Monday, June 21, 2010

A Month in Mexico - We (almost) Become Movie Stars!


I've been waiting all my life to be discovered.  A crew for a TV drama in Wilmington, NC, rolled its equipment away five minutes after I walked down a scenic alley.  I've stood around when cameras rolled in New York, only to be asked to please get out of the way.  I was the only one who volunteered when a scouting crew showed up at the Lake Chapala Society one day many years ago.  They took my photo and phone number but never called.  But today, this morning around 10:00, I had my chance.







It was one of those perfect mornings in San Miguel with a movie-backdrop, deep blue sky and birds twittering in the crimson bougainvillea.  Walking up the stone sidewalk along Canal, on the way to breakfast near the jardin (plaza), David and I were noticed at last.  

Cameras were in the street, a motorcyclist waited, motor revving, while a jeep with an attractive couple inside waited to drive down the cobblestone street in the opposite direction.  A man with headphones asked us to wait.  Were we willing to portray American visitors in this tourism commercial?

Were we?  Just tell us where to stand and what to do!  And we were the Real Thing, I told the guy.  This was our first day in San Miguel de Allende!

Then a series of buses interrupted the scene, scores of people clambered aboard on the way to work, and the man with headphones said it'd be a while.  The jeep that was supposed to gently roll down the street stalled. 

My stomach rumbled.  There was nothing to eat in the casa this morning, and I thought of the eggs Benedict waiting at El Pegaso restaurant.  Wondered if they would be as good as I remembered. Suddenly, being hungry seemed more important than being famous.

The jeep stalled again, the director shouted something into his megaphone, several other tourists stopped to watch, and the man with the headphones threw down his clipboard.  David and I exchanged a look. He nodded and then told the headphones-man we were going to go on.  Maybe the people who'd stopped to watch could be his tourists.

Being discovered wasn't so glamorous after all.  Not when El Pegaso was just a few blocks away.
              El Pegaso Restaurant


Practicalities - 
El Pegaso was one of my favorite restaurants ten years ago, and it pleased me all over again on this trip.  The service is excellent, the food delicious, and the prices reasonable.

No comments:

Post a Comment