Two weeks in San Miguel

Yesterday I went to the practice of a group here in San Miguel that does arial dance with trapieze, those long fabrics that hang from the ceiling and various other crazy things. My whole body is screaming today, it was one of the hardest workouts of my life (and I hardly did anything compared to the rest), but they told me I am strong and flexible enough to come back and practice more! They have a girl who is leaving in a few months and may have an opening in their perfomance group! So I am super excited. We are talking wild spandex body suits and wigs and rainbow sparkly face paint!!!
My silverworking class is really cool too. I have already learned how to set a stone to make a pendant. It looks very fancy! Today I started a ring with a fire opal that I will finish tomorrow. I bought opals and gold obsidian in Queretaro (big city about an hour away) on Saturday, bargained with the guy, paid $16 for seven good stones and found out in class that I paid like 1/8 the price that some of the others paid at a Feria de Artesanias yesterday. I happy about that. The basic tools to do a lot of this work are neither expensive or large so I think I will be able to travel and continue with silver although I would really love to stay here longer to learn more techniques. Then I would try to get a table in the market.
I also met the best salsa partner I have ever danced with this weekend! He is from Colorado of all places, but I could not believe his skills! We danced until 3:30 in the morning. He has the beat, he understands the technical parts, which a lot of people don't, and he leads so good! I knew where I was supposed to go and how I was going to get there before I knew that I knew and we just flowed like that for hours. He is staying here a while so i hope we get to dance again.
Today I am going to attempt my first batch of arroz con leche because el Maestro has never had it and I think it's an essential part of one's Mexico experience (unless you are lactose intolerant). We have been eating really good food here. I had INDIAN food!!!!! I have been dying for it since before I even left Ca, it was good.
Tomorrow, I have my last class in the morning, I will try to finsh the ring. Then I think we are going to try to put wheels on Rising's little crate, because then I will be totally mobile and self suffiecient. Which will make me very very happy. Wednesday night we will go out with our friend from the taxi and his friend the salsa dancer and maybe some others and if we can get up in the morning, I will get on the bus to Puebla.
Once in Puebla I will think about what I want to do, and after that, I plan to do whatever it is that I want.

First days in San Miguel

Now I am staying at the house of one of my favorite high school teachers in San Miguel de Allende. It's cool becuase now I get to know him as a real live person! I have been taking long walks with Rising and seeing what the town is like. She is just fine from her accident. No limp, no pain really. Her incision didn't heal properly and there was talk of reopening the whole thing but now it is looking much better. I think the guys in Merida cut way too much. I am kind of upset but I can't change it now. She is so smart though and we are having a lot of fun. El maestro totally loves her too.

I am on my own again. It is actually very nice. Memo didn't have any money and I wasn't doing anything in Puebla so we decided it would be good if I ran off for a bit. I like having time to myself (as everyone seems to know) and our relationship is endlessly intense so taking breaks is really good I think. As for artesanias, I actually can't sell here. It's only if you pay for an actual stand in the market and I don't have enough stuff or time yet. So I am working on making lots of new stuff. I have been
trying all sorts of new ideas and some nice things have emerged. I am also looking into buying a dremmel which I would use to cut stones and also to work silver. They cost something really affordable like $60. I am so interested in learning more more more! San Miguel is really neat, the streets are all cobbled and there is art EVERYWHERE. They have a fantastic art school that I am going to check out today. And tons of americans. Which is a little wierd but not as bad as I thought it would be. They are nice for the most part althought maybe a little goofy. There is this whole "travel fashion" thing where they get all dressed up in the jewelery and fancy hair and scarves but with quick dry pants and KEENS (damn those keens, I know my whole family loves them, but nothing screams, "tourist" more than they do). Some of them have this elitist attitude though like "ooo I am so special I live in Mexico" and I'm like, um... we are all in Mexico right now. Mheh, what can ya do? One cool thing is that with the Americans come the things they like, such as good cheese and bread, foreign cuisine, yoga, meditation, recycling, hiking clubs, and so on, so I get a little respite from beans and tortillas and can stretch out a bit.