Pao and Alex and I were having dinner one night before Valentine ’s Day. “Alex,” I said, “Do you remember several years ago, when you put together that lonely hearts Valentine’s dinner at Market Bistro? What were we, 17 people? If you were to do that for this Valentine’s, how many would we be?”
Alex thought for a moment. “Three,” he said, “And we’re all sitting right here. Everyone else who was there is coupled, married or no longer in San Miguel. And we haven’t met any new single people.”
“That’s depressing,” said Pao. “How pathetic would that look? The three of us out to dinner together on Valentine’s Day.”
“Then let’s get out of town. We don’t want to run into any of our ex’s, potentially out on a date with their new squeezes.” I thought for a moment. “Victor! San Luis Potosi! Victor will be alone on Valentine’s . . . Mark is in the U.S. . . . They have plenty of bedrooms and it’s only two hours away.”
Suddenly Valentine’s Day wasn’t a depressing “thing” looming in our future. We got on the phone, called Vic and a plan was born. Alex and I would drive up on Thursday, Pao would schedule a sales call for Friday in San Luis and meet us there Thursday night. We’d bring our golf clubs and play a round at the country club.
Valentine’s dinner was at an upscale Chinese restaurant, surprisingly named “China Express”. It was a wonderful treat as we lack good Chinese food in San Miguel. (We have it; it just isn’t very good.)
San Miguel has a very nice, and challenging, golf course called Club Malanquin. But it is only nine holes. If we play on a weekday after 2:00 PM, it costs about 500 pesos. So on Friday in San Luis, for about 1,000 pesos, we played our first full 18 holes and finished just as the sun was setting. The course was in a gated community with about every style of architecture imaginable; the common thread being a lot of money. (This is clearly how the “other half” lives in Mexico.) We all had fun and I could tell that Pao and Alex were rapidly becoming addicted to the sport.
The next day we toured centro and stopped in to visit the new Hotel Palacio de San Agustin
http://www.palaciodesanagustin.com I have not included any photos because none can compare to those on their website (I highly encourage you to click on the link). While we were sipping sodas in the lobby, waiting for our private tour of the hotel, Alex and Pao began flipping through a large photo book they found on one of the tables. The book contained high quality photographs of the best golf courses in Mexico.
“This is what we should do,” said Alex. “Travel around Mexico playing all these courses.” Pao agreed with him.
“Great,” I said. “I’ve gotten you hooked on the most expensive sport possible.”
The last night Victor and I left Pao and Alex talking in the courtyard while we ventured off to one of the local gay bars called El Greko. It was really my first time out since the break-up and I have to say that I enjoyed myself immensely. Quite apart from San Miguel, Gringos are not common in San Luis. Victor’s friends were educated, well dressed and friendly. Many spoke English and were anxious to practice. I received all kinds of attention, especially from a totally ripped personal trainer named Hugo. He was so cute I almost asked Victor if I could take him home (but I didn’t).
When Alex and I were driving home the next day, he asked me, “What was your favorite part of the trip?”
“Hugo,” I said. “It was just nice to be flirted with. It did wonders for my self esteem. I can’t stop smiling about it even though I’d never take it any further. For one, he’s about five foot nothing and we’d look pretty silly together. And, he doesn’t speak a word of English and lives with his family. I think we’d have a little trouble finding any common ground. What was your favorite part of the trip?”
“The golf,” Alex replied without hesitation. “It was so cool. We have to go back and do it again.”
And so I imagine we will.
