Hello from San Miguel, the heart of Mexico and land of winter sun. This heritage town has so many things happening that one can be occupied every minute of the day and much of the night too and so I have. It is also a place one can become completely part of on arrival and if you have ever visited before you already have a set of friends living here.
For the third time I volunteered at the San Miguel Writers Conf. & Festival, where there always is at least one Canadian keynote speaker. This year it was Yann Martel of Life of Pi fame. He gave a wonderful talk on his book, What is Prime Minister Stephen Harper Reading. For two years Martell sent the PM a book and a long letter giving reasons for reading the book. The books and the letters were never acknowledged. Martell says Harper is not a well read or well traveled man, both things that create an open mind. I heard that his talk upset some Canadians in the audience but I thought it rather good that an audience of 900 should hear this fact.
During the six days of the conference when I had some free time I took great pleasure watching Martell, whose family came with him, frolicking with his three little kids in the pool or playing with them in the garden of the hotel where the conference was held. His wife, British-born Alice Kuipers, gave a workshop on writing for children.
Mexican Laura Esqivel, known for her magical realism book and film Like Water for Chocolate was also a keynote speaker who was rather political as well as spiritual. A beautiful and deeply passionate woman, she talked about the transformative capacity of human beings and her deep faith in love.
Unfortunately for me, this is not the best place to be working on a memoir, as there are far too many distractions. On Saturdays there is Zumba, a dance exercise, in lovely little Juarez Park where for three weeks in February there is a great spring festival, where flowers, exotic plants and seeds are sold. After Zumba I go to the Saturday organic market and pick up my veggies for the week. Everyone lingers for hours, for as well as food one can buy jewelry, clothing, cards. Small kitchens are set up and we all eat at long communal tables. I walk in the botanical gardens once a week, surrounded by many cactuses of all shapes and sizes. Here I get away from the masses in this inspirational place. On Tuesday there is a large market a little way out of town, where one can find anything. There are tables and tables of clothing, ten-fold the amount of Bowen's spring sale, where one can even find designer clothes for several dollars.
There is live theatre, music, dancing in the street and fireworks. In the Jardine, the main square, people linger, kids breakdance, couples kiss and there are always several Mariachi bands around for the sound effects. Now considered one of the best cities in the world it does feel like at some point everyone visits, and I have run into several Bowen Island couples and people from Vancouver.
And oh yes! This is the place for catching up on movies. There are two small intimate theatres, both at the back of bars, where the latest movies are shown. One, run by a Frenchman Daniel, also shows old classics. Here I recently saw a hilarious vintage British comedy with Maggie Smith and Michael Palin, A Public Function. The nominal entry price includes one alcoholic drink and a bag of popcorn. All the Oscar winning films will be played over the next few weeks. Here in the evenings with Margarita in hand, I ponder if this could ever happen on Bowen.
I apologize if I have made you envious but this hedonistic life does seem a little too good to be true. Pretty soon even I will come back down to earth and deal with my own unruly backyard and probably rain, glorious rain.
