One Hell of a Birthday

I’ve had some memorable birthdays, like my 40th when my sister bought the birthday cake at the Erotic Bakery in Seattle; but I can say without qualification that today will be my most memorable yet.

This morning I walked the two miles round trip to the Santiago market, to which I had not yet been, to buy shrimp, tequila and black plastic with which to cover my garden bed to facilitate the composting. I bought a kilo of shrimp and a bottle of Jalieza, which is distilled from Agave, as is Tequila; but since it not distilled in the Tequila region it can not be called Tequila. I did not find black plastic.

After returning home; eating about a pound of shrimp, a tomato, and a quarter of an avocado; and drinking a couple of grapefruit juice and Jaliezas I walked the three mile round trip to the central market in search of black plastic, which I found and purchased. I returned home and covered the garden bed.

The real memorable part of my day, though, was my attendance, this evening, of a performance of a “Rock Sinfonico” by the Orquesta Sinfonica de Yucatan in the spectacular Teatro Jose Peon Contreras.

Not knowing that I should have purchased a ticket in advance I ended up in the “Galeria”, about 50 feet above the stage and level with the 12 foot, glass chandelier that hangs from the domed ceiling adorned with murals, which seem to me to have a religious theme. The theater, I think, is somewhat small, as such venues go; but is opulent in the true meaning of the word.

The theater is constructed as a semi-oval with the stage as its base. The ground floor has only thirteen rows of seats, with four successive balconies, adorned with elaborate filigree and which contain semi-private boxes, with six chairs each, accessed through elegant, double wooden doors. Above the fourth balcony resides the “Galeria”, which consists of an open concrete floor with chairs arranged along a guardrail. Despite the altitude and distance from the stage the performance was completely audible and left me agape.

The orchestra, in which my Spanish next door neighbor, Joel, plays trombone, performed a number of Beatles songs, from a rousing rendition of “When I’m Sixty-Four”, to delicate performances of “Yesterday” and “Michelle”, to a somewhat jocular version of “Yellow Submarine”. The Beatles’ numbers were followed by a number of Queen songs, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Joel was quite amazed earlier today, as he was telling me what the orchestra would perform, that I had never heard of Freddie Mercury, who I understand wrote the “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I wouldn’t know Freddie Mercury if I tripped over him, though I did recognize quite a number of the songs, such as “Another One Bites the Dust”, “We Will Rock You”, and “We Are the Champions”, even though I hadn’t known they were Queen songs.

All-in-all, it was it was a very enjoyable performance, and the only symphony orchestra performance I have attended when I recognized the songs performed.

What a day. And what a place to be.