Day 8

What just a fun day and night yesterday. We spent a good chunk of our day starting the editing process then we tried to go swimming at a pool that we found out about but it was closed. However we will be giving that another shot on Monday. Today however it is back to the editing. As is par for the course yet again we had a wonderful meal last night. This time I remembered to take pictures. Let the drooling commence. We also had lunch on an adjacent rooftop from where we were last night. We decided to munch again on some pizza. I know that we New Yorkers pride ourselves on our pizza but I gotta tell you that what they make here is pretty amazing. We also ran into our friend Buddy who is still here and he had made some friends with a couple of locals that took us to a disco tech. I'll include some pictures of that experience as well. In the main square last night they had kind of a local talent show where people got up and performed traditional Mexican music. I was able to snag a photo of a guy dressed in tradition garb that I was super excited about. The square was packed with people last night enjoying the festivities. It seems that almost every night here there is something that is going on. All of which has the feeling of just stumbling onto it. Suddenly out of nowhere you pass a tiny Cabaret where a show is going on. It just seems like there is no end to the amount of creativity that is thriving here. It is one of the things that has been keeping us going. Right now I am listening to the sounds of Jeff Buckley playing live at the Sin-e. Perhaps let that incredible voice run in your head while perusing. Thanks for reading!

Day 7

The weather has officially broke and it is sun and fun here in San Miguel. If you read yesterday you know that we have finished the principle writing and now the oh so fun task of editing begins. If you have ever tried to edit something creative you know what I am talking about. If not just nod and shake your head. Another amazing night last night. We found out about a rooftop restaurant where the food is great and the views are even better. Thank you Christina! I will be posting some photos from there. Also they showed the laser show yet again onto to church so I have some pictures again from that as well. After we had eaten our very delicious pizza on the roof. Yes that's right I said pizza. We made our way downstairs to a place called Mama Mia where much to my enjoyment they had karaoke. I have to tell you that spanish karaoke is something to behold. They love karaoke here. It's very much an audience participation thing where everyone cheers and sings along. Needless to say it was a lot of fun all be it a little loud. Then on our walk home as we were passing by the Jardin they were filming some kind of cooking show/mariachi band/infomercial. We could'nt really figure out what was going on. Finally we made our way back home yet again dazzeled by the sights of this city when suddenly fireworks started to go off down in the square. The rooftop is an amazing vantage point for just this thing. Unfortunately the only picture that I got was extremely blurry but I will post it anyway. For now it is time to get back to the editing. Until next time!

Day 6 Update

Principle writing is finished! We have a 90 minute play ladies and gentleman. She weighs appox...... Ummm right. So tomorrow starts the fun task when we release that oh so fun fem fetale call editing. Time to start hacking and editing but I am amazed that in four days we knocked it out. But tonight we celebrate. Heard about a great rest that overlooks the city with great sunset views. Until next time kiddos!

Day 6

Another absolutely beautiful day here in San Miguel. The sun is shining the flowers are in bloom and people are out enjoying the weather. Had a really fun night last night with some cool people that we met. Annie and Buddy that's right I'm giving you a shout out. Buddy I'll be looking for you on special teams the next time Harvard plays. We decided to go down the hill and work this morning hence the late post today since we were not around a place that had WiFi. The play is starting to come together very nicely. Amazingly we have somewhere around 45 pages written! So we are somewhere around 75% through counting editing and polishing. We have definitely found a rhythm and the characters are developing a nice little personality of their own. When we get finished I will start posting some excerpts. I know you are all waiting with baited breath. Riiiiiiiiiiight. Just a couple of photos today that I took last night and some extras from the other day. More to follow soon!

Day 5

Yesterday we finally got break in the weather and it was a beautiful day all day. I think that most of the people here had felt a little couped up as well because the "Jardin" was packed with people. Yet again we had a wonderful meal last night at a Spanish-Italian restaurant. For the most part we spent our day writing and are starting to make some real progress. Yesterday was one of those mostly uneventful days that happen after you have started to settle into a place. I did happen to take quite a few more photographs so I will be posting some of those. There just seems to be no lack of beautiful scenery to explore here. In addition Clayton will be making an entry today in the form of a poem that he wrote this morning. I look forward to all of your comments! Until Next time my friends.

Constant is the crowing of roosters and the sound of water being swept into drain pipes by the maid and gardener each morning.
Constant is the need for coffee and the need to stand on the roof terrace to study the expansive beauty of San Miguel.
Constant is the presence of pigeons, food venders, green and white taxis, the sound of bells,
the bright, almost fluorescent purple blooms of bougainvillea hanging down stone walls.
Constant are the hills and feeling my legs strain to traverse them, the road repair by street workers,
the Americans who pass and never make eye contact or speak, the presence of children laughing,
birds chirping and butterflies darting through tropical foliage lush and dense.
Constant are the colors of yellow, orange, brick red, rust, purple, azure, and even periwinkle.
Constant are the cloud formations building daily over the mountains to the west or behind us to the east.
to bring the constant rain that finally gave reprieve yesterday and the chance to soak some sun.
Constant is the need to explore down one more cobblestone avenue, narrow and inviting.
Constant is the writing and the creative flow of plots, conflict, arch, dialogue, sight comedy, stage movement, transitions,
substance without being heavy handed, honesty, resolve, and ending, a good ending, a really strong ending.
Constant is the keyboarding and the hitting backspace, delete.
Constant is the need for sleep at past midnight each night and looking through my bedroom windows to the lights
of San Miguel now resting to await another sunrise to express the constant glory of Mexico!
Clayton Scott

Day 4

So last night was Claytons birthday as you all may well know if you read yesterday's blog. So we took another little adventure to another part of the city. This time it was to the south side where there were some massive homes. I was kind of blown away at their immensity. It is by far the "rich" part of town so to speak. We finally got some sunshine yesterday as well. We actually broke a sweat walking around but then of course as soon as we decided to pop into a cafe and take a break it started to pour. Not just your typical rain storm. Oh no. We're talking amazon style big fat raindrop Forrest Gump jungle rain. So we did the jump from awning to door way to awning until we were able to find a cab. It' is still pretty amazing that the cabs can get around here on such narrow streets, but when there is also enough runoff that the street has become a river then I'm truly impressed. Lesson learned? Always take an umbrella. We also returned to have dinner at a previous restaurant and yet again the food was outstanding.

In other news we did get a cell phone! If you feel pressed to talk to one of us the number is 011 52 415 151 2861

The Play:
The writing is still going really well. We have basically mapped out the story line and the motivations for all of the characters. Now we just have to connect all of the dots. A little harder said than done but we are about a third of the way through with 8 more days to go before Clayton departs.

Market.
On Tuesday's there is an outdoor market in San Miguel. So all of you who I said that I will be getting something for this is your day. Hopefully there will be a large variety of items to choose from, otherwise you all get Mexican Flags.

Video:
Later on this next week I think that I am going to try and make a short video of the area and post it so keep a look out for that.

Also I haven't forgot about making a posting on the main church. If I get some time today I will make sure that I get that up. Thanks so much for reading!. Until then.

Pictures: The pictures below are from us walking around yesterday. The prehistoric size plant is actually an Aloe plant I think. In some of he pictures you can see the impending rain making its way towards us. My favorite though is the dog that I just fell in love with. Couldn't have asked for a better shot.

Day 3

So Clayton and I have come up with a bit of a schedule now which basically translates into us writing as long as it is raining. So yesterday we wrote for approximately 10 hours. We have somewhere around 14 pages written so far. It did however clear up long enough for us to take a great walk over to the north side of town and explorer some places that were a little more off the beaten path. For most of the time we were the only Americans that were walking around and that was great. It is almost the same mentality that pervades itself in Times Square. In the sense that a great many tourist who come there spend all of their time just in midtown and don't explore the rest of the city. A great many of the American tourists here don't venture any farther than a couple of blocks in either direction. Wandering around all the tiny side streets you start to get a much better feel for the local side of San Miguel. We discovered several unique churches and sculptures as well as some very small cantinas that were locals only places. We experienced a sort of record scratching sensation when we walked through the door but for the most part people tolerated us.

Clayton:

Well today is Clayton's birthday. He turns 55 today so we are going to head down the hill and grab some dinner tonight and have a little celebration.

One of the things that I am still adjusting to is not having a cell phone or any concept of time. I'm typically a very plugged in person and it has been a little bit of an adjustment. On the plus side my camera has replaced my cell phone so I have been taking a great many pictures. I suppose I've traded one addiction for another.

The writing seems to be going fairly well and once we get into a groove it flows pretty easy. Right now it seems to be taking us somewhere around an hour a page. We should end up with somewhere around 40-45 pages which will translate to about 70 "script" pages since we are typing them full size. If anyone knows of a plug-in for Microsoft Word 08 for mac that is designed for playwrighting let me know. I tried one already that didn't work that was built for Word 04.

I am including some pictures from our walk yesterday but for now the writing awaits..... Until next time friends.

Day 2

Rain, rain go away. So even though I knew that I was coming here during the rainy season I don't think that I was prepared for just how much it was going to rain. So needless to say I am not exactly getting a tan. Case in point. Clayton and I decided that to be a bit more economical that we should go shopping and buy some groceries. So we hailed a taxi and off we went to the super market. It was fun to see all of the American brands retitled with their spanish translations. None of which I can remember at this point unfortunately. For the most part it went pretty smoothly until we started to hear just hard it was raining outside and of course they don't sell umbrellas. However, there was a place down the street that did. A department store called Liverpool of all things. So off I ran into the rain ducking under awnings where possible. Liverpool, I soon discover, is a very high end store something a kin to Lord and Taylor but they also sell motorcycles. Yeah. Motorcycles. So with a little bit of wandering around I finally find the object of my desire. That is until I check to see how much they are. $330 pesos. Thats roughly $30. Now you may be thinking; wow that must be some amazing contraption of anti rain technology. Perhaps with some type of Dyson like gadget that is self drying or at least has a spanish greeting when you open it. "Hola! Esta llobiendo!" ("Hello. It's raining!") You would be sadly, sadly mistaken. Think the vendors outside grand central when it rains. Should have been $5 tops, but it's pouring and we are a long way from home. Plus I need one for Clayton as well. So you guessed it I got two of the crappy $30 umbrellas. Not only are they poorly made and insanely over priced but they come in a lovely pastel because the only ones they had were women's. I finally make my way back to the supermarket a little drier and a little poorer. Now the logic that we both had was that we took a cab here and we saw several others, so it should only make sense that we could catch a cab back. Riiiiiiiiiiiight. After almost an hour of standing and two verbal altercations with other people trying to get cabs we finally made our soggy way back to numero dulce sierra gorda. So ended the great supermarket expedition, but hey I did get some Ritz crackers out of the deal. So I suppose it wasn't a total loss.

Film Festival:

Again last night we watched several of the films in the main square. One that was really incredible was a Spike Jonze submission called "I'm Here". Several others were also quite good, including a German skateboarding film with the protagonist being a field ant. As well as a Chinese film that was a C.G.I wonder. You can check out the official page here www.expresionencorto.com.

It has been an amazing stroke of luck that we have been able to be here at the same time.

The Play:

So we decided on a working title last night "The Roommate". We also made progress and wrote the opening scene. We will see if it holds up in the light of the day so to speak. In Moss Heart's autobiography "Act One" he says that the scariest moment for any playwright is to write the words Act One Scene One. That is pretty accurate so far. Once we got the ball rolling however it seem to be a little easier. Clayton and I work very well together and have that ability to be brutally honest with one another and not take it personally. We could not have asked for a better space to create either. We have everything we need right in one small place. Right now we are making breakfast, listening to Ben Harper, drinking coffee and brainstorming for what's next. With that I will leave you for now but fear not I will post more soon. Until then friends.

Day 1

So day one has far exceeded my expectations for what I possibly could have ever imagined. I flew into Leon with no problems and then it was an hour and a half drive to reach San Miguel. The drive through the countryside was actually a nice respite after traveling all day with my fellow man whom it seemed none had ever flown before. So needless to say it was not the most relaxing experience that I have had. The wait was well worth it! The best way I can describe the small winding cobblestone streets of San Miguel is to imagine San Francisco on crack. Some of the hills are amazingly steep. Even on foot they can be challenging much less in a car. There are times that you literally have to stand in a doorway so that a car can pass you. Needless to say most of the streets are one way due to just how narrow they are. The people here are extremely friendly and many times while walking you will receive a salutation. Approximately one out of every fifty people that you see are "gringos". Which I learned last night that the term comes from the Mexican people telling American forces who were clad in green uniforms to go. "green-go!" It's sort of their version of a black and tan I suppose. Despite that I have felt very welcome here and extremely safe despite what is going on in the rest of the country. This city seems to exist in it's own sort of bubble that is untouched by the rest of the world.

After spending some time wandering around the city we discovered that this weekend just happens to be the San Miguel International Film Festival. Dozens of films are being screened throughout the city. One of the more interesting things that will be shown is a horror film that will be screened in a cemetery! We sat in the main square "the Jardin" last night and watched several films. I was amazed at the sheer quality of what was being shown. Particularly a film called di-plo-ma-cy. If you can find it online I highly recommend that you check it out. As you can see in the photo to the left the Parish church dominates most of the landscape here in San Miguel. However last night the promoters of the film festival

did something that I have never seen before that left

me amazed that the creativity of the human spirit. They set up multiple high intensity lasers and projected them onto

the church telling the story of the Mexican

revolution. The church was built in 1706 and then the ornate stonework was added in 1880. You can see the scaffolding of the screen for the film festival to the right. Later I will be doing a separate post just on the interior of the church. I was lucky enough to be able to go inside and take some pictures. From what I understand it is only open a couple of times throughout the year so I was very lucky to get to see

the interior which I promise will not disappoint.

Something that was not expected nor was I prepared for was just how incredible the food is here. It rivals anything that I have had back in the states. I will leave that for another blog though. I am going to do my best to be as diligent as possible about posting each day so be sure to check back often. Future posts will include excerpts from he play that my cohort and I are writing as well as more on the food, the main parish, film festival, parks, and some day excursions to the surrounding areas. Until then my friends! Thanks for reading and tell all your friends.