A peculiar 24 hours, weather-wise. Strong cold winds from the south suddenly appeared yesterday afternoon. Storms in the air, battles perhaps, in the sense of meaningful things contending. The air marked by the acrid smell of the southern air here. Then, apparently, the victory of calmer things, and clean air and sunshine, presumably from the north.
Wandered through one of the malls. Not quite the glittering and flashing desire-machines of the country to the northeast, but a solid place. I seem to be able to sense the thread that goes from the market-based modern malls of the country to the southwest, through places like this, and to the north. Perhaps my imagination, but it seems the vehicle of one of the local social sensibilities, tracing out its idea of what a great, good place might be, and so it might be in some tension with the other groups. Instead of coffee from a small, century-old tin pot, digital espresso machines costing hundreds of dollars arrayed between the televisions and the laptops. Such things can be built from private notions of perfection, or in imitation of distant models, or against the proximate others. In the last case, it might have that character for the others as well. An amiable tabernacle, though.
Stopped in at a shrine of a local saint. Whenever you see a sign or a photo on the wall indicating that a pope stopped in here to pray, you get the sense that you might be in a worthwhile place, as opposed to the place across the street. Or perahsp not. Perhaps he's just indicating the neighborhood.