And I did not even recognize it had gone missing.
On Saturday night, I took an aspirin – as I do every night before wandering off to bed. The same type of tablets from the same bottle I have been using for several months.
When I popped the aspirin in my mouth, I tasted vinegar. Just what I should taste.
It was only then that I realized I have not tasted aspirin in a while. I take them, but there has been no taste.
That was just the beginning. All day Sunday, I discovered every food item had a new taste. A strong taste. Cheerios. A banana. Eggs Benedict. A slice of provolone (and that was a rather disgusting chemical taste).
Somehow coming to the mountains has restored my ability to taste the varied layers in food. And I had no idea it was not there at the beach. I suspect the altitude has opened my sinuses and liberated my tongue.
And, from an experience this morning, I may need that tongue in San Miguel.
On early Sunday, two men I had met through Babs when she visited Melaque in January, Fred and Ron, picked me up to attend church services at the Community Church of San Miguel de Allende. Like my church in Melaque, it is non-denominational. Even though, as you can see by their meeting place (pictured above), the accomodations are a bit more slick than our beach palapa.
Before the service started, I wandered around meeting new people. A woman was very interested that I lived on the coast. She said they go to La Manzanilla (a village just north of mine), and she finds it delightfully primitive.
The church collects cans of beans to distribute to the poor. When I mentioned to the woman that I was surprised they were handing out cans of beans, instead of dried beans, she responded: “I know. Who would eat those?” She then added: “So, how does your maid cook beans for you?”
I must have adopted the look of an earl who does not have a Rolls Royce being addressed by an earl who does. She responded, with pity: “Oh. Are you one of those people who cooks for himself?”
Well, I am certainly not in Melaque – where no maids, as far as I know, cook for their employers.
But there is good cooking here. And restaurants will always cook up good food for the wallet-weary.
And I can now use my newly-found taste for a good purpose.
