contingent, a group of clowns. They perform on the weekends in the plaza where the theatre is located, entertaining the crowds and collecting pesos in a hat. Street clowns are treacherous creatures, preying on the weak and helpless, the slow of wit or the outsider. Little children are merely props to them in their quest for laughs. Now, I won’t specify which of the above categories I fall into, as I may fall into more than one. One evening while casually strolling through the plaza, I noticed a crowd of happy, laughing people, circled around some activity. Naturally my curiosity was aroused and I innocently went to investigate. I walked to the edge of the crowd, and it was almost as ... read more