I just spent the morning shoveling sand and drinking beer with my Mexican muchachos. It's a community ritual known here as "corrado" (I think... don't quote me) where the guys in town get together and work to pour a concrete slab. All by hand, no concrete pumper truck, just a gas powered concrete mixture and 30 beer fueled Mexicans with...
Posted by dlucht at Mar 23, 08 11:55 AM
David's Entries
We are once again preparing for a trip to our home in Mexico. Our plan is to get down there twice a year if at all humanly possible. With the date fast approaching I am just now realizing that I haven't yet posted anything about Paducah. That would put me in the position of writing a blog post from Mexico...
Posted by dlucht at Mar 1, 08 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
David's Entries
Stefanie models the Talavera tile kitchen When will your house be done? When are you moving in? How long dear Lord, how long? When you build in Mexico you have to get ready for the hurry up and wait. No schedule is firm, no crew is consistent, every budget is filled with bubbles and shadows. But "poco a poco"...
Posted by dlucht at Feb 14, 07 02:54 PM | Comments (0)
David's Entries
In general, things don’t turn out the way you planned. Did you notice? If you can just accept that on principal life becomes one sweet kick in the pants; an adventure, instead of ruthlessly inconvenient. The problem arises from the fact that you have to make plans in the first place. We focus on our well laid plans in order...
Posted by dlucht at Nov 10, 06 10:13 AM
David's Entries
Scientists have discovered that it pays to grow up in marginally unsanitary conditions in order to tune your immune system properly. Somewhere in this observation about the source of our currently epidemic levels of allergic reaction is a hard fact: Those dirty little snot-nosed kids you always complained about are all healthy, happy, strapping adults now. Except, of course, for that bully in my grade school class.
Posted by dlucht at Jun 18, 06 04:51 PM | Comments (1)
David's Entries
Sometimes the biggest obstacles are internal… as in internal combustion. Our well-traveled vehicle gave us great service and no surprises on the trip to Chicago and back over Christmas. Such is the case with aging autos that recent history provides no guarantees for future performance as our second major trip began less auspiciously. We left San Miguel for Florida in...
Posted by dlucht at Mar 23, 06 04:23 PM | Comments (1)
David's Entries
The horses were first to water in Alcocer I’m sitting in Benito Juarez Park (Parque Juarez), a place newly fashioned into a prime venue for Sunday afternoon lounging. When we first came to San Miguel this park had a ragged, abandoned look. Those features were pronounced in daylight and truly intimidating at night. Now, thanks to the determined efforts...
Posted by dlucht at Nov 20, 05 06:44 PM | Comments (2)
David's Entries
(On the eve of the World Series, I just had to include this letter I wrote to my dad, a life-long Cub fan, from his son the White Sox fan. I answered his e-mail which offered up some kind words of support just after the Sox won the American League Pennant.) A very generous interpretation of events from you, my...
Posted by dlucht at Oct 22, 05 12:42 PM | Comments (1)
David's Entries
Where do I begin with all this? Of course this Katrina situation calls for somber appraisals and a good deal of finger wagging and shaking of the head. Believe me, I’ve tried chastising but I come off as someone firing from the hypocrite. I’ve tried the philosophical route but I keep seeing old Hegel back there with a megaphone shouting,...
Posted by dlucht at Oct 2, 05 02:17 PM | Comments (0)
David's Entries
We were invited to a birthday party for a four year old boy, a son of some friends of our former landlords. We went along with another couple who are renting the same downstairs apartment that we lived in last fall. The boy’s extended family live in a small village about a half-hour’s drive west of San Miguel. The entire...
Posted by dlucht at Jul 18, 05 09:40 PM
David's Entries
The narrow streets of Fez, Morocco Up to Chicago, once around the world and back down to San Miguel de Allende, making a big “Q” on the globe. Which brings up another big “Q”. What was that all about? We briefly considered bagging the whole world travel plans in order to keep that money in more practical accounts but...
Posted by dlucht at Jun 4, 05 12:48 PM | Comments (1)
David's Entries
A game of backgammon in Green Park, Athens Green Park in Athens was full of families pushing strollers and little knots of men playing backgammon. Or else performing a curious ritual that we would see again in Italy and Spain. It’s a kind of walking discussion. But I don’t think it’s anything like what we do as we walk,...
Posted by dlucht at May 12, 05 01:14 PM
David's Entries
Instanbul's Blue Mosque at sunset After Asia, Europe seems like another civilization. OK, it is but still… something seems like a long lost friend here. I’ve always pooh-poohed the European travel thing, having a strict bias towards Asia, beginning with my stay in Nepal many years ago and gathering steam in visiting other points east. Arriving in Istanbul from...
Posted by dlucht at Mar 26, 05 03:55 AM
David's Entries
Chicken Murtabak with a hot mug of sweet Teh Tarik I’m sitting in our room in Penang, Malaysia and not far from here, in some small restaurant lost to memory, is found that holy grail of Malaysian cooking: The Perfect Murtabak. When I traveled through here 16 years ago I stumbled on this local dish, a griddle-fried bread filled...
Posted by dlucht at Mar 6, 05 10:41 PM | Comments (4)
David's Entries
Bali is where I came here for. We stayed in a resort north of Kuta beach on our last night on the island and that’s what the translation in the hotel information book said anyway. “The experience is where you came to Bali for”. We love the mistranslations and variations on spelling that frequent the signs and menus. Just...
Posted by dlucht at Feb 24, 05 08:45 AM
David's Entries
You can go ahead and laugh at the superstition behind the Wishing Tree. I’ll just stand off to the side, arms folded, with that “I know better” look on my face. By the time we arrived at the airport in Bali, my wayward bag was sitting there with a red “rush” tag on it, next to the luggage carousel. I...
Posted by dlucht at Feb 17, 05 12:02 AM
David's Entries