Beau Salgado. Beau’s soulful "Ode to Bella the Bus"—performed on guitar with Beau’s original lyrics—would have been enough to score him a spot on our ‘bodacious school car.’ As it turned out, Beau’s background was just as intriguing.
After spending his early years in his father’s native Mexico, learning fluent Spanish and the flavors of Michoacán cuisine, Beau and his family moved to the Rocky Mountains, above Jamestown, Colorado. There, Beau’s father has been directing the historic Cal-Wood Education Center. A mountain garden and ample opportunities for hunting game have kept their food traditions alive. (Never turn down a dinner invitation to the Salgados or you’ll miss out on incredible green pozole or pheasant enchiladas.)
You’d think all this time running around in the woods would have turned Beau into a veritable lumberjack. Instead, Beau cultivated his interests in classical music, soccer, and literature. When he found us—and composed his masterpiece—Beau was finishing up his senior year abroad at Oxford University, studying Shakespeare and Philosophy of Religion. ‘Please, would you release your doors?’ he crooned, and ‘Bonita’ obliged.
At Meadow Lark, Beau serenaded us with Chopin or Jobim whenever a piano turned up, recited Borges, and taught us how to make tomatillo salsa. And in the end, his dream came true: Beau got to spend a night with Bella.