Day 5: PAN? What about pan de vida?

10:10 pm

So... is your home parish as huge and beautiful and historic and featured on as many postcards as this church, the amazing Baroque parroquia that I attended today?

Ever since I got here; actually, ever since I first saw pictures of San Miguel de Allende and saw this church in all those photos, I wanted to come to Mass here. And today I did; my first Spanish Mass in a long while, and, I think, my third in history. Rodi and Kris, you'll be happy to hear that the "Mi Primera Comunión" book that you gave me as a joke came in very handy. And, those of you who have heard anything at all about my "new friends" will be surprised to hear that three of them: Simone, Erica, and Aneesha, came with me to Mass... I think, as a way to "experience the local culture" or some such nonsense, but, hey, at least we got them in the door, right?

On the way to Mass, we had to wade straight through a political rally that was all but picketing across the front door of the church, completely by coincidence. The "public garden," or town square, of San Miguel just happens to be right in front of the parroquia. And the political rally, for the PAN (Party of National Action) party, just happened to be in the town square. Just as Mass happened to be happening. So. We could hear shouts and yells and crowd-pleasing Reggaeton hits through the walls of the church as Mass was going on. The amazing thing, though, was that during certain times in the Mass, like when we were all singing the Alleluia (which, amazingly enough, has the same words in English and Spanish, hehe), we completely drowned out the rabid crowd outside. Our voices echoed up and into the high vaulted ceilings and through the centuries-old rafters. It was amazing. Also, I took the Eucharist straight to the mouth for the first time today; a little odd to have someone stick their finger in your mouth, though, strangely enough, not that gross. I did it to avoid culture shock confusion on the part of the priest. Also, the little altar boy had a long brass paddle to use as a sort of fancy crumb-catching bib, following the priest's hands in case he happened to drop anything. That was kind of funny.

This morning we went to check out the Artisan's market, but I went with Aneesha and Clea, and the prices seemed a little inflated to us. We figured we must be facing the notorious gringo tax that Jane had warned us about. We plan to go back another day with Erendira and Johanna, our Hispanic secret weapons, and see if the artesanos can't cut us a better deal. The PAN Party's party has been raging all day long in the public square; this morning we saw some amazing indigenous dances where the men were wearing less than the women. The drums were so loud that they made my whole body buzz. I also finally found the only bottle of Piña Jarritos in this entire town. I thought for sure that they would be everywhere, but apparently this Mexican soda is more popular in Texas than in it's own motherland. Or else it's just so popular that shopkeepers can't keep it in the shop. Tonight we went to a little cafe with a big balcony overlooking the public square, just as the sun was setting. Wow.

(Sorry, Mom, I'm really tired, so the jet-lag style of writing is coming back, I know.) Just wanted to let you guys know what I'm up to and how much I miss all of you. Have a blessed day and think of me-- you know I'm thinking of all of you.