San Miguel de Allende
Trip Start
Nov 23, 2005
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126
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Trip End
Feb 27, 2007
San Miguel de Allende,
Mexico
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
There are quite a few permanent foreigners from the U.S. and Canada living in San Miguel de Allende (SMA for short). Everything we read seems to give a different number, but around 4000 seems to be the average. The population of the town itself is around 80,000 people. Another estimated 50,000 live in the surrounding municipal areas.
baskets for sale
Due to the large number of foreigners living here and wintering here the town has many amenities. They would not otherwise be available in a Mexican town of this size. The town is located almost in the center of Mexico. It is on the ridge of the Bajio, a semi-arid high plain. The elevation of SMA is about 6400 feet. It was a long journey for us to get to San Miguel. We went over to Vancouver a day early and checked into a hotel. We woke up the next morning, had Starbucks, went back to the hotel to get our bags and took the bus to the airport. Our flight left at 6pm and landed in Los Angeles at 8:30pm. It was impressive to see the lights of LA as we came in to land. We had to sit in the airport until midnight waiting for our next flight to leave. Our thinking was that the LA airport would be great. I'm sure parts of it are, just not the holding area they had us in. It had a grungy looking Burger King, and a bar styled restaurant with nothing but greasy food. There was a small Starbucks, but even it looked below normal standards. There was one shop with some magazines and stuff. It all started to close by 10pm. We felt sorry if anyone had to come after that and wait for a flight, they wouldn't even be able to get water. There wasn't even a vending machine. We did have a mouse running around the room to keep us entertained while we waited.
We didn't manage to get much sleep on the plane. We could see the lights of Mexico City as we approached in the dark. It was massive, it made LA look small. We arrived at about 5:45am our time, but they are 2 hours ahead so it was 7:45am. We could not believe how cold it was, you could see your breath. I guess being 1 mile in elevation would make it quite cold. We only had to wait about 1/2 hour for our bus to take us to a city called Querataro
Blender man at the market
. We went downstairs to the bus platform. What came next was different than anything we have experience when loading onto a bus. We first had to have our backpacks that we were taking onto the bus opened and inspected. While this was happening a security person was video taping us. After our bags were cleared we moved in line to board the bus, but not before being patted down by another security person. Welcome to Mexico City! Once everyone was on board an automatic door closed us off from the driver, kind of like the door to the cockpit on a plane. The bus was very nice. It was a first class bus with reclining seats. There was even a cushioned board that pulled down from the seat in front on you to rest your legs on. We managed to sleep almost the entire 3 hour trip. If only the seats on planes were this comfortable. Well I guess they are in first class. We arrived in Querataro and needed to get another bus from there to our final destination of San Miguel de Allende. This time the lady at the ticket counter did not speak English. She was very nice and took me outside the building to point exactly where we needed to get the bus. This bus was not as nice. It was old and a bit smelly. At least the trip was only about an hour.
We approached San Miguel from the road up above the city and got a great view. It captured us right from the first glance. The were colourful houses dotted all through the city and the magnificent church that stands out proudly amongst the buildings. The town is surrounded by low mountain terrain on all sides.
The days have been warm and sunny, but we were really surprised at how cold it can get at night
candleobra in restaurant
. It is about 6400 feet in elevation here, so I guess it is to be expected. The first night was bitterly cold, we could not stand to be outside without gloves, our fingers were going numb. It is such a contrast from the day where we needed sunglasses and could definitely get a sunburn if we were not careful. We have continued to enjoy warm beautiful days, one after another. The climate is incredible. No wonder so many people winter here and come to live permanently from other places in North America. It rarely gets colder in the day than what we are experiencing now. The hottest month would be May, but it rarely gets hotter than mid to high 80's, and is not humid, so it always remains comfortable. We have been exploring the town and trying to find all the places to buy food and supplies. You can get around on foot to most places in town. Some of it is steep walking up hills. The roads can be very rough with large uneven stones. If you have to take a taxi in town there are no meters. A simple flat fare of 20 pesos will get you where you need to go. Currently it is about 10 pesos to the Canadian dollar. There are two large modern supermarkets here, both opened only a week or two before we got here. They have almost anything you could get at home. The next larger city of Querataro even has a Costco, Walmart and Home Depot. We have been eating all kinds of food , including lots raw fruits and veggies and have had no problems
clock tower
. They have stuff you add to water and soak the fruit and vegetables. There is also some organic produce available. Our first Saturday here we saw a wedding at the beautiful church downtown. The bride was in a stunning cream coloured dress. The groom was in a black Mexican style suit with adornments down the outside pant legs, and a black sombrero. They were escorted to and from the church in a horse drawn carriage. We have seen a couple other weddings as well in which the bride and groom are greeted outside the church after the ceremony by a mariachi band. The couple is serenaded by the band and followed to their vehicle by them.
The town is a lively artist community with a rich and varied entertainment and cultural calendar. The main square always seems to have something going on. We watched about a dozen different dance groups one evening. The ladies had beautiful full skirts in bright colours. There are many art galleries that are constantly hosting showings of new work. There are lots of buildings in Colonial Mexican style, some of them elaborate mansions, churches and theaters. By 1790 SMA was one of the richest villages in Mexico. Known as a home of the hero's of the Mexican Independence. It was founded in 1542 by Fray Juan de San Miguel. In the 16th and 17th century the area flourished and farming and cattle grazing grew and later tanneries were built. Silver deposits were found and by the 18th century SMA had become an important commercial center. In 1926 the entire town was declared a national monument, preserving the historical nature of the town.
We are renting a Casita not far from the main town center
dancers at the Jardin sqaure
. It is a very cute house of course in Spanish style. We have not seen anything yet, but we have been warned to check the bed, our shoes, any folded clothing, towels, linens, etc, for scorpions and black widows. As well there are rattlesnakes here. It doesn't bother us too much, we have been traveling for many months with all kinds of poisonous snakes, spiders and other creatures. We have been getting a few huge dark coloured crickets in the house. That's okay, we will take those over the other bugs. They do freak us out a bit, they tend to hide in things. They are dark coloured so when we first catch a glance of one we think we have spotted our first scorpion.We will now make an amendment to the previous paragraph. Santa Claus, (at least this is who we are blaming) brought us our first scorpion on Christmas Eve. We were getting ready for bed when I moved a suitcase in the bedroom. There he was under it. It immediately started to move around. I didn't freak out as bad as I though I would. I screamed for Jack and jumped up on the bed. He was not too thrilled to have to deal with it. He came in like a hero with his shoe and in an instance it was all over. It was quite strange looking, about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long and a light tan colour. We thought they were all black. Hopefully no more will be surprising us.
We had a false alarm while I was sitting on the couch one evening
dancers at the Jardin square 01
. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a black thing crawling near my shoulder. I could see something red on it. I immediately thought I had a black widow on me. In a panic I ripped off all my clothes with in seconds. Jack kept crying out to me asking what was wrong, but I could not respond. Getting my clothes off was my only concern. There I stood naked, only then could I tell him I thought I had a black widow on me. He looked through all of my clothes and then continued to look around for it on the couch. He found what was a small black beetle with a bright red head on it. Okay, so forgive me, it wasn't a black widow, but better safe than sorry! The people are very friendly and seem to welcome any foreigners with open arms to their city. We get smiles and hellos in Spanish everywhere we go. We really need to take a course soon to learn at least some basic Spanish. We want to be able to communicate with everyone. Many people come to SMA to learn Spanish. There is a public library which has the largest collection of bilingual (Spanish and English) books in all of Mexico. We are not doing too bad, we have picked up a few phrases and words already. We can now say, hello, goodbye, see you later, good morning, good afternoon and good night, please and thank you, how much does this cost, (that always comes in handy) please take us to... (for the cabs) We have also learned many common food words for ordering in a restaurant or buying something at the market
Enjoying some fruit
. There are so many celebrations and festivals here. Apparently they celebrate so many days for saints, the people were told by the church to back off on the number of holidays because no work was getting done. There are over 75 religious and civic holidays celebrated annually. There are numerous celebrations for Christmas that start around December 20th and carry through the New Years. So it should be lots of fun. The city is loaded with poinsettias everywhere you look and has lots of Christmas decorations as well. There are pinatas hanging in the streets from wires. We walked past a store specifically for pinatas the other day. It was loaded with all kinds of candy and goodies to stuff them with, as well as lots of pinatas in all sizes. How much fun the kids must have here breaking them open.
We have already had two holidays come and go while we have been here. The last celebration had fireworks going all night. They came to a bit of a slow down around 3am, but still continued on sporadically after that. Fireworks tend to go off on any given night, and at all hours of the night. We have got used to them now, but at first we were having minor heart attacks as ones were going off right outside our bedroom window in the middle of the night. They love fireworks here to celebrate everything. It is customary to set them off when there is a birth, death or a wedding. When someone passes away the fireworks are let off to let the angels know the departed person is on their way.
There is so much shopping here, we could probably shop everyday for the 3 months and still not see all the shops. It has got to be the shopping capital of Mexico
Exterior of the bull ring
. There are fascinating boutiques with things from Mexican blankets, metalwork, lanterns in all kinds of shapes, silver jewelery, masks, clothing, purses, pottery, marionettes, and knickknacks. There is some really unique items. Some of the stuff is really expensive. There are lots of reasonably priced items too. Of course as usual everything I fall in love with and want to buy is huge! Looks like we might be sending another box home from here. San Miguel has markets, markets and more markets. The Tuesday market is one of the biggest ones. We checked it out the other day. There are stalls of stuff going for as far as the eye can see. Everything you can imagine is there. Clothing, household goods, vegetables and fruit as well as lots of prepared food ready to eat. Even puppies if you want one. We also have a large daily market not far from our house. It has a lot of craft items. Beautiful handwoven rugs, pottery, lots of metal or tin work, cowboy hats and food as well. Things change depending what is going on, at Christmas there were lots of decorations and Three Kings Day there were toys. There are numerous other craft fairs that go on through out town as well as many other markets.
As well as shopping there is every kind of restaurant imaginable here
fresh juice at the market
. A lot of them cater to the Gringo population and are not cheap. A fancy meal here is still only about 2/3 of the price of home though. If you look around you can find lots of reasonably priced places. It is like any place you go, if you avoid the tourist traps and do more what the locals do, things will be cheaper. We have found some great cafes. They are excellent places to just hang out and meet people. There are many street vendors each day. The food is a great variety of crispy fried tortillas shells topped with onions and chili powder, to boiled corn, bags of home made chips and salsa, and pork rinds. Tortilla wraps are made up with cooked beef, onions, tomatoes, etc. Lots of fresh cut fruit is available, watermelon and pomegranate seeds with a bit of chili pepper or lime squeezed on them are popular. Hear more of what we have seen and done in our second entry on San Miguel.
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