Lord, I Can’t Be Afraid of No Dog

By Tzivia Gover
The airport shuttle bounced through the colorful crowded streets of el centro, then wended its way into a scruffy desert neighborhood—and my heart began to sink.
I had just arrived in San Miguel Allende, in the high desert of central Mexico, to present my work at a conference. The organizer had arranged an Airbnb for me and another presenter. “As long as it’s within walking distance to the conference center, I’ll be fine,” I’d written in an email a few weeks before. “Everything here is in walking distance,” she’d replied. Now, alone in the van after the other passengers had be...