LEANING PEAR LOVE

You have no idea how much I missed this little goober while I was away! So much has changed in such a short time. When I left he was just starting to walk, and still felt the need to keep one hand on the wall or furniture most of the time. Now he's totally hands free, and he no longer walks, he runs. Nonstop. All day!

Modeling his new Guayabera going-out-to-dinner-shirt from Mexico. Size 2 barely fits him, and he's not even 1 yet!

A couple of new teeth have grown in since I saw him last.

Lex offered to bring him down for a visit, and when I asked where she'd like to meet for lunch, she said what she always says these days. "The Leaning Pear." Why is she so enamored with it? Well, for one thing, it's the only place in town with a decent hi-chair! Everywhere else has the square wooden things, usually with missing or broken straps, where you spend all of your time trying to keep the kid from ooching out the bottom. Leaning Pear has these beauties, which keep him perfectly in place.

What she really loves, however, is the children's menu. Do you know how difficult it is to find a kid's menu with anything on it besides chicken nuggets or mac & cheese? When she was pregnant she stumbled across a book called French Kids Eat Everything, by Karen LeBillon, about a brave couple who moved two picky-eater kids into a small French town and converted them into foodie omnivores. She's been using that as her guideline when introducing solid foods to Calvin and, so far, he's really loving his fruits and veggies. Which is why she really appreciates their menu item called "Small Bites", where you can choose any three from a list including chicken, bacon, avocado, chayote, tomatoes, cucumber, dried fig, chips and fruit. He loves it all!

In fact, he was even digging around in that pocket on his bib for missed bits of avocado, when he ran out of stuff on the table.

And that is why we've fallen in love with The Leaning Pear all over again!

P.S. Another great book she just stumbled across at the library, and promptly ordered for herself, is a cookbook called Little Foodie, by Michelle Olivier. She said everything in it looked yummy, even the purees, plus there were lots of recipes for things they can all eat, which is often a struggle for harried moms who don't have the time or energy to make separate meals for everyone.

SMdA: DAY ONE

One of the many spectacular views from La Vista, the room Fiber Woman and I shared, which was at the tippy top of the inn. That's an art studio behind the patio tables, where visiting instructors sometimes teach workshops.

Paint-Pouring Woman waves from her room down below us.

One of my favorite things about our inn, Casa de la Noche (beside the fact that it used to be a bordello) is that the tea kettle is always out, and there are a dozen or more cozy little corners for me to hang out with a cup of tea, while waiting for the rest of my group to drag themselves down to breakfast in the main courtyard. That first day breakfast was called something like "entomada", which turned out to be three little cheese enchiladas topped with salsa verde. Plus there were always fresh fruit platters, yogurt, and granola, to go with the day's two entree options. Yum! Afterwards we all headed to the square to meet up with one of the volunteer ex-pat guides who raise money to send dental vans out to the villages by leading architectural/historical tours around town.

Since I had heard the spiel before, I was able to focus more on the sights this time, and less on the guide.

A Very Old Pharmacy

One thing I couldn't help but notice was all the anti-Trump t-shirts and buttons being sold in the shops. Fortunately, everyone was very cordial to us, though they occasionally asked "Why? Why Trump?" Our only disturbing incident was outside one of the oldest churches, where our guide had stopped to talk to us. We kept getting splashed by a man who was washing bird poop off the sidewalk. We'd scoot away, then it would happen again. Finally we realized he was doing it on purpose, to get our attention. Once he had it, he went into a long rant that we couldn't understand at all, except for the words "Norté Americanos", which popped up frequently.

La Biblioteca -- the heart of the ex-pat community.

 Lunch was at Café Martin, just behind La Biblioteca, then it was back to our hotel for a siesta.

Café Martin

The two above were still feeling a bit jet-lagged come dinner time (though we hadn't actually changed time zones, the change in altitude can get to you) but the rest of us managed to pull ourselves together to head out on the town. Dinner was here, at La Mezcaleria -- a place specializing in unusually-flavored mescal margaritas.

Believe it or not, I tried every one they had -- as in, one sip from each of the six the other girls had. They insisted on taking this photo for proof, saying no one would believe they actually saw me drinking hard liquor.

The food was amazing.

We finished the evening off with a stroll around the square, which was fairly quiet compared to high summer.

Then it was back to our little table in the courtyard, to sip tea or a cold beer, and go over the days events.

THE LURE OF SAN MIGUEL

One of the best things about San Miguel de Allende is that, much like our own little town here in the Texas Hill Country, it's kind of hard to get to. I first fell in love with the idea of San Miguel when I picked up a book called On Mexico Time, by Tony Cohan -- written back in the day when only a few artists and writers from the U.S. had discovered it and decided to make it their home. Of course, it's not that sleepy little place anymore. But it's no smog-smothered Mexico City, either!

Last time we went to San Miguel (almost two years ago, with a local yoga group) we flew Southwest Airlines from San Antonio to Mexico City -- a humongous, somewhat scary airport packed wall-to-wall with people -- then had a four hour bus ride to get to San Miguel. Not fun.

This time we decided to try option B: flying Interjet (a lovely airline with a no overbooking warranty, wider seats, and lots more legroom) into the Guanajuato International Airport in Leon, then making the 1-1/2 hr. drive from there to San Miguel via private shuttle service. Not bad. Not bad at all. We did have a 2 or 3 hour layover in Monterrey both ways, but at least it's a nice, clean, easily navigable airport.

Fiber Woman and Outdoor Woman enjoy our layover in Monterrey from the balcony of Starbucks.

Paint-Pouring Woman (on the right) and her BFF, Jennie. PPW's big 6-0 was the motivation behind this epic adventure.

Dinner at the Airport

We've since heard that they are planning to build a big new airport much closer to San Miguel. And, just as we cringe every time they widen one of the roads leading into our own little town of Wimberley, or write about its charms in a national publication, we can't help but wonder. Could this be the beginning of the end?

It was after dark when we finally made it to Casa de la Noche -- the same charming inn that John and I stayed in last time. Since one of the Muses (Spirit Woman) was not able to come on this adventure, Outdoor Woman invited an old friend from California to be her roomie. Unfortunately, Patty's flight was delayed three hours, and she didn't get in until the middle of the night. Meanwhile, the rest of us gathered around this little table in the courtyard that our three rooms surrounded -- a daily habit that ended up becoming one of our favorite parts of the trip!