Back in the U.S.A.

After a fairly horrific day of travel* yesterday, reporting in safe and sound from San Francisco. The kitties are happy and healthy (thanks, Brad!) and have been purring madly for the past 24 hours. Which, I think, means that they have forgiven me for my temporary absence.

And I am delighted to report that, despite the horrifically early hour (6am), I forced myself to overcome my natural reticence and engaged the taxi driver in conversation on the way to the airport. For the entire half-hour trip we chatted away, and not once was I stuck for words. The cab driver was so impressed that he kept asking me if I wasn't a Spanish teacher. So I felt pretty good about that aspect of the trip.

I felt pretty good about every aspect of the trip, when you get right down to it, except for the recurring stomach problems, which - while not serious - were fairly frequent, and somewhat uncomfortable. Don't know what I might have done differently in retrospect, some of the more extreme advice I received (brush your teeth with bottled water; don't take ice with your soft drinks; don't eat salad, etc.) seems frankly impractical.

But, in the end, this was just a minor inconvenience. I loved Guanajuato and - in particular - pretty much everyone I met on the trip was totally charming. (The occasional exceptions, I regret to report, could be classified securely in the 'ugly American' category, but they were fortunately few and far between.)

Back on the home front, a quick trip to Nordstrom's this afternoon took care of today's super-important errand. Yes, that's right - the elegant, charcoal-grey Italian suit, she is purchased, and will be ready for pick-up on Wednesday afternoon. Let nobody accuse this blogger of showing up like a slob for his only goddaughter's wedding. Eventual photographic documentation of this sartorial splurge seems inevitable, so be patient.

* you don't want to know, trust me.