Of all the days of the week, I find Tuesdays to be the best. For many reasons.

Number one, of course, they are not Mondays. This isn’t nearly as important as it was when I actually worked for a living. Just the same, Tuesdays give you a chance to accomplish all the things that never got done on Mondays.

Even in so-called retirement, a lot doesn’t get done on Mondays. Some sort of psychological hangover from the days of full and meaningful employment, I imagine.

Tuesdays also seem to be the day on which the most stuff happens to you when you are least expecting it.

Efrain Gonzalez and his Social Spanish language students learn about Mojigangas:

It may be that on — let’s say for discussion purposes — the previous Thursday I am asked to do something. I reflexively say, “Great! How about Tuesday?” (There is an inclination to offer up Thursdays but I find Thursdays far less probable, if only because they come so much later in the week. Let’s not even think about Fridays.)

This most recent Tuesday was just exactly one of those Tuesdays that I seem to be prattling on about.

Inside La Favolosa restaurant and (above) the view from rooftop:

It started nicely enough when Moppit and I scooted into Buonforno’s bakery for a coffee and scone. Moppit was after one of the house dog biscuits which the staff lovingly provides and she just as lovingly rejects until she is absolutely positive that a second biscuit isn’t in the offing. Street dog rules.

In the bakery’s lounge area, Daniel from Chicago was finishing up a similar breakfast, coffee and pastry. As often happens, Moppit serves as the entre to a good conversation. Daniel is thinking of bringing his beagle with him when he returns next time to San Miguel. Is it a difficult process?

Seeing as Moppit hasn’t left the country in nearly six years, and seeing as we brought her in through Belize, I had nothing to offer. Besides, Dan – may I call you Dan? – is far more familiar with this sort of thing than me.

He arrived in San Miguel in 1976 as an ersatz artist and enrolled in the Instituto Allende. He was even a student of the fabled Stirling Dickinson. Dan shared a house with three other students and they paid the equivalent of $80 a month. Imagine that? 

The art career didn’t pan out but a solid one in cable television did, in development and programming. Dan and his wife have been returning to San Miguel for years and he is currently preparing to build their forever home on a piece of land he bought two decades ago. Just imagine the price of a parcel back then.

As preliminary conversations go, this one was excellent. I can’t wait to hear more about Dan’s time as a student here. And it later occurred to me that another friend here was an art student in San Miguel around the same time.

In “Magical San Miguel” terms, the two would have been roommates who lost touch decades ago. We’ll see.

Minutes later, I ran into Rodrigo in nearby Parque Guadiana, the popular pet park. He was clearly on a mission to talk up gringos. He ran through a couple before reaching me with a few perfunctory remarks about Moppit.

In his early 30s, clean-cut and with an air of sadness, Rodrigo told me of being recently expunged from the United States where he’d been enjoying success as a plumber. He was brought to the U.S. as a child and now was a father and husband with twin boys and a wife. They recently migrated to Mexico to be with him.

It is such a painfully familiar story to many of us here.

Rodrigo was waiting for his paperwork to come through so he could work. He’s applied for a job at City Market among others. Meanwhile, his family is getting hungry …

I’m going to leave it right there. We talked quite a bit about his experiences in the U.S. and they rang true. He got caught on a long-expired green card and it wouldn’t be the first family that U.S. Border agents had callously split families apart. We all know good people like Rodrigo here.

In the Mojiganga studio of Hermes Arroyo:

Today, Jim Gramprie and I were going to meet for lunch. Tuesdays, remember?

Then we got an offer we couldn’t refuse.

Those of you who know me, know I have one pretty constant rule: When Efrain Gonzalez calls and says “Come with me. I think you’ll enjoy this” – you go. 

You’d be a fool not to.

He knows people. He knows places. And he really knows San Miguel. Any day that you head off with Efrain on an adventure is a good day.

Efrain’s back story is not unlike Rodrigo’s. He grew up in Los Angeles, got deported, and after drifting for a while, landed in San Miguel where he has done some amazing things over the years – government expediter, gringo fixer, muralist, artist, language school director, barber, tattoo artist …. 

The list goes on. And he does them all quite well.

These days, Efrain runs his own Spanish/English/art school, Somos Language & Art Center on Refugio Sur in Colonia San Antonio. Once a month, Efrain likes to take his Social Spanish language students on outings where they can use their language skills, learn something about San Miguel, and maybe get a nice meal somewhere.

Tuesday was that day.

Jim and I walked up to meet Efrain and his students at the top of San Francisco but not before stopping at La Favolosa at Correo 45 for a coffee. We talked with Emile (I hope that is correct) who informed us that their pizza restaurant upstairs was under “new administration and better than ever.”

Sure enough, their pizzas are getting nice reviews and so is their breakfast menu.

Still fabulous as ever is their view of the church steeples and Centro – and I would imagine a kick-ass place from which to watch the plaza’s ever more frequent fireworks.

The coffee, by the way, was quite good and merits a stop-in when I pass that way.

Efrain’s itinerary for the day was ambitious. We’d meet at the top of San Francisco for a visit to the studio of Mojiganga master Hermes Arroyo, followed by a visit to nearby Capilla Del Calvario, one of San Miguel’s oldest chapels, dedicated in 1730. 

From there, we’d climb – ever so gently – up San Francisco, through the ancient archway and on to Rancho Hotel El Atascadero on Santo Domingo, possibly the oldest continuously owned and operated resort in San Miguel. For lunch.

As luck would have it, Hermes Arroyo is in Spain where he is showing off some of his creations in competition with the original fabricators of the towering puppets. Yes, the Conquistadors brought the tradition of puppetry to Mexico where it thrives in a number of different cities, especially San Miguel.

The delightful store manager Matelde showed us around the studio where lots of Mojigangas were at rest. Their construction is a family affair with the many siblings of Hermes all contributing to the creation of each puppet.

Traditionally, the Mojigangas were brought out to tease the residents during celebrations in September and October but now they are a daily presence in Centro – especially for weddings, birthdays, and the like. Some time in mid-September to early October is the annual Mojiganga parade which draws puppets from other regions and artisans as well. It is a sight to behold.

Want a Mojiganga at your next soiree? The Arroyo family rents out the puppets for an hour with a dancer and a spotter for a mere 1,700 pesos. The money goes to repair the puppets and to bring them to outlying communities and schools for free.

Jim Gramprie got to try on an especially charming Mojiganga in a wedding dress and he danced as much as he could in the tight confines of the studio. He was surprised at how light the structure felt on his shoulders. Dancing for an hour straight could evoke a different reaction, he acknowledged.

Enroute to the hotel, I made a detour into the new location of The Spa. For decades a fixture on Recreo, The Spa relocated to Calle Santo Domingo #12 (a few doors up from Salida Real a Queretaro) at the beginning of the new year.

Imagine my pleasure in seeing Dra. Grace Lim, my own doctor and friend, when I poked my head inside. 

Her family founded the Spa and she has maintained her medical office there for many years, as well as one at Mac Hospital. I haven’t seen her in ages because – well, you know – being a model of good health and fortitude ….

The new Spa is stunning. Light and airy, spacious with a sprawling meditation garden in the back. I’m going back for a tour and shoot some photos soon. (Every Christmas, I give Rose a massage package which she uses up by July, when I buy her another. It is one of her favorite things to do in San Miguel.)

The rest of the gang was already rounding the turn into the Atascadero by the time we climbed the Santo Domingo. It is one of Efrain’s favorite spots in all of San Miguel for many reasons. For one, he and Laura have enjoyed many a relaxing day poolside, something the Atascadero encourages, unlike a few other sizeable hotels in town. (You know the ones I mean.)

It is a quiet hotel with an emphasis on families and tradition. The kind of place where staff is present but never conspicuous. Many families have been returning for generations. The complex is surrounded by towering pine trees through which the wind gently whispers you into a lullaby reverie.

The Rancho Atascadero Hotel (click on any picture to expand it):

Back in the day, whenever that might have been, the Atascadero drew celebrities and artists from around Mexico and the United States. One prominent visitor was the poet Pablo Neruda – and for that fact alone, the hotel won my heart.

The style is very old and traditional but the property and grounds are meticulously maintained.

Except for the tennis court which has been allowed to run to seed and now boasts a modest field of straw. The handball courts are in tip-top shape, however. And the pool is inviting.

The property was once a sprawling ranch and became a silkworm plantation – as commemorated on a mural painted in 1913.

After a patio lunch, there was more walking to do but I slipped out with Jim and Sophia de Ruiter, one of the Spanish students, and we trundled down the hill back into town.

Sophia took some excellent photos and also wrote up our Tuesday adventure. You can see it here on her Facebook page. She is now one of three Dutch natives I call friends here in San Miguel. Also shooting some nice photos, Angie Kilbarger Kiger, another of Efrain’s students.

You can tell, it was a nice Tuesday with the maestro.