Back in San Miguel de Allende

Casita Luna

Here we are in San Miguel De Allende, and here is how we made our way.

After leaving New Orleans the first week in October, we visited with family and friends on the east coast, including spending a great week at the beach on Emerald Isle, NC.

The weather was perfect and it was lots of fun visiting and relaxing.  We re-united with a number of good friends, ate some excellent food thanks to them, and will always remember the amazing skies we saw pre-dawn--meteor showers with planets, constellations and stars as clear as we've ever seen them.

Garden as seen from our patio

On Monday, October 26 we caught an early morning flight from Raleigh, NC to Mexico City; arriving in MC we went immediately to the Central Bus station and boarded a bus for the four hour ride to San Miguel de Allende.

Our travel day lasted more than 15 hours, but we made it safe and sound--and not too exhausted--to our new AirBnB home away from home (Casita Luna) around 7:00 pm.

One of the garden sitting areas we share

Barbara and Rick, our hosts, were there to greet us & even fed us a lovely welcome meal (complete with much needed wine). Although we had met last year, it was good to get re-acquainted.

Casita Luna (named for their sweet little rescue dog) is small--just a living room/kitchen, bedroom and bath, but more than adequate to our needs. And the wonderful part of being here is having full access to Barbara & Rick's fantastic garden.

The weather this November has been beautiful, so we spend much of our time out of doors in the garden and the surrounding patios.

Typical Home Altar for Day of the Dead

One of the joys of returning to a place that you have visited in the past is that it doesn't take too much time to readjust and to reorient: you know where the grocery stores and other shopping places are and how to get to them and then back home.

This year, as in years past, we arrived in town in time for the Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) celebration. On Halloween and the first two days of November, the Jardin, or main square, is the focus of parades and is often swarming with lots of costumed and face painted children and adults.

Many folks build an altar in their homes to celebrate the lives of those loved ones who have passed.  The altars contain flowers, photos, food and drink the person(s) enjoyed, little skeleton-figured candies, and candles.  On the 1st and 2nd they light the candles and "commune" with those they love who are no longer here.  People tell us that it is a cathartic and comforting tradition.

This year for the first time we had an opportunity to visit a cemetery which is where the Mexicans truly celebrate El Dia de Los Muertos.  On the walk to the cemetery, we passed through a small, temporary market selling flowers as well as food and refreshments.

The graveyard itself was filled with families who were visiting the graves of their loved ones.  Whole families participate in cleaning and renovating the graves: planting new flowering plants and adding mementos. The families sometimes hire a strolling band to play and serenade their departed loved ones, while the family spreads out a picnic, to enjoy communing with those both living and dead in a fiesta atmosphere.

Charlie visiting the Dr.

After settling in, Larry has once again enrolled in a Spanish language class two days a week, and Sue has started a drawing class, also two days a week.

There are always movies, concerts, lectures, plays and galleries to take in, but walking the familiar streets, watching people, and window shopping often are sufficient entertainment.

We miss our family and friends back in the States, especially Charlie, but we also enjoy our time here in San Miguel.  We tend to say this will be our last trip here each year, but within a few days we fall in love with it all over again and vow to return.

At the end of this week, we are going to take a few days and travel to Peru where we will meet up with Erin, and visit Machu Picchu, Cusco and Lima.