Cerrado

Today I fly MEX ✈ IQT and return IQT ✈ MEX July 12th.

El Sur Experiment will be back on the 13th.

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Bomba

It’s the driest “rainy season” I can remember in the past six years. Last month’s water bill was five times the usual rate. When it is so dry, air passes with the water in the tubes and registers in the meter as water. People have to pay—there is no negotiation with the water company—unless they’ve attached a “bomba” to the meter which catalogues the air. Of course the water company doesn’t tell people they can do this. Like many things in Mexico, you learn from neighbors. The bomba is there now, calculating air and water.

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Sites & Scenes

I work remotely and Skype my colleagues throughout the day as the work is collaborative. This weekend, they’ve all come to Guanajuato for a visit. I’m going to take the ladies on a long, meandering tour this morning and hope that it doesn’t rain on us. Sprinkles are ok.

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Fountain, one of many

Plaza del Carmen, San Luis Potosi

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Casa de Cultura

While in San Luis Potosi, Fernando and I went to the Casa de Cultura. This statue sits outside of the entry. At the time, the museum had a special exhibition for the blind. The attendant asked if we would like to participate. I said yes; Fernando passed. She tied a blindfold around my head and led me from piece to piece, guiding my fingers to one object and then another. I would then try to guess what the object was… for instance, there was a seahorse (I guessed that one), and the Big Bang, which I thought was something else. After awhile, usually when I gave up, she would guide my fingers across the braille descriptor and read aloud as my fingers passed over the words, letting me know what I had been touching. It was a lovely experience.

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Lust

They worked for each other’s competition. They were rivals. Yet, they stood across the street from one another and were in each other’s view the entire day. She averted her eyes. He tried not to stare. But there was a strong connection before the two. The chemistry was almost painful. She couldn’t stop thinking about him and her thoughts began to take corporeal forms. He believed she was everything he dreamed about in a woman, at least physically. The forbidden fruit aspect made the scenes in his head all the more delicious.

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Monument to the Father

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there! In your honor, I bring you an image from San Luis Potosi. This is a bronze sculpture entitled Monument to the Father located in the beautiful Plaza del Carmen. The quote is taken from a plaque next to the piece.

Solo un padre es poseedor del arte necesario para inspirar en sus hijos el respeto, el amor, y al amistad al mismo tiempo.

Only a father possesses the necessary art of being able to inspire in their children respect, love, and friendship at the same time.

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Envy

Martha was always working it, positionally voguing in the window to model her outfit. She took her job seriously and gave 110% percent.  Afterall, didn’t her efforts reveal to others the kind of person she was? Wasn’t career a character statement webbed with integrity and self definition? And if she wasn’t a professional, who would take her seriously?

Meanwhile, Mary relaxed.  She was carefree and always looked great in the clothes. Martha envied Mary’s sense of ease and how her radiant personality buoyed her through every window change. Why was it that she, Martha, had to work so hard and Mary made it seem effortless? Martha came to believe she hated Mary and avoided eye contact with her.  Mary was everything that Martha despised, but secretly wished she was more of.

For her part, Mary wondered why Martha was always so uptight. It didn’t make any sense. I mean… they were just dressing up in the windows.  It wasn’t who they really were.

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Greed

Quiero quiero quiero…. Dorothy wanted it all. The pink flower print. The Timothy Leary Paisley. The Eva Longoria Orange. The Charlize Theron Blue. Her weakness: fabric. Buttons, zippers, and thread too. She could live in the Yardage Store. As soon as she went in there, her eyes glazed over, it felt like Christmas, and birds sang from the corners. She had to buy mounds of many things.

She wanted almost everything she saw as she floated around fabric stands, feeling the weight and texture of the material in her hands, putting the silks up to her face. She spent hours spinning the buttons hanging from the circular display wheel, enchanted. She loved opening the zipper drawers and running her finger down their spines. She buried her head in the pattern books and inhaled as she leafed through the pages. It was her favorite smell.

If only she could afford it all. She had already cut off her index finger to take care of one Yardage Store debt. She was debating hacking off her right hand now for meters of the summer line. But how would she sew. Prostethics?

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Gluttony

Game of Thrones ended on a cliff hanger last episode! Maddy couldn’t wait until next Sunday to see what happened in the tent with Daenerys.. would her baby be born a dragon? In the meantime, she had others to tide her over… The Killing, The Daily Show, The Kardashians, In Plain Sight, White Collar Brawler, and So You Think You Can Dance. Plus, there were Dog Whisperer reruns. Oh, and True Blood would be starting up again the end of the month. Yay! She wished Project Runway, Damages, Mad Men, Entourage, and Californication would come back. Where were they? And of course: Dexter. She couldn’t believe that he left his wife for Juila Styles!!

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Pride

Celeste thought that everything was about her. When her friend didn’t text back, Celeste wondered if she had done something to offend her. When window shoppers walked by and ignored her, she thought she must be boring and invisible. When Lilith sarcastically commented that she, Celeste, was always in a bad mood, Celeste thought about it for weeks and overcompensated by always smiling at Lilith who scowled back. She began to ruminate on the two posts below wondering if they were actually written with her in mind. Was she angry and slothful?

It would take some time, but in a few years, Celeste would come to learn that people project on others their own internal landscape. Everything was not about her. She was not the Sun which everyone revolved around, even though her ego would have her think that she was. She would learn her over-sensitivity was a form of pride.

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Sloth

It’s not that Midge didn’t want change in her life… she did! But it required so much work on her part. She didn’t believe she possessed the discipline required to live her best life. So, she did nothing except to veil herself in delusion with her back against the wall surrounded by fabric that smelled of Merlot. The years came and went. She spent them in her shadow self.

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Wrath

Lilith was always angry, and she didn’t know why. She carried a heavy load with her from one lifetime to the next that centered around responsibility she resented shouldering. Even though her life gave her plenty of karmic repeats to experience this heaviness, and thereby learn new ways to approach it so she may eventually release this energetic baggage, she just didn’t know how not to be angry.

Actually, she didn’t even know she was carrying anything.  She believed everyone’s arms were stuck like her’s, as if they were forever in the act of changing diapers.

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Ladies in Windows

I went around this building in downtown San Luis Potosi taking pictures of the mannequins. I thought I would share the window dressing with Marly. But, after second thought, these ladies make a good series which I’ll start tomorrow, or the day after.

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Scuba Taggers

Morning scuba divers at Media Luna
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Last night, these divers went under the covers of my blog looking for all the story posts. When they found one, they tagged it with “Vignette”. Thanks, guys!

Then I placed a Vignette widget over there in the right margin so all those posts are accessible with one click.  I hope to add more stories soon, and want to thank Karen and Marly for being so sweet and supportive.  Your comments were fun to re-read.

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Floating

You can see the bridge from yesterday’s photo in the background. Water canals like this one lined and defined the camping ground sections. Basically, folks set up camp, eat, swim, gather ’round the campfire and sleep. Simple.

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Campgrounds

This walkway led to a clear lagoon. People pitched tents and hammocks on either side. There was also camping available along the canals. All the camping areas were nestled within a grove of trees and lined with water at their perimeter. There were no reservations or site numbers. You pitched a tent or strung a hammock wherever there was space for one.

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That day

That day, we got up and headed straight to the water. We swam all morning.

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Swim

After everyone had left and the water was still, Fernando and I walked around the canals and watched the turtles lumber along the waterway floor.

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Safekeeping

I flew to Portland for an interview that took place this morning.  I’m in the airport now, waiting for a flight back to Mexico. I had one day in Portland, and I filled it with seeing old friends. It’s nice how distance and time doesn’t change certain friendships. In fact, they deepen and become more precious and more tender with time. When I think of Portland, I think of them, their hugs and their smiles. It’s reassuring to know that no matter where we go in the world, that we always carry the love we share for these special others on the inside.

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