After studying Duo Lingo-est Spanish for three months, I felt as prepared as I ever was going to be to speak Spanish with the natives — many who speak pretty good English, and many more who I could communicate passably using hand gestures.

But to be as prepared as was minimally necessary, I mastered several key words — the foremost of which was baño. I was so proud.

But along the way, I focused on several of the "eating" words like tortilla, fajitas and burrito — which came to mind as I walked down, and it was steeply down, the narrow cobblestoned street in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and saw along the way two burros and a handler.

San Miguel is a beautiful, artsy provincial town, a World Heritage town, where just about every place you look there is are potted plants, in huge pots. And for those who successfully lug these pots to their second floor garden, where do they get the soil?

They get the soil delivered in sacks on the backs of burros. So, I asked the handler if I could take a photo, which he obliged — and I offered several pesos in compensation.

Alas, with the burro, I am reminded of one of my nuggets of Mexican gastronomy, The burrito, or little burro. The story goes that during the 1910 Mexican Revolution a street vendor decided that wrapping food in a flour tortilla was a good way of transporting and serving it. It reminded people of a little donkey — thus a burrito.

This trip was organized by my daughter. She, her husband and son speak excellent Spanish. My wife, Adele, has been studying the language forever and speaks passable Spanglish. I help her out when baño or burrito are sneaking into the conversation.

My daughter suggested San Miguel because it is a Mecca for American, Canadian and European ex-pats, especially those with a penchant for art. Every block features an art gallery.

The architecture was a bit surprising. Lots of buildings featured islamic stylings and trappings — lots of domes, arches, tile and bright colors, In contrast, the churches were Gothic in design with artwork in dark shadings depicting crucifixions and a variety of unpleasant tortures. The Spanish enslaved the natives and forced them to go to these churches to induce fear and sub-servitude.

While it was a lovely town, we unfortunately hit the hottest week they had experienced in at least ten years. We had to go for our walks at 7 a.m. to return by 9 a.m. How do you say global warming in Spanish?

So, that's my big vacation for the year — and I can finally stop studying Duo Lingo.

~ Al Zagofsky