Pancho Villa is Alive and Free and He Rides Again

Buenas tardes. It is a muggy hot one.

The sunrise was beautiful this morning and a slight breeze was coming in.

I almost did not get up for my walk. I took the photo and laid back down for a few minutes, just long enough to remember my dream from last night. A friend and I were riding horses in the arroyo. A storm hit and the water came rushing down the arroyo. But we were very lucky because our horses were special horses. They could fly, so naturally they flew us out of the arroyo and up to the top of Mt. Alamos.

Okay, so I got out of bed wondering where that came from and set out on my walk around five am, but by the time I got down into the centro district I actually started jogging to get out. There is very little wind down there and mornings are getting so humid even at that early hour. I have to continue getting up as early as I can to get in a walk, just need to change my direction back out to the soccer field where the wind is. When I got back home I walked by the mesquite tree and smelled something very faint and sweet. Look what I discovered, hidden among all the bromeliads and asparagus ferns.

The sweet little lily is behind the stacked rocks in the photo below. It reminded me so much of finding the first spring trillium in the woods back in the Northwest. Such a nice surprise.

Off to the side of the fake kitchen is a bathroom. There is a shower stall that only gets cleaned out when KD and Ian are coming so they can use the shower. I tend to store stuff in there and forget about it. I was in the shower stall this morning and smelled a very unpleasant odor, not faint or sweet like the lily. Upon investigation I found a bag of bottles I had picked up in the street about two months ago.

I had not realized there was garbage with the bottles. So I took out the bottles and threw away the garbage. Made in Mexico, these are bottled drinks made of vodka and citrus. I have not had one, it doesn't really sound tasty to me, but the bottles are beautiful. Deep, cobalt blue.

I have never had to scrub so hard to get labels off a bottle, but it was well worth it. I am now on a Skyy bottle hunt because I would like to see how the glass would turn out after being fired in the kiln. For now, these four help make a pretty table setting.

Senor has a new old bottle, too.

Soneone rang the bell this morning and Senor went to answer. I will translate into English for you the following conversation:

At the gate, Senor found four little ninos about seven or eight selling antiquities.......................very old, they said................what is it, asked senor.......this bottle belonged to pancho villa, they said.......................really, said senor...............really, said the ninos...............

.................and we have the chain that he was tied up in, too, they said.................. Two of them held up what looked like an old bike chain that had a broken link in it......................this is how strong pancho villa is, they said, he broke this chain in two pieces and then he escaped from jail and rode his horse into the hills where he is right now....................really, said senor....................really, said the ninos..................well, i will take his bottle, said senor, but not his chain, that looks too expensive.................

Fifteen pesos later, Senor gave me the story and the bottle. Where else in the world could a person buy a real bottle used by Pancho Villa for fifteen pesos. What a wonderful little town. What a wonderful life.

I am listening to thunder. And this is what is rolling in across the sky. Wait, someone is honking their horn non stop outside in the street. I will be right back.

The asparagus man came by. Today he is too expensive. Forty pesos for a bunch of asparagus. Good grief, I would buy a real antique bottle that belonged to Pancho Villa for forty pesos before I will pay that for a single bunch of asparagus.

Okay, I have to get ready to go out. Senor is playing bridge and when he returns we are going to a friend's for dinner. I think the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning are going to follow us over there and back. We will have to cross the arroyo.

Through the pouring rain, I will be looking for Pancho Villa, riding his black stallion across the arroyo. The wind will ruffle his silver studded cape behind him and the raindrops will glisten on his heavy mustache. In the flash of lightning I can see he is draped in a broken rusted bicycle chain. With one hand he holds tight to the reins as the water swirls around the stallion's hooves and in the other hand, he is carrying a little bottle. As we drive by him, he will throw the bottle to me and I will quickly catch it in one hand. Que le vaya bien!.............he will yell as he heads for the hills.

Wow, where else but Mexico can you get that?