Our Girlfriends Are Here!

The girls have arrived! We are so excited to see our friends and so very happy they have come to visit. They are exhausted from no sleep, but ready to party, so we go to Harry's New Orleans Restaurant to kick off Carnival.

After dinner we decide to go to the Jardin where Carnival is in full swing and a MAJOR party is happening. There are huge colorful crepe paper flowers at the vendor booths and beautiful little clown dolls made from paper. Even the local burros get decorated. We all enter the craziness of breaking eggs (hollowed out) over people's heads and generally making a big mess. The eggs are colored and filled with confetti and a shiny silvery powder, so it looks like it's snowing. Pam really gets in the swing of things and gets totally covered. It is a wonderful evening and fun to share with friends.

On Sunday we get fueled up with a big breakfast at Cafe Monte Negro and head over to the Biblioteca for the House and Garden Tour. We see two beautiful homes, do a little shopping, some more eating and call it an early night.


Monday is a super special day and we are more rested. It is Rebecca's Birthday and also the day we meet Toller Cranston, the Canadian figure skating champion and fabulous artist who is a San Miguel resident. We are invited to his house and his gallery is totally over the top. He delights us with colorful stories and we are all enthralled with this wonderfully eccentric man. His work is to die for and we purchase a couple of pieces. We are like kids in a candy store.

In the evening we go to La Bugambilia to celebrate Rebecca's Birthday. We love this wonderful old San Miguel establishment. We sit in the courtyard and the tiny lights twinkle in the trees and weave their romance on us. The guitar player serenades Rebecca and all the waiters sing to her. It is lovely and a wonderful way to close an absolutely glorious day.

Living Life in Mexico

Life has been wonderful for all of us and we are totally enjoying our immersion in Mexican life. We watch the burros come to town carrying firewood and sacks of topsoil. We go to the Mercado in San Miguel and buy fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers. We see a wedding in the Parroquia and the long procession of cowboys on horseback escorting the very beautiful bride and handsome groom in a carriage pulled by the ice cream horse. Life is definitely good.



































I am on Cloud 9 because my son, Doug has come to visit from Boston. He becomes captivated with the life here, the warm and friendly people and the beautiful architecture.

We go to Guanajuato, the capital city, and visit the Mummy Museum, Teatro Juarez, Union Square, Diego Rivera's home, University of Guanajuato (School of Architecture is free for residents) and walk the many beautiful plazas of this magnificent city. Our guide is well versed and his English is excellent, so we come away full of information. We visit the Valencianna silver mine and see an incredible church with so much gold gilt that it scalds the eyeballs.




































































We have lunch in a beautiful old Hacienda and continue on the "high road" to Dolores Hidalgo. The road twists and turns and reaches its highest peak at 8300 feet. There are beautiful vistas of mountains and canyons and we wind our way to Santa Rosa where some of the prettiest Talavera in Mexico is made. We do not stop, but promise ourselves to return another day when we have more time. We stop in Dolores Hidalgo and have some homemade ice cream from the street vendor. We opt out of the shrimp flavor and go for vanilla. The plaza is lovely and our guide points out an ancient tree that is the grandson of the tree under which Cortez cried. We head out of town and hightail it for San Miguel. It is starting to get dark and we have missed seeing the church at Atotonilco, Mexico's Sistine Chapel, because it closed at 6:00. Another day we will return.

We go on a House and Garden tour from the Biblioteca and see two "beyond beautiful" private homes. We ooh and aah and marvel at these incredible mansions of Mexico. We visit Bellas Artes and relax in the cool of the loggia by the courtyard. We say goodbye to Doug and are sad to see him go. It has been a wonderful visit.









We feel struck by the beauty of this place called Mexico and start talking about settling here permanently. In the pursuit of a happy and fulfilling life, it srikes us that we are living it.


















We bounce ideas back and forth and decide to consult a real estate agent and see what is available. We wonder if our families will come visit and feel equally captivated or if they will think we're just plain crazy. We see several homes for sale and stumble upon one that we fall in love with. Will it come to pass? Too soon to tell, but it makes us realize that we have some big decisions to make.




















Tomorow the girls are arriving! We are jumping for joy because three of our girlfriends are coming for a week. Doris has planned the ultimate itinerary (I think she's a born tour guide) and we are looking forward to a wonderful week. Tomorrow is the beginning of Carnival and of course the whole town will be nuts. San Miguel loves to party and this is one of the biggest fests of the year. We should be able to get some great pictures to share.

Buying Cheap Movies

John's 60th Birthday celebration was wonderful! We toasted, ate, toasted and then ate some more. I think there was also another toasting. We watched the Super Bowl on a plasma TV that was perched in the restaurant courtyard and there was the usual loud cheering and yelling that goes with such an event. We made friends and celebrated with our table neighbors, a man from Sinaloa and his son, a student at the Instituto.

Monday was an exploring day. We walked for miles, climbing hills and cobblestone alleys and just enjoying life. We stopped in at Casa Schuck to see what a really upscale boutique hotel looks like and we are duly impressed. At $200 per night we will probably not be staying there, but it surely is a magnificent property.

We walked through Juarez Parque where the plant sale is still going on and marvel at all the beautiful things that grow here! There were Mexican dancers dressed in native attire putting on a show, so we stopped and watched and listened to the music. It reminded me of the shows put on in Hawaii at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Are these peoples more related than we think or are these "shows" all much the same? Hmm...

We stop at a shop on the Ancha de San Antonio and visit with the owner. We go in the "back room" and admire the intricate tin work that his brother is doing. Really gorgeous stuff and monumentally huge. He is currently working on a mirror frame. There are so many artisans here practicing their craft in Mexico and producing beautiful things.

On Tuesday we all head out to the Tiangus Municipal (Tuesday Market) and shop for our veggies and other "can't live without" items. We are taken with Alicia, a charming lady selling her fruits. John plays guinea pig and eats a mysterious fruit where you suck out the inside and swallow the whole mass of gooey seeds without chewing. He says it was very good, but doesn't buy any. We snack on fresh baked potato chips, candies, fresh fruit drink and churros. Carolyn buys a huge hair piece for $1.40 for bad hair days and a colorful purse for $2.50. Four AAA batteries set us back 70 cents. We get bags of fruits and veggies for very little money and the quality is superb. We fill our backpacks and mesh shopping bags. We buy a bouquet of red roses (14 of them) for 35 pesos ($2.45). Then we hit the jackpot. American movies. Not old movies, but CURRENT movies. We buy 6 DVDs ($7.00 for all!) to play on the computer (we have no TV) for evening entertainment. We get Gran Torino, Benjamin Button, Hotel for Dogs, Revolutionary Road and a couple others. Guess they don't have copyright laws in Mexico. We'll leave these movies at the Casa for the next people to enjoy as we don't want to bring them back to the States.

We have an "American in Mexico night" and order Dominos Pizza that we eat on the roof deck. We drink Margaritas and watch the sun go down. We retire to Casita Alhambra and sit around the coffee table and watch Gran Torino on the laptop. What a wonderful way to end another great day in Mexico...

Today is John's Birthday!

Today is John's Birthday (it's a BIG one!) and we are going to La Parilla Argentinean Steakhouse this afternoon to celebrate. We'll also catch the Superbowl as they have some large screen TVs. Should be a fun time!

Today I'd like to post an assortment of pictures of things we've seen over the past few days so you can share in our experience here.

We've been exploring the town, admiring the scenery and ducking our heads in all kinds of quaint shops. There is no end to the beautiful jewelry, exotic home furnishings, metalwork, oil paintings, textiles from around the world, art galleries, handmade furniture and such. We love Zacateros Street and visit Frank Gardner's Art Gallery, a fellow Rhode Island School of Design graduate. He has beautiful paintings that we admire. We go to David's, one of our favorite jewelers, and see many lovely handmade pieces. We try on some beautiful tops from Chiapas and Guatamala. Ah, the shopping is SO fabulous here...

Candelaria opened Friday at Juarez Parque and there are beautiful flowers and plants from all over Mexico. What a day to have a dead camera battery! We'll go back this week before it closes and post some pictures of this special event.

Going to the Spa and Meeting Chi

Today is healthcare day. We go to our favorite Farmacia and visit Chelo, the pharmacist we have been going to for years. We get Crestor at greatly reduced prices from what we pay at home and some medicine for Johnny who is a bit under the weather. It is nice to see Chelo again and she hasn't aged a day. Must be the climate here!

We spend a little time in the Jardin and it is nice and quiet because it is a weekday and also because it is Siesta time. We enjoy the peace and quiet and of course the church bells!
















We head to the Spa. We have discovered one of the deals of the century at our beloved Spa. It has moved from the Sierra Nevada Hotel to new quarters on Recreo and is offering a 2-hour special for $50 US dollars! This includes hot stone therapy, full body massage and a facial. Such a deal! We got reservations earlier in the week. It is WONDERFUL and hope we can do it again before we leave.

After going to the Spa, we do a little shopping. John is looking for a good Cuban cigar and Mexico is definitely the place to get Cubans because they are legal here. They are expensive at $10 each, so it's maybe a once a week treat. He settles for some $3 Mexican cigars. He gave up cigarettes years ago, but really enjoys a good cigar once in awhile.

We run in and out of several art galleries and shops and end up meeting Chi Kaplan. He is a delightful young artist from Mexico City and has just finished filming an HBO special that will be shown in two months. We fall in love with him and his colorful paintings and are amazed at his English and he tells us he studied at Berkeley. He's listed on the Neustra Promotions website: http://nuestraboutique.com/index.html. We hate to leave him because he is so much fun to talk to, but it's getting dark and we need to head home.

Going to "The Tent" and Tuesday Market

We finally got to one of our favorite eating places we affectionately call "The Tent" and yes, the food was as good as it always was. This is La Palapa and run by a Canadian man. The cover is not a tarp after all, it's a Sol Beer canvas cover and the walls are cyclone fencing with bamboo tied to the inside. Business is steady as many people like this place and it also seems to be a small expat hangout. Lots of expats in San Miguel. We have fried shrimp tacos (the best ever!), chili dog, beef tacos, fried fish tacos and carrot cake. Yum! Yes, we all do love our food...

We visit Mega, the giant supermarket and fill our carts with eggs, ham, cheese, butter, bread, maple syrup, chips and beer. This will go back to our communal kitchen where we prepare one meal a day, usually breakfast, and evening snacks of guacamole and chips. We take turns in the kitchen and everyone has their specialty and contributes what they do best.

Tuesday Market is held on Tuesdays (surprise) and is a GIANT outdoor flea market where you can buy just about anything. Naturally we go to it. We decide we don't need any more bras, Spanish CDs or live rabbits, and go for the good stuff. Namely food. We get 5 kilos (11 lbs) of oranges for 10 pesos (70 cents) that we squeeze fresh into juice each morning. We bought a hand crank juicer in the local hardware store as there wasn't one in the Casa. We get fresh blackberries to make sauce for the French toast. We get a giant papaya, 2 kilos of strawberries for 25 pesos, avocados and bananas. We walk around and munch on fresh fried potato chips, sugared donut sticks and fresh fruit juice. We bypass the snake oil people with all kinds of remedies we didn't even know existed. We do stop and look at the handmade Mexican glassware and decide there's a shape we don't already own and simply MUST have. At $1.50 per glass, we figure this is a pretty good deal, so we fill up our Frida Kahlo mesh bag. We naturally become friends with the proprietor of the glassware table and trade life histories and end up hugging and kissing. We know we'll meet again.

We haul our aching bodies back to La Casa Arriba via taxicab and unpack our goodies. We have a simple dinner on the roofdeck overlooking the city and under the Christmas lights on the roof cover. We put our feet up, chat and rejoice in the opportunity we have to be able to spend the winter in San Miguel. We look at the stars and listen to music on the iPod plgged into the portable speakers. We miss our families and friends, but are glad to have Skype on our laptops and Vonage on the house phone to be able to talk with you. We look forward to visits by some of you and wish you could ALL come and visit. For those of you who will visit, here's a photo of your bedroom in La Casita Escondida.

Dancing in the Jardin

Sunday is another magnificent day so we pussyfoot down the cobblestoned alleys to the flatter part of town. La Casa Arriba is located high up the hill on the Salida a Queretero, so it's a bit of a hike downtown and we always watch the ground so as not to trip and fall. If you'd like to see the place we're renting, go to www.vrbo.com/130492.

We decide to go to the Posada Carmina Hotel for brunch where we can sit outside in the ancient courtyard. There are massive stone walls covered with flowering vines and a lovely central fountain. This hotel is an old restored 18th century Hacienda. Some of the tables have umbrellas made of cotton with a beautiful crocheted trim and set amongst the orange trees. The waiters are very formal and the service is wonderful. We love this place.

After brunch we continue on to the Instituto Allende where there's an Arts and Crafts fair. The Instituto is a college where you can study art and Spanish and is set on a magnificent piece of property. They offer BFA and Master of Fine Arts programs as well as art workshops. Today it is taken over by dozens of vendors of silver jewelry, rugs from Oaxaca, art of all types, textiles, semi-precious gem jewelry, and hundreds of people. We join the throngs of folks and pick out a few special little gifts.

As we're strolling back to the Jardin, we see a sign outside La Fragua announcing Happy Hour with 2 for 1 Margaritas. Live music is playing. Gee, how can we resist? After spending an hour or so here, we finally get to the Jardin and the Sunday festivities.

Oh my, the party is REALLY happening on Sunday night! The Jardin is PACKED. People are dancing, live music in the central bandstand, balloon and toy vendors, food stands, the ice cream horse, people are everywhere laughing, hugging, chatting and having a grand time. The place is amazing and we are swept up into another joyous and magical encounter in San Miguel. Are we never going to tire of this place?