2023

San Miguel’s Book Lovers — “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

Catherine and Hope

Aurora Books in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is six months old next week, and wow, it’s been delightful in ways I never expected. Some people think I’m pursuing my life’s dream. Actually, I never dreamed of being in retail. But I love books and San Miguel needed a place to buy new English language books (like Tunisia and Vietnam!). I hoped opening a bookstore would be a way of serving my new community.

Well! It turns out the community is serving the bookstore. Here are a few of gifts San Miguel has given Aurora Books (with suggested reading πŸ™‚ ):

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A Fire for Peace

Yesterday brought a little revelation, I think. It was Dia de Los Muertos. Here in San Miguel de Allende, the holiday is celebrated with parades and parties and visits to cemeteries carpeted with marigolds. Colorful ofrendas — altars that connect us to the dead — decorate plazas, churches, streets, and almost every home. 

Usually, I would be out with the crowds for the fun. This year, I wanted to celebrate in a way that would help me deal with the undercurrent of anxiety I am feeling about the world, so I invited friends to create an ofrenda of peace at a dinner gathering. 

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Bookstore People

Aurora Books, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

One day last week, a woman came into my bookstore and handed me a copy of Shuggie Bain. I recognized her. A few days before, she was in the store with her daughter and bought the award-winning book about poverty in mid-century Scotland. “I enjoyed this, thank you” she said. “You can sell it used.” She was out the door before I could say anything, but I yelled “Thank you!” as she headed north. Her unceremonious delivery lead me to wonder whether maybe she didn’t like the book. Or maybe she was just in a hurry. In any case, she was kind enough to go out of her way to share an expensive book with another reader.

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Tikal, Flores, Guatemala City and Bye Bye

On Sunday, we left Lake Atitlan with Walter at the wheel. Walter will be forever in our hearts for leading us in several rounds of “Sweet Caroline.” After saying adios to Walter for the last time, we flew from the Guatemala City airport 350 miles north to Flores, a tiny town on an island in the Guatemalan jungle.

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Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

A fruit stand and women in traditional dress in front of one of many dozen murals in San Pedro.

If you know me, you know I wouldn’t have come to San Pedro La Laguna if someone had told me about the road. The drive from Antigua involved 13 hairpin turns on a steep two-lane road thousands of feet above anything that wasn’t air. Luis drove skillfully and carefully but my mind doesn’t respond to skill and care or any kind of logic in such situations. At last, Suzen gave the all-clear and I opened my eyes right before we dodged a landslide coming out of hairpin turn #12. But I survived! The excitement continued the next day when an earthquake shook our hillside casita. It was Suzen’s first earthquake!

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Antigua, Guatemala, Then and Now

A bunch of Guatemalan icons in the mural at the local Starbucks: coffee, textiles, quetzals, volcanoes, and hummingbirds.

This week, I’ve been in Antigua, Guatemala with my San Miguel BFF, Suzen. Antigua is one of those magical places that makes you wonder whether this is where you should be living (but I won’t be leaving my San Miguel!). Surrounded by volcanoes, Antigua is green and easy and full of young people. The city’s hill-free flat grid and architecture remind me of Patzcuaro and Oaxaca in Mexico, with single story colonial style buildings in soft colors. Like San Miguel, Antigua has cobblestone streets, a tree-filled plaza full of music, and random fireworks.

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We Could Try Radical Humanity

Last week, the Biden Administration announced immigration policies that would make it virtually impossible for migrants at the southern border to seek asylum in the United States. Among the new — and unlawful — policies is the requirement that asylum-seekers show they have applied for asylum in one of the countries they have traveled through. But, according to international law, applying for asylum in one country disqualifies a refugee from seeking asylum in a second country, such as the United States. Places like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua are not safe for refugees, and processing asylum claims can take years. The Administration’s cruel Catch 22 will cost many lives and require Central America and Mexico to assume even more responsibility for problems created by the United States itself.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/08/root-cause-central-american-migration-united-states/

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A Couple of Days in Munich

I’m in Munich, where there is no traffic, but lots of walkers and bikers and public transportation. It’s quiet and clean, and loaded with museums, good food and, of course, beer. Like Bilbao and Rotterdam, Munich seems like one of the most livable cities, so I did a little research. Forbes Magazine recently named Munich the world’s most livable city and everyone else puts it the world’s top ten. Felicidades, Munich!

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