Return to San Miguel de Allende

Dia de Muertos

 We are back in San Miguel de Allende and are planning to stay for the next several months.  The transition, except for a snafu with our checked bags that was rectified after three days, has been pretty seamless and trouble free.

Day of Dead display 

We arrived on Saturday, November 1 (Dia de Muertos.)  Seeing all of the adults dressed up like skeletons going to a masked ball and the children in their "Halloween" costumes was fun, but it seemed to lack of the spontaneity and levity we remember from last year. Others have commented on the same to us.  We are fearful it is being taken over by the ex-pats and other foreigners.

Our Apartment

View from our Terrace

 Before leaving San Miguel last year, we searched for a place for our stay this year, and we feel fortunate that we found a great one-bedroom apartment right in the heart of town.  Our rent covers all utilities, cable and Internet, and weekly cleaning so we feel it is a good bargain at $742/month. There is a small grocery store, two green grocers, a butcher, and a liquor store within half a block of us.

Small but very comfortable, the apartment includes a living/dining room, kitchen on the first floor and the bedroom and terrace on the second floor. Though  small, we do have room for visitors and there is an open invitation.  Winter nights can be chilly, but most days are bright & sunny with incredibly crystalline blue skis.

Larry at the Biblioteca

There is much to see and do in town, and in the two weeks we have been here, we feel like we have done and seen a lot, although many might think it is a rather leisurely existence.  Larry has signed up for a Spanish language conversation class for an hour each day; Sue is studying on her own for now but is keeping her options open.

Monday nights we are attending a Spanish language lecture series offered by a local language teacher, Javier.  He is very knowledgeable about Mexican history, culture and current events, and he speaks so very clearly and precisely that we both are enjoying this learning opportunity.

We have signed up to tutor some teenagers in English three days a week, at the Biblioteca Publica (a library founded by the expat community some sixty years ago and dedicated to serving the entire San Miguel community.) Our first class will be later this week--wish us luck!

Gil Gutierrez & Friends

 There are so many restaurants that we almost certainly will never be able to sample all of them.  We have returned to some we remembered fondly from last year, like Hecho en Mexico and our favorite Pizzeria.

Last Friday, at the invitation of our friends, John & Martha Birney, we dined at Mi Casa--a restaurant located in the Instituto de Allende and featuring the music of guitarist Gil Gutierrez.  He was joined by some Cuban musicians, and it was a truly memorable and delightful evening. We hope to return regularly.

Organic Market

Other activities have included visiting the Saturday Organic Market and participating in the Audubon Society of Mexico's monthly bird walks.  The latter was great fun.  It was a beautiful Sunday morning and the walk took us along the banks of the river Loja.

Bird Walk

Along the River, Loja

Our expert guides are armed with binoculars and "scopes" that make seeing the birds a lot easier--we spotted a number of exotic species, at least for us, including Vermillion Flycatchers, Phoebes, Keskakees, Cara-Caras,  several variety of egrets as well as mourning doves, warblers, kingfishers, jays, and ravens.

We joined the Society and look forward to their monthly "walks." It was especially nice to have an opportunity to see the countryside outside of town.

Weekend at the Jardin

San Miguel, in addition to a lot of US and Canadian expats, attracts a lot of Mexican tourists from Mexico City and other larger nearby cities like Queretaro, Guanajuato, and Leon.

On weekends, the Jardin, or main plaza, is filled with people--milling around, looking at the Parroquia and other local sites, eating at one of the many restaurants on or near the square, and buying souvenirs and other gimgaws.

Music is a big part of the experience, and at any one time, there might be two or three competing Mariachi bands or singing groups playing or performing.

One thing that we have enjoyed this time is the friendliness of the expat community.  The local Mexicans are almost uniformly polite and helpful, but without a thorough mastery of the language or some other intro to the community, it is hard to integrate--but perhaps with time.

Barbara on her Terrace

The expat community, on the other hand, seems to be very friendly and welcoming.  Already we have met and socialized with a number of individuals and couples.

Attending a play or concert or dining at a local eatery is not unusual to get involved in an extended conversation with the strangers seated next to you.  It is always great fun to exchange stories about how and why you have come to San Miguel.

The Language School, El Liceo, has been another great outlet and a way to meet others.  Last Saturday evening, we were invited to the home of one of Larry's classmates, Barbara and her husband, Dave.

Last year, while on a vacation to Mexico, they visited San Miguel and within three days bought a beautiful home just outside "El Centro" or downtown, and decided to settle there permanently.   They returned home to Seattle,  sold their condo, retired from their jobs, and now are making a new life for themselves here in this lovely Mexican city. It's an easy life with great weather, an interesting culture, and a cost of living probably half of what one experiences in the USA.

Short visit to the East Coast

Charlie chooses his Halloween pumpkin

We left Denver on October 18 and headed for the East Coast.  As we have noted many times, it is hard to leave Bryn, Grant and Charlie.  We had a wonderful farewell dinner with them the night before we left.  It will be three months before we are back in Denver, and we know that Charlie will have grown and changed--but he doesn't seem to forget us, fortunately.

Our primary motivation for going East was to share a week at the Southern Outer Banks, more specifically Emerald Isle, NC, with some longtime friends.  We like going to the NC beaches in the Fall--for us it is the best time to visit.  The weather is almost invariably mild, the water remains warm, and the beaches are much less hectic and crowded. At Emerald Isle, we have found a lovely rental house, Breezy Cottage, that seems to suit us well.

Breezy Cottage

The gang, in part

It is big (six bedrooms) but not gigantic.  It is perfect for eight to ten people to gather, but also provides a variety of spaces for quiet reading or napping.

Breezy has two decks, a screened in porch, a large dining area and a comfortable living room as well.  It also has a great kitchen where three or four people seem to be able to work without getting in each other's way. It is so perfect, a number of us have committed to returning for another visit next October.

Bob & Mike

This year we were joined by Mart and Bob Larson, Mike and Marcia Mayo, and Blythe Tennent.  We have known Mart & Bob for more than thirty years; our children were in pre-school together.  Mike was Larry's college roommate; he met Marcia in their sophomore year, and all of us worked at the UNC-Chapel Hill Undergraduate Library together (where Larry and Sue met 45 years ago).

Blythe worked with Larry at East Carolina University and she and Sue were walking buddies. So we hoped we would all be compatible. Fortunately, the chemistry seemed to work incredibly well for the entire group. Missing was our friend Nan; house renovations gone amuck kept her from joining us.

Sue & Marcia

One of the delights was taking turns preparing the evening meals; it would not be exaggerating to say that a number of gourmet meals resulted, and certainly no one lost weight during the week. The wine flowed generously, a number of the evenings saw some pretty competitive dominoes games; Bob dominated the pool games among the boys, and all of us enjoyed long walks along the seashore.

Sun & water

When the tide is out, the beach is wide and flat making for easy walking.  Only Sue was brave enough to swim-the water was remarkably warm and the waves were quite gentle.  But sitting on the beach, with your face to the sun was an activity we all could enjoy.

Sunrise on Emerald Isle

Shells on the beach

Time seems to flow a little bit differently at the seashore.

At first, the days are languid, and you tell yourself that you  have all the time in the world to enjoy each sunrise and sunset and all of the bright and sunny days in between--but then all of a sudden it is Saturday, and you are beginning to pack up and getting ready for the Sunday morning exit.

It was a truly idyllic interlude that seemed all too short--but knowing we will be back next year made the leaving not too sad.

NB:  Mike is an author whose writings can be found on Amazon under Michael Mayo.  His novel, Jimmy the Stick is "a novel of suspense" set in the late 20's and early 30's.  It is a marvelous read and we highly recommend it and not just because we love Mike !

Maury starting his tour 

Leaving the beach, we drove to Louisburg, NC for a very short visit with some other friends from our ECU days--Dru and Maury York. They have moved to this little town and bought and remodeled a small, but delightful house in the old part of town.

Part of Maury's job with Louisburg College is to work with the community to enhance tourism and welcome visitors.  On the day of our visit, we were treated to Maury's inaugural Louisburg Tour--it was lots of fun learning about the town's very interesting history and architecture. Dru is an architectural expert and we enjoyed Maury deferring to her at times to describe what we were seeing as we studied some of the buildings on the tour.  Our time with them both was delightful.

After an overnight stay with Mike and Marcia in their new house in Chapel Hill, we flew to Atlanta for a short visit with Larry's Mom and extended family.  All seem well and it is always fun to see the grand nieces and nephew, catch up with everyone's lives and enjoy the beautiful GA countryside. Larry's Mom is 86; lives on her own and thankfully seems very healthy.  Her life is full with church, volunteer work and family.

We flew out of the Atlanta airport to Mexico City on Halloween day.  Our flight was uneventful until we arrived in Mexico City, and discovered our two checked bags didn't come with us.  The airline and its employees (Air Tran/Southwest) were very helpful.  The bags finally made it to us in San Miguel four days later. (In every life a little rain must fall.) We are now comfortably settled in San Miguel and are creating memories each day.  Come visit and you can show up in our next blog !

We'll be back next year, ready for the next Bocce Ball tournament.