Ophelia and Valentine in Guanajuato

Ophelia's kitchen is the place where students and other assorted guests can eat breakfast - desayuno, and converse - platicar  in Spanish. Ophelia laughs easily, and speaks very slowly - despacio. Her guesthouse sits on the upper hills within the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, designated a " Pueblo Magico"

Below the house there is a hillside of trees and a nice stone stairway down to the callejon below, sort of an alley. Guanajuato is built into the canyons of a hillside below mountains where a huge vein of silver was discovered and exploited by the Spanish around 1522. Of course the native peoples were the miners and builders who did the work in creating the churches, mansions and haciendas of this very lovely city. The Spanish took so much silver though, that they flooded the world market, which brought the price of silver down, and eventually bankrupted their country. Karma.

Now the city has universities, a large music school, and several other private schools of higher learning. Most of Ophelia's guests are students. We were lucky, as we landed in Guanajuato between sessions at the nearby colleges. We had our pick of rooms, and then our pick of beds within the room. I made Ophelia and her daughter Juanita laugh when I commented that the rooms were so big that "necesitamos hijos" -we need children.

Our mornings in Ophelia's kitchen sharing stories of our families, our work, and our homes were not anything which could be duplicated by having spent 5 times as much money on a fancy hotel. We found the guesthouse through the hard work of Curtis, and a nice bit of luck. (Our karma was good that day).  We found a little haven to spend 3 days and nights exploring the old, very European looking city in its rarefied mountain altitude.

 Ophelia's husband, Valentine, was born on Valentine's Day, like my Dad. Valentine is a musician, so he and Curtis could talk instruments. He was fun to talk to, even if I understood far less of what he said, because he didn't speak slowly like Ophelia. I liked to just look at the lines of his face, and watch his expressions. He has a beautiful countenance.

By the time we packed up to leave, it was necessary to get photos and share email addresses with our hosts. This posting is for you, dear Ophelia, amiga mia... who agreed with me that motherhood is una camino grande - a long road, who gave me a ladder to climb onto the rooftop to practice yoga, who proudly showed us the world of magnets on her refrigerator from the guests who stayed and were touched by her careful words, bubbling laugh, warm food and open heart. To you, who made us feel at home, we look forward to our return again someday. For now, I must decide on a magnet to send, so you will think of us in your kitchen.