There was magic in that first night. And lots of laughter too.
We headed out the next morning (after cold showers -a momentary plumbing glitch oddly well-timed- LOL ) hungry and eager to explore the city. Our hosts suggested a little restaurant, Via Organica, a short walk from the apartment.
Even a short walk in SMA (San Miguel de Allende in Mexico) reminds you that you are in a city famous as an art colony for many decades. In 1938 two artists, an American and a Peruvian, established an art school ‘Bellas Artes’. The GI Bill after WWII allowed former soldiers to study abroad. 'Bellas Artes' promoted this advantage and with their success began the expansion of hotels, restaurants and amenities useful for an international community. However, even in its colonial period of the 16th and 17th centuries and beyond, wealthy Spaniards created churches and homes with attention to beauty. This focus on aesthetics and mixed cultures is evident everywhere in preservation and re-construction.
It was dark outside when we arrived the evening before but now we were able to see what was in store over the next few days.
Here is one of the first examples of wall art we encountered. Skeleton art is deeply ingrained in the local culture and celebrated but we are not sure how this piece fits into that category.
Via Organica, now called Querencia is supplied by the Via Organica non-profit farm cooperative with a 'farm to table' concept. It is open for breakfast and lunch and includes a shop to purchase fresh produce from the farms and freshly made baked goods.
One meal and we were sold. It became our morning ritual. Jan is very fluent in languages but not Spanish. We took a stab at the menu. With our first bites we knew we were home. One of many things we discovered the two of us have in common is eating a solid protein breakfast to last all day – and this one did.
Backing up however, this was our first morning. Sitting there waiting for the food to arrive can you appreciate we had just stepped off a cliff into a romantic relationship now only hours old?
Maggie remembered she had prepared for possible conversation amnesia. She had photographed pages from the book Ask and You Will Succeed: 1001 Ordinary Questions to Create Extraordinary Results. Normally these are deep, meaningful, getting-to-know-you questions; the kind of things she cares about. She pulled out her phone and perused the lists: What in your life do you find uplifting? What is your quest in life? What do you value the most? On and on.
She ventured: "Why is traveling important to you?" He smiled; sipped his coffee.
Gratefully the food arrived. She closed her phone.
Writing this blog entry we both got a good laugh. Jan does not remember that moment. Maggie realizes now he had just come from a magical night with very little sleep; before that a missed flight and an intense training ( www.HeartCoreLeadeship.com which she has now done) where deep questions are thrown at you moment after moment relentlessly. There was no way Jan could take polite conversation seriously that morning. To Maggie, the one and only question she got out of her mouth felt dead as soon as it left her lips. That was the last time she looked at the list.
Still, over the next few days, and now almost a year later, those and many more questions have been answered. Never has there been a moment of awkward silence.
Welcome, peaceful silence for sure. Awkward silence never.
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