Tianguis

Tuesday is tianguis day in San Miguel. Tianguis is the Aztec word for outdoor market. I went with my 14-year old, Carla to do some back-to-school shopping from the clothing tables.

The best clothes come from the piles that have survived enough End of Season sales in US department stores to be shipped to Mexico at bulk rates. Concentration is required when selecting.

Today, bras were the big item. Did I say big? Doesn´t every gal need a bra with planets on it?

Drug wars? Shootings? It makes me crazy when would-be-tourists from the US won´t come to Mexico because they expect to find a violence-driven soceity. Look at these photos instead of listening to what you hear on the news. Here´s real life in San Miguel de Allende - a man serenading tianguis diners on his violin.

Anyway, nothing like bargain shopping to take my mind off another agent pass. "Couldn´t see a path for the memoir in this grim market." Blah, blah. Somebody is going to see that people LOVE a good romance, and a well-written, literary - not genre - romance like Fast Break South is going to do well. That´s my belief.

I´m thinking of changing the title to I Married A Mexican Teenager, which was the title of a PEN talk I gave a couple of seasons ago. Comments?