San Miguel-Part-2

So we of course ate that fabulous meal at Venus restaurant,

Then we headed back to car. passing various people & things.  Elaine posed for me by the parking lot with a mural behind her in 1 shot.

Then as we walked out of Restaurant, right in front was this blue-eyed little bombshell!

And her mother, who I asked if it was ok to take their pics. I asked her where they were from, and she said Poland, the baby is 1/2 Polish & 1/2 Mexican.  If you see her eyes. (baby) they are a startling blue! And those eyes aren't contacts.

They were nice, and compliant with my nosy request.

An art gallery from street, we passed. Elaine said she could shop, look at 1 block on a saturday, and probably never finish San Miguel. Many Many shops of all kinds. The wealth there from the snow birds from USA, Canada, England is seemingly unlimited. And the prices reflect it mostly. But the good thing is the town shops cater to wealthy, and you can find the things we don't have in Dolores/La Paz. But its at a premium usually.

Another Blanco lady, approaching Bonanza. You can just lean on the wall, and see all kinds of americans and others coming into the health food store. Only place we have found our stevia, and quinoa, walnuts, and many other healthier foods.

Tho the first time there we saw what looked like quinoa, bought 2 small bags, and when we went to cook it, it never got soft! Just stayed hard as pellets.
So learned to ask the clerks.

Native senior citizen, maybe, she could just be 45, sun ages women here big time.

Saw this little cutie walking with Mom, and her green umbrella. Couldn't resist.










Then we came upon a scene right out of the 1600's on the streets of San Miguel. As they approached we knew it was some kind of parade, festival.

We were stuck inn traffic, with this parade approaching, so I handed camera to Debbie, who was driving and just told her to keep shooting. She was worried about the light, etc, but told her with IPhoto, it allows you to adjust the picture within a large scale range. And the pics were great.

The men are dressed up so colorfully, with the masks.
We knew it was some pagan/christian festival, and we were stuck in the road as they passed. Didn't pay $$ to watch.

Here is the Guadalupe picture that represents her, the Awake has article on it 2 yrs(?) ago. and just about was dead(pun) on the mark. This celebration comes from some story a man(was he a merchant)
said that this dark skinned angel(Gaudalupe or Mary) appeared to him, and somehow told him to make a temple to her, which strangely was on an ancient temple site near Mexico City, so the festival began.
Notice only women are allowed to carry the idol, casket/representation. Don't know what started that, probably a man.

There was gyrating/dancing/ music being played.

Just amazing how these rituals, pagan customs in these 3rd world countries exist with the church endorsement. How backwards of them! Sure glad europe, and North Americans are so much more enlightened. Ha.
So there was much diversity here in San Miguel to enjoy. Gives us a taste of the opulence that you/we have back in states. even in Dolores it can get devastatingly depressing seeing the needy and poor, work so hard to scrape buy, if they do.

This was out in service today, in a section that has architects living in houses you & I would gladly live in. And right beside them are some poor people with a few chickens & sheep/goats hoping to get a meal from them. And Jehovah sees it all, and will do something man, with all of his wealth, won't do. Feed everyone, house everyone, and teach everyone.
Made an RV on my architect man, we met last week. He was leaving for his work site to pay the men. He wants us to come back in the evening. His wife met us at door, and I introduced Elaine, and we had a quick conversation. Arranged to come back in evening next week. He is an interesting man. His friend who he talked with, for 2 years, then the brother had to move away, and since died, couldn't get him to go forward with a commitment to the truth. But he was friendly, and desires conversation. He was saddened to hear of his friends death.  But who knows, there have been great changes in his life, and circumstances, and as the "slave class" tells us, to allow time for the people to adapt and absorb the monumental changes the truth requires of these people here in Mexico. The friends here remind me of that. It is a process. The tentacles the family/church has on individuals here are very strong and pervasive. So one must let the truth work on the hearts, and by being friendly, supportive and patient, we may reap a person who has the truth sprout, and take root.

Here Tom made a RV with Vicky, as the 'milkman pulled up. He reached down to his side, got the ladle, that was out in open with the dust swirling round, and the young man, who Tom witnessed to, bought a gallon plus of fresh milk. Elaine & I watched and just laughed how different buying stuff here is. People don't use gloves, to handle your food, etc. But these are potential sheep here too, maybe more so than back in O'fallon. Tho we miss our friends there. And we do have "I hate Mexico days" too. In my Blog its the spiritual highlights, and the highlights that we find interesting living in a new culture. But trust us, its different, disturbing, and difficult here to see and be affected by the poverty, and environment that we and the people here live in. There is basically NO, safety laws, enforced much less practiced.  No Osha, EPA, or other agencies that protect the workers. Next door, the landlord hired 2 men to regrout the tile floor, and they used a masonry blade to remove the old grout, no dust masks, or any protection. They did open the windows, and allowed the dust cloud to circulate over to our "casa". WE closed the windows best we could, but they don't seal. so we had that stuff in house. The landlord agreed to have them do ours, too since it was many loose tiles also. But after seeing what they did to Jeremy & Kari house & the mess it created we told them no, we will live with some loose tiles.
Many things to get used to here. But the ministry is our refuge, and the meetings. Very high level of spirituality here in Dolores. With 85-90% in FT work, the comments are deep. well thought out, and hands are plentiful. You better not come to meeting w/o having studied! And you can't get just a easy answer in. So there are perks here we enjoy & benefit from.
Love Tom & Elaine