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.