San Miguel: The View From Here

Ok. So I am pilfering a title but it seems apropos.  It seems after a web search to be a heavily used phrase so I suppose it is thus a cliché. 

It has been deliciously hot and sunny here and I have of course gotten a tad crispy around the edges (back of my neck mostly) thanks to a good long wander in the local Jardin Botanico after our morning spent moving our clobber from mid-way up one hill to mid-way up another.  We finally used our fancy internal-frame packs to accomplish this.  So far, on the plane and bus trips, we have popped our packs into big duffle bags specifically made for such purposes (we have all the mod-cons) mainly to protect the straps etc from the bag handlers.  The move was easily accomplished and we have now unpacked into our new place.

  

The place is small but conveniently located in a bustling local neighborhood filled with flavor and color.  There are three tortilerias within two blocks, half a dozen Rosterias (roasted chicken), butchers, a handful of greengrocers, and the list goes on.  You need it, here it is.  Last night the kids were setting off fireworks and generally having a great, loud, boisterous time.  Heaven knows how/or if they got to school on time or at all.

We made pollo con mole again in our mini kitchen which was mostly easy but required a certain amount of shuffling of pots and contents thereof in one case.  We need to get ourselves a comal (tortilla heating plate) and a tortillero (warmed tortilla holder) since we will be here long enough to need such.  We also need to get a knife sharpener as the knives in the house are BLUNT.

The view from our place is magnificent.  I doubt the photos do it much justice but here goes:

 

I tired to upload an album but I have to have yet another account (with YouTube/Microsoft) to do so and really, don’t we have enough already.  Once I get feedback regarding the functionality (and worthiness (grin)) of the web album I posted I will stick some more view photos up.

We’ve made it half way through our Spanish classes and can use the I and you forms of: to be, to be able to, to need, to want, and to like.  It’s a lot like participating in the ELD courses at Bryant where we practicing using our verbs in various sentence frames.  We’re supposed to have learned the 100 most frequently used Spanish verbs by the end of the course.  It’s easier than we thought it would be.  Once the course is over, we’ll stay on in San Miguel and have one of the school’s teachers take us through the 2nd course (private tutoring since the school is closed for December).  Each day our Spanish does get a little better though we do frequently find ourselves with a word on the tip of our brain, yet inaccessible. Then of course there is just simple stage fright.