FRESH BREAD BAKED WITH LOVE: (#17): When we lived in our yellow house, we were the only gringos in the neighbor, but Cathy made many friends and practiced her Spanish. Today we learned that one of our friends from the old neighborhood died from Covid-19 and her daughter is very ill. Tuesday is the day Santos makes his weekly bread delivery, and today he brought the bad news as well. He says that he also knows two other people who have died from Covid-19 and that we should be very careful. He recommends that we don’t leave the house unless it is absolutely necessary.
Santos and his wife, Teresa, live across the street from the house we bought in 2015. He was the President of the neighborhood association and came over to introduce himself. He said that he watched over the previous owner, a widow from the States, and added, “I will look after you also.” And he did! The day I went upstairs for a nap and left the garage door open, Santos saw the garage was full of boxed ceiling fans for the new house and stood guard for an hour until Cathy got home. Boy, did I catch it from Cathy.
The summer I was here getting ready to start construction of the new house and Cathy was in the States teaching art classes, I accidentally locked myself in the garage with only the front door key in my pocket, not the key for the door into the house from the garage. The garage door opener was in the car parked on the street. I wasn’t sure how to disengage the garage door and open it manually. I saw Santos coming out of his house and shouted for help. Santos heard me and I tossed him the front door key from the garage window and he came in the house and let me back in. Santos also gave me Spanish lessons that summer, and did so much more.
Santos and Teresa operate a small bakery from their home. When we were building our new home we would provide a lunch for the workers every Thursday and on Fridays we would buy a basket of bread from Santos and give a package to each worker to take home. Below is a photo of a birthday cake teresa made Cor cathy.
We noticed that Santos spent a lot of time trying keep his very old red VW Golf running. He had worked for VW and was a great mechanic, but the car was so old it was hard to get parts here. He had rebuilt the starter the best he could, but every morning as he turned the engine over and over, we always wondered if it would start. In fact one of the parrots at the Tienda (small grocery) a few houses away did a perfect imitation of Santos trying to start the old Golf.
When we were getting ready to move into our big, new house, Cathy felt sad about leaving Santos and Teresa and said, “We need to do something something nice for them!” Cathy kept looking until she found a deal on a little bit bigger and newer VW that was in good shape and helped Santos and Teresa buy it. The day we all went to check out the car was a very happy day we’ll never forget.
The photo of the bread on the cutting board is what Santos brought today, less what we had for lunch. If you live in San Miguel and would like fresh bread delivered to your home (and help out a very sweet couple) just contact Cathy or me and we will put you in touch with Santos. His English is very good and please remember what he said, “Be very careful. Don’t leave the house unless it is absolutely necessary.”
And please keep our neighbor’s daughter, Juan Enrique, Sarah Hoch’s family, Erica’s friend, and all of us sane enough to wear a mask in your prayers.
