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Everyone says its dangerous to take a bus into Mexico, so there may be a hiatus on blogs for a week. Don’t be concerned if there is. I never can remember my passwords to log on down there.

And if we spend all our lives fearing the unknown, we’ll never go anywhere or do anything. Fortunately, my companion for this trip down to the Writers’ Workshop at San Miguel de Allende is my wild and wacky cousin, Becca. She has been and gone and done anything and everything without hesitation.

Packing for a week is a real challenge. I actually found my passport, which I thought I had lost, and everything is piled in heaps and stacks waiting for me to finish this. I plan to dress in drab blacks and browns, since to look to bright is to look too Anglo, and thus attract the eye of all these supposed drug lords. Of course, now that hubris has bitten old El Chapo in the butt, hopefully, there aren’t quite as many drug lords to contend with.

We went through all of the programs being held at San Miguel. They offer a wide variety of panels with many important scholars, writers and dignitaries. Becca was ooing and ahing over the speakers: Luis Urrea, Gail Sheehy, Lisa See, Elizabeth Hay, Juan Villoro, Kirk Ellis, and Joyce Carol Oates. We have downloaded several short stories from Joyce so we’ll know whereof she speaks.

This from their web site: “As the largest and most prestigious co-cultural, bi-lingual literary gathering in the Americas, the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival (SMWC) attracts prominent authors, established and emerging writers, industry experts, teaching professionals, and avid readers primarily from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

In addition to the 750 participants in craft and commerce workshops and 12 master classes, another10,000+ seats are filled at main stage ballroom events (keynote presentations, expert panels and seminars) with tickets available to the public. It is an inspiring week of intellectual exchange, community connection, and cultural celebration.

The popularity and reputation of the Writers’ Conference has grown exponentially since its humble beginnings in 2006, when a small team of volunteers produced a weekend event with 29 attendees.

It has evolved into a spectacular five+ day gathering of thousands of thoughtful individuals who create an international co-cultural community on the lush grounds of the historic Hotel Real de Minas.”

So, more to come from San Miguel tomorrow, maybe, if the drug lords don’t get us.