Friday, October 6, 2017

Templo Inmaculada Concepcion

The largest domed church in SMA

There is a Catholic church on almost every corner and each is surrounded by street beggers, usually women and children but some handicapped men.  Gives me pause but I promise not to editorialize.

We returned to the biblioteca so we could give rave reviews about our guide for yesterday's tour of Teotihuacan.

This institution serves as the heart of the community.  This is where you buy concert tickets, book tours, take Life Long Learning classes, and see old movies.  I have discovered that there is a large movie theater in a mall on the outskirts of town that has a modern sound system, stadium seating and shows current US movies.  Bladerunner is currently showing.

Volunteers are key to the continued functioning of  the biblioteca.

The woman on the right is someone we met when she came up to us and asked if we spoke English.  Turns out she had just arrived in SMA and had lots of questions - some of which we could answer.  Everyone was surpised.  She had driven from Oregon with her dog and a friend who was going to stay with her to help her find a place to live.  I found it surprising that she had picked SMA without ever having visited before.  Our conversation continued long enough for us to decide it was time to sit and enjoy a refreshment.

We found a shop just off the square owned by a woman from Texas who designs these very expensive boots.  She also had some lovely bags and other accessories.

This door is framed in fresh flowers.  As I finished taking this photo a woman came over to us and explained that the flowers had been put up because a relative of hers was having a wedding reheasal dinner at this location in the evening.  Later we met the wedding photographer in front of St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Lucille realized that she had shared the van from the airport with the wedding couple.  SMA is a very small world.

This group of friends stopped us and asked if we would pose with the girls while the guy took our photo.  Turns out he had made a crack that they were going to end up like us - 3 old friends.  I gave him a swat but we posed anyway.  He was suppose to send us a copy but I haven't received it yet.

Spotted this on a home between my place and the center of town.  Hope to meet her but I don't think I'll ring her doorbell.  That would be just too weird.

You just can't have a day without flowers here.

The day ended with a lovely dinner at Paprika's.  Good food and lovely patio.  One very unique feature - a chapel because it used to be a convent.