Although I'm on "vacation", I find it difficult to sleep past 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. Once I get up to go to the bathroom, thoughts about the previous day fill my mind and make me restless. I find that the best remedy is to get up and write about them. So here I am, once again, creating a little blog.
This morning the full moon and cloudless sky provided a beautiful vista for me as I traveled down the stairs from the bedroom area into the open air patio leading to the main area of our casa. The neighborhood where we live is not a quiet one during the day or evening, so the stillness of the early morning was refreshing - a good time to reflect on my gratitude for the opportunities we've been given.
One of my primary thoughts about yesterday was our lovely lunch at Oliver's Hamburgers and Steaks. Now I must admit, no one comes to San Miguel to eat hamburgers. But if you get a craving that you can't ignore, the place to go is Oliver's.
Oliver's is a small restaurant that, until this year I believe, specialized only in burgers. We like to sit at one of the 4 umbrella-ed tables on the open air patio, enjoying the beauty of the bountiful bougainvillaea along with the hummingbirds.
Last year we had difficulty finding Oliver's, because it wasn't well marked. But now there's a colorful new sign that says Oliver's Burgers and Steaks, Restaurant and. We wondered why the word following and was covered with a piece of cardboard, and were told that since they don't have their liquor license yet, they don't want officials nosing around. Although the owner said they should have it "by next week", I think I heard him saying that last year. Anyway, that didn't deter them at all from serving Margaritas - "under the table", so to speak.
We discovered that the names of the couple who owned the restaurant were Jesus and Ellie. When I asked Rick 'why do you suppose it's named Oliver's if the owner's name is Jesus?' he answered, "Maybe they didn't think it was appropriate to name it Jesus's Burgers and Steaks, Restaurant and Bar. Since we're easily amused, we entertained each other by making wise cracks about that throughout lunch.
There must be 20 burgers on Oliver's menu, ranging from Brittania to Hawaiian to Canadiense to Mexicana. I chose el Hamburguesa Mexicana, complete with lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, manchego cheese and guacamole, served on a fluffy grilled bun. The sandwich was so tall and filled with delicious but messy items that there was no way I could bite into it gracefully. So I removed some of the top bun, and ate it with knife and fork. Anyway you choose to consume it - Oliver's hamburgers are to die for.
After lunch we strolled over to La Conception, a magnificent 18th century Church and convent. We spent a bit of time in prayer and in awe over the indescribable splendour of this building before a very old man came over and muttered some unintelligible words. I finally got the picture that he was asking us to leave, and we were surprised by this eviction. But we were told later by a Mexican-turned-American tourist that since it was 2:00, it was closed for a few hours for the traditional Mexican siesta.
This turned out to be problematic because in our confusion over being asked to leave, Ricardo had forgotten his jacket in the pew where we were sitting. And the tall, gorgeous wooden doors to the church were now locked. With difficulty we managed to find out from the young Spanish-only-speaking clerk in the adjoining religious goods store that the church wouldn't open again until 5 p.m. Of course the jacket was no longer where he had left it when we returned - that would have been too easy. And there still wasn't anyone around but the store clerk to ask. But those of you who know Rick...well, you know that he doesn't give up real easily. He had misplaced and found this old nylon parka many times over the years he owned it, and he was determined to get it back if at all possible. Our mission had suddenly become much more complicated...
After lots of effort we finally did retrieve the jacket. A seemingly shy, short, and quite stout young nun emerged from behind a huge wooden door in the church after the store clerk made a phone call in response to our not-so-great Spanish explanations and gestures. Rick was grateful to have his good old parka back and, in retrospect, it's fun to have yet another fun story to tell. I hope you enjoyed it.
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