ON MY OWN
My airbnb is quite comfortable with a large double bed with a thick comforter that can be folded double to keep me warm at night, a desk, a comfortable chair and internet. It is just above La Cabra Iluminada, a leafy courtyard restaurant under small potted trees. I like the sound of people talking just below me all day. I share a small kitchen and a bathroom with one other room. But the best thing about the Airbnb is that is a block away from the tree filled town square beside the huge cathedral that is beautifully illuminated at night.
Yesterday, after arriving by taxi, I spent the afternoon sitting in my room. I ate leftovers for lunch, heated in the microwave which I managed to start after punching button after button with indecipherable Spanish designations. I am a microwave Trader Joe cook in Asheville so the microwave is the most essential feature for me.
But for supper I went into the street to find a cheap street food taco stand that I had read about. I didn’t find it. But instead I discovered that in front of the cathedral was seating being arranged for an evening concert and fireworks in honor of the Generalisimo Allende’s 256th birthday. One problem with being an outsider, even in the United States and particularly if you don’t know the language, is that you have no idea what is going on. Even in Marshall or Asheville events can happen without my knowing it. But one of the best things about traveling is stumbling over local events by accident and joining in.
People were already taking seats for the concert which was supposed to start in 30 minutes, at 7, and I was hungry. So I walked down the street and found a hamburger, quesadilla, hot dog stand and got a quesadilla and a hot dog with everything on it for 300 pesos, 6 dollars and a coke for $1. I took it back to the concert that was about to begin. When I got back I got a front row seat. It was almost 7 on my watch with no sign of musicians until I remembered that my watch was still on Asheville time and it was really 6. So I had an hour to wait in the sunshine with the cathedral rising above me and people swirling around the square.
The hot dog, by the way, with everything, was the most delicious hot dog I have ever had with every kind of topping including bacon bits on it. I didn’t know if it was permissible in Mexico to eat in public, especially when waiting for a concert, but no one seemed to mind.
Then with half an hour to go the musicians, all in dark suits, began to drift in and to warm up, all wind instruments, tooting away in a cacaphony of sound. And then finally the concert began. And what a glorious concert it was. The entire band was wind instruments and the musicians were incredible. I filmed most of it in spacial video including a few stirring speeches that I didn’t understand a word of. The first video is 50 minutes long, the second polka video is 10 minutes long.
Concert 50 minutes
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0ff8lzePJ8DvXapmYafHPe7Rw
Polkas 9 minutes
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cbVNrSndIAAYZwJLd3SM7OZQ
As you listen imagine yourself sitting on the plaza at San Miguel de Allende with the lighted trees of the plaza behind you, sitting amoung hundreds of attentive people from all over the world, but mostly Mexican, with the lighted cathedral rising behind the musicians. I couldn’t imagine any place I would rather be. What you won’t notice as you listen is that the temperature which was 75 at noon is sliding down and the wind is picking up so that by the end of concert the temperature in the wind was 45 and headed to 32. There were fireworks after the concert, but I was freezing and went back to the airbnb to get my winter coat and warm up a little. The fireworks were scheduled for 9 but when I got back at 8:45, they were all over.
But all in all it was a marvelous day.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 