Leon

We got away in pretty good time this morning. I tried to check my email one last time before we left but the Internet was down. We collected and handed out cards, drove the car onto the dolly and headed out.

The city of Leon just over the State line and a little over half way between Villa Corona and San Miguel de Allende so that is where we stopped for the night. This part of the State of Guanajuato (“Wanna wah toe”) is cowboy country, a land of tall mesas, rolling hills and scrub brush. The economy is based on cattle and leather goods. I would not have been surprised to see Roy Rogers meandering across the desert on Trigger singing, “Happy Trails To You” in Spanish. We pulled into a WalMart, did a little shopping and asked permission to park overnight. We were told, “no problem as long as it is only one night”.

We got a cab and took a $50 peso ride to the Centro Historico. We walked around checking out the sights and stores and then sat down at the streetside restaurant in front of the Howard Johnson Hotel. Norma had the rib eye and I had the pescado ajo. Hers was very good and mine just mediocre, too thin and way overcooked. It was not cheap, with wine for her and beer for me the bill was $390 pesos.

We people watched from our curbside vantage point for an hour or so as the Centro filled with singles, couples and families out for an evening stroll and socializing. This is the one thing I love about Mexican restaurants. Once you have a table it is yours for as long as you want it. It is considered very rude to give a customer the bill until he asks for it so you will never be rushed and until you catch the waiter’s eye and say' “La cuenta por favor”, you will not see a bill.

At about 8:00 we caught another cab for another white-knuckled ride back to WalMart. Every time I think I am starting to learn to drive like a Mexican, I am brought back to reality by riding with a REAL Mexican! We are parked quite a ways back from the road here and the store closes at 11:00 PM so it should be a fairly quiet night. The police seem to use the parking lot for a staging area so we are well protected.

My Hawking WIFI dish sees about six signals but they are all encrypted so I will save this post and send it when I can, perhaps from one of the breakfast restaurants that surround us.