Staying in Touch in While Abroad
I’ve had several people ask me this, and ‘ve been planning on putting this post up for a while now, but, as I’ sure you can all guess, this is getting to be crunch time for me, so if I’m not posting as much on the blog right now, I promise I’ll make up for it in June! So anyhow, I know you all want to know about the best ways to call home, and to stay in touch with all those loved ones you’ll have to be leaving behind. So, here goes…. There are a number of different options. By far, as always the best option is Skype.
1. Skype is a program you can download to your computer and then make phone calls from one computer to another, anywhere in the world, for FREE. And I do mean its free. The program is free to download, and its free to call any computer anywhere. You can also make calls to any land line or cell phone in the world using this program, although that will cost about 3 cents a minute. The calls are of a very high quality too – no scratchy bottom of the well sounding phone calls. You will need a headset with earphones and a microphone if these things are not built in to your computer, or if you want more privacy.
2. The second best option, in my opinion, is to get a pay as you go cell phone after you get to San Miguel (or where ever you’re going). You can get one of these for about 30 USD, and then put as much money as you like on it over the summer. Rates/plans vary. Some will include free incoming calls, and some will have cheaper call the US rates, so look into it when you get there, if this is something you’re interested in.
3. Your cell phone from the US. Chances are, it will work. But you should turn it off and forget you even have it with you while you are there, as using it will be exorbitantly expensive. If ou do think you want to use your phone, or if you have one of those sleek little iphones, make sure you call your service provider in the US and get an international calling plan befre you go. Without that, you could be paying $3 a min or more. With it, you’re still probably going to be paying a dollar a minute at least. I don’t recommend this option, except for emergencies….
4. Ekit. I have used this company a number of times. They are affiliated with Lonely Planet. You pay a certain amount, and they give yo a nmber and an access code. Every country has a number you can call to access their system, and then you get fairly good rates to call anywhere in the world. They are friendly and easy to work wth, although I should caution yo to check their website and find out what the rates are for the destination you’re going to, as they vary widely, and also, there are often many different access numbers you can use, some of which cost less than others. The benefits of this are that you can use it from any phone in the world, and you prepay it. I still keep my account active for those times when I can’t have my computer with me or when I don’t have internet access….
I definitely DO NOT recommend buying one of the expensive worldwide cell phones before you go. You can always get a cell phone at your destination thats cheaper than those!
Also, I want to encourage everyone not to worry about this too much. You are going to be really busy while you are there, and as much fin as I know we will all have, this isn’t a vacation. So I wouldn’t plan on calling home every night. Of course, you want to stay in touch with everyone, I know, however, I just want everyone to be able to really experience living abroad!
Let me know if y’all have any questions!
This is a wonderful spot for breakfast! The specialty here is hand made – the old fashioned way! – churros con chocolate. Churros are long thin falky fried
pastries dusted with sugar. They are dipped in thick molten chocolate, and you can decide between three different kinds. The difference is the amount of sweetness in the chocolate. I went for the Chocolate Espanola, which was the least sweet, and more of a dark chocolate. As we were there bright and early, we got to watch the churros preparations, and it was really cool to see the guys behind the counter stirring the dough with huge wooden sticks. We also had fruit and yogurt here, and coffee and tea juice, and the entire bill for 2, here, was $208 pesos, or less than twenty dollars. This is a nice treat, and a great pick me up after a late night….
. And if you like what you eat, you can buy one of Kris’s cookbooks, which are on display in the restaurant and are also available for sale. Prices are excellent, the location (just a few blocks off the Jardin) is convenient, and I foresee many happy lunches at El Buen Cafe!
So in many of my culinary searches about San Miguel this particular restaurant comes up. They re known for their chiles en nogada frios: marinated poblano chilies filled with chopped beef, pecans, almonds, and dried fruits and topped with cream sauce and a spray of pomegranate seeds. I didn’t have these, actually, as we had snacked a little too heavily on chips and guacamole at La Pamplonada, the palce where we will have the readings. However, I did have Quesadillas de Flor de Calabzas - quesadillas with zucchini flowers, which were about 70 pesos (between 5 and 6 dollars). I thought they were awfully heavy on the cheese (but what did I expect?) and actually a little bland. With a little salsa picante, though, they were filling and good. Also, the sopa azteca, known to us gringos as tortilla soup, was quite good, although again, definitely a bit on the cheesy side. By far the culinary winner was the cerdo in chile negra – pork in a dark sauce, similar to mole, and apples. It tasted surprisingly light, and the combination of the apples and the mole were delicious. I would highly recommend this dish…. You can get it for 110 pesos, which s about 9 dollars US. Bugambilia is a bit on the pricey side, for San Miguel, but the ambiance makes it worthwhile. There was live music playing quietly throughout our meal, which was served in a lovely courtyard, centered around a large and colorful bougainvillea plant…. I would definitely go there again, and I can’t wait to try the chiles en nogada….
Henry Griffin, screenwriting professor for San Miguel this summer, sent me 
pavilions, sculptures, and spiral stairways – built adjacent to a series of waterfalls.” All of which I found highly intriguing. Might be fun to go visit this place, built by Edward James, an English surrealist and eccentric, who “bankrolled the publications of poems by John Betjeman, and supported Dylan Thomas for awhile” as well as working with artists like Salvador Dali. Apparently, Las Pozas was supposed to be his recreation of the Garden of Eden, and was, at one time, filled with orchids and exotic flowers in addition to the sculpture. James died in 1984, and the palce has been left to wither away for much of that time, although now, it seems, efforts to preserve and revive it are underway. Las Pozas is easily reached from 
Hola San Miguelers! So, as I was browsing around looking for some places to go for myself before and after the program, I found this page on about.com I thought you all might be interested in looking at, called 
Bomb
and his fiancee. Of the two articles, I like this one better. This one also made me hungry talking about some of the food – I am going down to San Miguel (I think) later this month, and I will be sure to do my best to rate as many more restaurants as I can!
So if I seem a little food obsessed today, its because I’m food obsessed every day. get used to it. There’s something about food, though, that I think can provide the most intimate connection with culture. In my own life, PECAN PIE will always equal my Ma-Maw. And yes, I mean Ma-Maw, not grandma or any other permutation of the word. Only Ma-Maw can cover her handing be the bowl of pecans to crack into size, and helping me to learn the right layers of butter, syrups, and eggs to sover them with. Only Ma-Maw can mean someone not caring if you cover your entire body in flour while rolling out the dough, and only Ma-Maw wouldn’t care if you only ate the gooey sweetness of the pie that came out of the oven and none of the expensive pecans. Pecan pie, then, means something significant about the way I was raised, and something sacred about family. Its more than just sustenance (especially if its made right 
The SOUTH may be a region known for a closer relationship with food than is healthy or strictly necessary, but every region of the world has its own flavors, and I think exploring them is way to tie yourself to a place in a visceral way. A few years ago, when I was at Brunnenburg, Sitzo led us through a wine tasting of different specialties of the region. He introduced us to words like vintage and vernace. He also made the point that the particular climate of the region produced a particular kind of wine, that probably wouldn’t taste the same in a different climate. Being souvenir searching Americans, we disbelieved him and brought Tirolean wine home with us. I, for one, found him to be right….
Mexican cuisine is currently enjoying a new en vogue status as it makes its way onto plates in both fusion and revival forms in finer restaurants all over the world. And I for one don’t plan on missing any of this particular culinary invasion!
